Cohort 4 California Farm to School Incubator Grant Program
Cohort 4 California Farm to School Incubator Grant Program supports schools, technical assistance groups, producers, and food hubs with procurement, food education, and capacity building to nourish students.
Funder: California Department of Food and Agriculture
Due Dates: December 17, 2026 (Questions, draft schedule) | December 31, 2026 (Applications)
Funding Amounts: Up to $38 million total; proposed awards of $20,000–$1.5 million, depending on track, for up to 18 months
Summary: Supports California farm-to-school procurement, hands-on food education, technical assistance, and producer and food hub capacity.
Key Information: Applicants must choose one funding track and submit one application; Cohort 4 eligibility and funding details remain draft proposals.
Description
The California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Office of Farm to Fork administers this competitive program to cultivate equity, nourish students, build climate resilience, and create scalable, sustainable farm-to-school systems across California. Cohort 4 combines three tracks: TK–12 procurement and education, technical assistance subawards, and producer and food hub capacity. Projects connect California-grown or produced foods with school meals and experiential learning in gardens, farms, kitchens, cafeterias, and classrooms.
Funding priorities include students from underserved communities, small and midsize producers, veteran and socially disadvantaged producers, limited-resource farm households, and climate-smart agriculture. The program also seeks geographic distribution across California. Public comments on the draft framework are under review; the proposed rules below are subject to the final requests for applications.
