蜜桃影视

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and the Arkansas Department of Agriculture announced a farm-to-table program Thursday for Arkansas schools that will provide meals to students using ingredients raised or grown in-state.

Called the Arkansas Plate Initiative, it will start as a pilot program in five schools in 2026, a from Sanders鈥� office said.

鈥淎rkansas students deserve access to healthy, nutritious foods at school, and the Arkansas Plate Initiative shows meaningful progress in our effort to improve child nutrition and support our farmers and producers across the state,鈥� Sanders said in the release. 鈥淣ot only will this program give students access to fresh, locally sourced products, but it will also teach them about Arkansas鈥� largest industry and what it takes to keep it.鈥�

Starting in January, the program will feature 鈥渕onthly 鈥楢rkansas Plate Days,鈥欌�� with school cafeterias serving meals using Arkansas-grown foodstuffs such as poultry and rice, and fruits and vegetables.

Participating schools will also 鈥渞eceive educational materials, promotional signage, and 鈥楳eet the Farmer鈥� profiles to help students discover more about where their food comes from and learn the importance of supporting Arkansas agriculture,鈥� according to the release.

The program appears to be similar to the federally-funded Farm to School and Local Food Purchase Assistance programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The latter program also helps local schools purchase locally-sourced ingredients for school meals. It faced sweeping cutbacks in the early days of President Donald Trump鈥檚 second term, despite support from state agriculture commissioners,

The Arkansas Department of Agriculture did not respond to questions regarding the new initiatives鈥� relation to federal school meal programs nor about how the initiative would be funded.

The new initiative is the latest in a series of nutrition-related moves made by the Sanders administration and state legislators this year. After signing the bipartisan Act 123 of 2025, which provides free school breakfasts to all Arkansas students, earlier this year, Sanders also that the Department of Corrections would provide produce harvested by incarcerated individuals to the Marion School District for breakfasts and lunches.

The announcement also comes at a time of precarity for Arkansas鈥� agriculture industry, which is heavily reliant on commodity farming. Commodity farmers are facing some of the worst market conditions in years as prices for commodities drop and the costs of producing continue to rise.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arkansas Advocate maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sonny Albarado for questions: [email protected].

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