Effective July 1, 2011 the Domestic Marketing & Economic Development, Small Farm Direct Marketing and Farm-to-School programs have been eliminated due to legislative budget reductions and these programs have ceased operation.

 WSDA Publications
and Resources

General Program Publications and Resources

2008-2009 Legislative Report

Farm-to-Cafeteria Connections

Food Safety and Good Agricultural Practices

We encourage farms and food businesses to consider risk management and food safety as they plan to expand their sales to schools and other institutions.

Good Agricultural Practices are a set of food-safety guidelines designed to help farmers handle food safety from the farm to the market. Certification of GAPs is a voluntary, annual audit process that certifies that a farm shows commitment by management and staff to follow and maintain these practices.

To learn more, check out the Good Agricultural and Handling Practices page on WSDA.

Good Agricultural and Handling Practices

GAPs handbook from Farm Walk

WSDA GAPs handbook

Financing Resources, Grants and Funding Opportunities

These links to Agency and USDA funding opportunities show potential for farm-to-school.

WSDA - Financing Your Business

WSDA Grant Programs

In addition to these agency and USDA grants, there are other funding opportunities listed on the WSDA Farm-to-School Toolkit. We recommend that you start by seeking local sources of funding and in-kind support for your farm-to-school projects. Several stellar Washington projects work by creatively using school budgets and partnering with community members and businesses for donations and grant support.            
Please note that this list is gathered as a service to help you learn what’s available. It is not exhaustive, and inclusion on this page should in no way be considered an endorsement by the State of Washington or the Department of Agriculture. If you know of other grant programs we should consider, please send them to us at farmtoschool@agr.wa.gov