Hunger Free Oklahoma welcomes USDA’s announcement of investments that help schools serve nutritious, locally sourced food and strengthen the infrastructure needed to provide healthy meals to Oklahoma children. Connecting schools with local producers and investing in school kitchens benefits children, families, schools, and Oklahoma farmers and ranchers.
But these investments must be considered in the broader context of federal decisions affecting children’s access to food.
In March 2025, USDA terminated the second round of the Local Food for Schools and Child Care program, which provided $660 million to help schools and childcare centers purchase locally produced food. That funding was intended to build on the program’s initial $200 million investment. In that cancellation, a USDA spokesperson said, “These programs, created under the former Administration via Executive authority, no longer effectuate the goals of the agency.”
This week’s announcement of up to $70 million in new school nutrition investments is important, but it does not replace what was cut. School meals are one part of how children access nutritious food. Families also need the resources to put food on the table when children are at home.
Yet those resources are also shrinking. Since July 2025, 1.1 million children have lost SNAP benefits in the 22 states with available data, and national estimates indicate that more than 1.5 million children have lost access to SNAP.
Every child deserves access to enough nutritious food, both in the school cafeteria and at home. Investing in school meals and local food is a step in the right direction, but we cannot strengthen child nutrition by investing in one part of the food system while cutting other vital resources that help families afford food at home.
Hunger Free Oklahoma supports efforts to strengthen school meals, expand local food procurement, and ensure schools have the resources they need to serve nutritious food. We also urge policymakers to protect and strengthen the nutrition assistance programs families rely on to put food on the table throughout their day.