‘Farm to School’ bill goes into law this Friday

Nebraska state senator: “What we’re trying to do is keep those dollars, or as many as we can, in state.”

According to Sen. Tom Brandt, 90% of the food dollars spent for Nebraska school cafeterias go out of state.

He hopes his new bill, LB396, which goes into law this Friday, will help change that.

“What we’re trying to do is keep those dollars, or as many as we can, in state,” Brandt said.

The reason Nebraska has imported so much food from other states is because it is cheaper to do so.

LB396 will create a full-time position within the Nebraska Department of Education that will help coordinate and stimulate additional efforts to connect schools across the state to local producers. In other words, it will give Nebraska producers an opportunity to see which schools are interested in their food products, and schools the opportunity to see which in-state producers they can get food from.

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