School Nutrition Foundation grants will bring Flex Farms to schools in New York, Ohio, Georgia and New Mexico.
Across the country, school nutrition teams are working to serve more fresh foods, expand scratch cooking, manage rising costs and create meals students are excited to eat. Four school districts are taking a fresh approach by growing food right where students learn and eat.
Through the School Nutrition Foundation’s (SNF) 2026 Equipment Grant program, school nutrition leaders in New York, Ohio, Georgia and New Mexico have each been selected to receive a Fork Farms Flex Farm, a compact indoor hydroponic growing system capable of growing more than 394 pounds of fresh produce annually.
SNF, the charitable arm of the School Nutrition Association, provides grants, scholarships and training to support school nutrition professionals nationwide. Its 2026 Equipment Grants are designed to help school meal programs address staffing, budget and operational challenges while expanding fresh and scratch-made menu options.
This year’s Fork Farms grant recipients are Lisa McGovern of Hudson City School District in New York, Megan Grippa of Lebanon City Schools in Ohio, Betsy Roam of Bartow County Schools in Georgia and Joanne Rodriguez of Bloomfield Schools in New Mexico.
While each district has different goals for its new Flex Farm, they share a commitment to bringing fresher food closer to students while creating new opportunities for learning, engagement and connection.
Lebanon City Schools hydroponic growing efforts are already making an impact. Two existing Flex Farms at Lebanon High School provide fresh romaine, butterhead lettuce, kale and basil for salad bars, entrée salads and scratch-made dishes, including pesto.
The new Flex Farm will expand growing year-round to Lebanon Junior High School, where it will also support For the Love of Food, an existing course connecting nutrition with plant science, sustainability and food systems.
“Expanding our number of Flex Farm systems allows us to reduce waste, support scratch cooking and strengthen relationships between students and the cafeteria. When students help grow the food, they are more excited to eat it,” said Megan Grippa, Child Nutrition Coordinator.
At Cass Middle School in Bartow County, the new Flex Farm will be installed directly in the cafeteria, giving the school nutrition team a reliable source of fresh produce just steps from where meals are prepared.
School Nutrition Director Betsy Roam plans to grow lettuces, herbs and other produce for salads, bowls, wraps and scratch-made recipes. Harvesting ingredients on-site as needed can help improve freshness, reduce food waste and support menu flexibility.
“Having fresh ingredients steps away from where our meals are prepared will help reduce purchasing costs, which over time will allow labor and funds to be redirected toward scratch cooking, nutrition education and student engagement,” said Roam.
Students at Montgomery C. Smith Elementary School in Hudson, New York, already help care for chickens and tend an outdoor salsa garden filled with cilantro, peppers and tomatoes. The new Flex Farm will allow those farm-to-school experiences to continue year-round with the help of hydroponics.
The Hudson City School District has also invested in fresh-food preparation and knife-skills training for staff, helping expand scratch cooking for their school meals. Last year, more than 30 percent of its food budget was spent on locally grown and produced foods.
“The Flex Farm vertical garden will provide us with a living classroom in the cafeteria to support nutrition education and encourage students to try new foods,” said School Food Director Lisa McGovern.
For Bloomfield Schools, the new Flex Farm will help expand access to fresh food across a rural district covering approximately 1,500 square miles in northwest New Mexico.
The Flex Farm will complement two new greenhouses, an outdoor learning garden and new salad bars throughout the district, providing a year-round source of fresh greens and herbs for school meals.
“The Flex Farm will create opportunities for nutrition education and student engagement, helping students understand where their food comes from and why healthy choices matter,” said Student Nutrition Manager Joanne Rodriguez.
The four projects reflect a larger need in school nutrition. In a recent School Nutrition Association survey, 94 percent of school meal program directors said they need more equipment and infrastructure to expand scratch preparation and reduce reliance on ultra-processed foods.
Growing food on-site gives schools another way to meet that challenge. Fresh ingredients grow in hydroponic systems like the Flex Farm can move from harvest to cafeteria in minutes, while the growing process creates hands-on opportunities to connect food with STEM, nutrition, sustainability and agriculture education.
The four districts will receive their new Flex Farms during the 2026–27 school year.
These school communities have different challenges and goals, all focused on bringing fresh food closer to the students they serve. Fork Farms is proud to partner with the School Nutrition Association and School Nutrition Foundation to provide more access to fresh food and more curious learning opportunities to schools across the United States. To learn more about the SNF Equipment Grant program and how Flex Farms are changing the way students grow and learn in schools across the U.S. contact Fork Farms today.