Making School Breakfast Count for Healthy Kids and New York Farmers
National School Breakfast Week, held every year during the first week of March, highlights this essential meal as one of the most effective and often overlooked tools for student success. Research consistently shows that a well‑balanced breakfast supports learning and long‑term health, helping students focus and thrive throughout the school day.
In New York, that evidence now aligns with state policy. As of 2025, New York’s Universal Free School Meals law requires participating schools to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students, regardless of income. This historic commitment ensures that every student can start the day nourished – an incredible win for the advocates and state leaders who championed Universal School Meals.
At the same time, New York has left an important opportunity on the table to fully support New York’s farmers with its 30% New York State local purchasing incentive. American Farmland Trust and the New York Grown Food for New York Kids coalition are urging state leaders to make important updates to the program to benefit students and farmers. Want to help? Join us in sending a letter to your state representatives!
Reducing Barriers to Participation in the 30% NYS Initiative
Established in 2018, the 30% NYS Initiative encourages schools to purchase food grown or produced in New York. When a School Food Authority (the governing body responsible for administering school meal programs) spends at least 30% of its lunch food budget on eligible New York products, the program increases the state lunch reimbursement from $0.059 to $0.25 per meal.
The goal is to leverage school meals to support New York farmers while improving the quality of food served to students. But the program is restricted to lunch, making it the only local food purchasing incentive in the country designed this way—and that limitation has consequences.
Laurie Pattington, a farm to school teacher in Tompkins County, wrote an op-ed to the Albany Times Union last year urging the state to support farmers and schools by including breakfast in the 30% NYS Initiative. Her message still rings true today and underscores the need for the program to adapt and reduce the barriers to participation.
A 2025 New York State Comptroller audit found that while the program is administered adequately, participation remains low, and most available funds go unused. In the 2024–25 school year, 762 School Food Authorities outside New York City were eligible, but only 73—about 10%—participated, with less than one‑third of available funding accessed, despite strong interest from schools and the tireless efforts of support organizations and Farm to School coordinators. The audit identified the administrative burden of separating lunch costs from breakfast and other meals as the most common barrier to participation.
Think about the last time you went grocery shopping. Did you organize the contents of your cart by breakfast, lunch, and dinner and pay for them separately? School food service directors purchasing large quantities of fruit and dairy products similarly are not equipped to separate their apples for breakfast from their apples for lunch, but that’s exactly what the current program requires. Requiring lunch‑only accounting adds paperwork, time, and complexity—especially challenging for understaffed districts.
Breakfast is also where local food opportunities are especially strong. Milk, yogurt, fruit, and whole grains align naturally with New York agriculture. When asked what would happen if the 30% Initiative expanded beyond lunch, more than 70% of school food leaders surveyed said they would purchase more local foods, particularly dairy, fruit, and grains.
Policy Priorities for Farm to School
American Farmland Trust and the New York Grown Food for New York Kids Coalition are urging Gov. Hochul and the Legislature to maintain at least $1.5 million for the Farm to School Grants program and $10 million for the 30% NYS Initiative, which were both included in the Governor’s budget proposal.
In response to the barriers of program participation, we developed a modernization framework to not only increase participation in the 30% NYS Initiative but also increase the volume of quality New York food products that can be accessed by k-12 students. Our modernization proposal, linked with Universal School Meals, will help ensure equitable access to daily nutrition for New York students.
AFT commends the strong leadership of New York’s Agriculture Committee Chairs, Senator Michelle Hinchey and Assemblymember Donna Lupardo, for sponsoring bills (A.6619A/S.5057A) to support these important changes to the 30% Initiative and for their steadfast support of farm to school. AFT is proud to partner with Farm to School champions in the Senate and Assembly, including Assembly members Carrie Woerner and Karen McMahon, Senator Rachel May, Chair of the Legislative Commission on Rural Resources, and others.
Proposed Changes to the 30% NYS Initiative:
Include breakfast and reimbursable snacks in eligibility calculations
Maintain a lunch‑based payment structure while increasing and indexing the reimbursement
Replace 30% threshold with tiered reimbursement rates (30–39%: $0.26 per lunch, 40–49%: $0.28 per lunch, 50%+: $0.30 per lunch)
Establish a three‑year hold‑harmless transition
Clarify that the 30% Initiative funding is separate and additive
New York has already made the critical decision that every student deserves free breakfast and lunch. Modernizing the 30% NYS Initiative to include breakfast is the logical next step—ensuring universal access also supports local farmers, strengthens school food programs, and maximizes the return on public investment.
New Yorkers can take action and join us in urging state leaders to support Farm to School and in making these critical improvements to help more schools purchase food from New York farms!
