The Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) Food and Nutrition Division is working to increase the amount of Texas-produced food served through the National School Lunch (NSLP) and School Breakfast Programs (SBP).
TDA recently entered into a cooperative agreement with the Agricultural Marketing Service of the US Department of Agriculture to procure Texas products that will be provided to Texas schools at no cost during school year 2023-2024. Purchases will focus on socially disadvantaged producers and small businesses. The grant award is for $22.3 million.
For the purpose of this program, “socially disadvantaged” is a farmer or rancher who is a member of a Socially Disadvantaged Group. A Socially Disadvantaged Group is a group whose members have been subject to discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and, where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or a part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program.
TDA plans to release a competitive solicitation in early 2023 for the procurement and delivery of Texas products to schools across the state. The selected vendor(s) will be responsible for expanding their purchasing from and developing new relationships with socially disadvantaged producers and small businesses in Texas.
If you are a socially disadvantaged producer or small business in Texas and would like to share your contact information with TDA so that it can be shared with vendors that bid on this project, please complete the following form: