Kentucky is one of three states to get Walmart Foundation money to expand farm-to-school programs

Kentucky will use money from The Walmart Foundation to partner with the National Farm to School Network to expand efforts to get more local foods into schools.

A project called Seed Change will “jump start” programs that get local foods into schools and enhance food education for more than 1.8 million school children at 100 sites in Kentucky, Louisiana and Pennsylvania, the network said in a news release. Each site will get $5,000 grants, with applications to be accepted later this spring.

The state Department of Agriculture’s farm-to-school program connects schools with local farmers and food producers and helps students "learn to appreciate the importance of local foods and grow into well-informed consumers who demand local foods as adults," the release said. The program served an estimated 364,000 children in about 700 schools in 84 districts in the 2011-12 school year. For more information on the program, go to www.kyagr.com or contact Tina Garland at 502-382-7505 or tina.garland@ky.gov.