Grays Harbor schools receive Farm to School Purchasing grants
Published 1:30 am Thursday, October 2, 2025
The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) has awarded Farm to School Purchasing Grants to 101 successful applicants (86 school meals and 15 childcare meals), totaling $3.5 million for the 2025-2027 biennium, including six school districts in Grays Harbor County.
The WSDA received a total of 129 applications with funding requests totaling $7 million, almost double the amount of available funds.
“One of our goals with this grant program is to strengthen Washington’s food systems at the regional level, while helping to ensure that more locally-produced food is consumed by children in our schools,” Washington State Department of Agriculture Director Derek Sandison said.
The Aberdeen, Hoquiam, Lake Quinault, McCleary, Oakville, and Wishkah school districts received grants totaling $107,000 for school and childcare meal programs.
Aberdeen School District: $13,000
Hoquiam School District: $22,000
Lake Quinault School District 97: $14,000
McCleary School District: $16,000
Oakville School District: $22,000
Wishkah School District: $20,000
Lake Quinault School District 97 also received a $12,000 grant during the last funding round, while the Elma, Hoquiam, McCleary and Oakville school districts received $20,000 each during the funding round before that. During the September 2022 – June 2023 grant award cycle, Aberdeen received $38,539, and Hoquiam was awarded $32,400. During the first funding round at the inception of the program covering January – August 2022, Aberdeen received $37,135, while Hoquiam was awarded $19,079.
“This support helps us purchase Washington-grown foods for our school meals and strengthen connections between farms and classrooms,” the Hoquiam School District stated via Facebook. “Thank you to the Washington State Department of Agriculture for investing in our students, farmers, and community.”
According to the WSDA’s official website, Farm to School Purchasing grants provide schools, childcare and summer meal programs with funds to buy and serve Washington grown foods from local farmers and food producers. Since 2021, WSDA has granted over $12 million in Farm to School Purchasing Grants across 371 awards over five funding cycles. Grants reach districts in every corner of the state and support purchases of more than 170 unique local foods from more than 360 individual farms and food businesses.
