Beaufort County Schools is moving forward with plans to provide better food to more students.

The school district announced last week that it has secured $94,100 from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Farm to School Grant Program.

Farm to School is “an effort to better connect school cafeterias and students with local farmers and ranchers,” according to a press release.

Gwyn Roberson-McBride, child nutrition director, said BCS received a similar Farm to School grant in a previous year, which helped the school system encourage local farmers to become Good Agricultural Practices certified, in hope they would provide more fresh food to the schools in the area. That grant also covered a refrigerated truck.

This round of grant money will go toward a few initiatives: remodeling the Ed Tech Center’s kitchen into a central production kitchen to process locally grown foods; expanding the school gardens program already in place; continuing work with agencies and community members, including Beaufort County Cooperative Extension, Family and Consumer Science agents, Southside Farms, Carolina Farm Stewardship Association and the Summer Feeding Program, the release stated.

“It really is to, you know, process our local produce, or our local foods, and hoping to expand the summer program. That’s the two main goals,” Roberson-McBride said.

She said BCS wanted to focus on Ed Tech’s kitchen because it is a more central location, and a production-oriented kitchen could potentially provide food to hundreds of students.

“We could send it out to the schools without disturbing the normal school day,” Roberson-McBride said.

“Our children benefit from the fresh, local food served in their meals at school, and local economies are nourished, as well, when schools buy the food they provide close to home,” U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue stated in a press release.

Roberson-McBride said grant recipients can request to receive the money all up front, but BCS will likely use the funding in increments as projects progress.

Teachers from individual schools in Beaufort County may also apply to receive portions of the grant money for school-wide projects, such as a garden, she said.

The school district is excited to get started, Roberson-McBride said, and is excited to receive funding again. BCS will likely request Farm to School resources in the coming years, as well.

“If we’re thinking outside of the box and have the idea, I think we will always have the initiative to apply for a grant,” Roberson-McBride said.