The Assembly Agriculture Committee voted to release Assembly Bill A3742, which would create a state-funded Farm to School local food procurement reimbursement grant program to reimburse school districts for costs of sourcing and procuring local foods for students.

The bill would appropriate $6,500,000 and includes committee amendments that, among other changes, make grants noncompetitive (awarded on an equitable pro rata basis), require the Department of Agriculture to use an automated invoicing and tracking system, authorize the department to recoup unspent funds, require maximizing federal funds before state spending, and direct the department to annually submit a budget request for new program funding not to exceed $4,500,000.

Supporters told the committee the proposal is meant to replace the USDA-funded Local Foods for Schools (LFS) pilot that program participants say will end in October. Janine Cava, of the New Jersey Food Democracy Collaborative, said the bill “gives us the chance to reclaim that momentum by establishing a state funded program to reimburse schools that purchase fresh locally grown food from our farmers.” Toni Bowman, director of nutrition for Plumptonian Food Service, described hands-on educational benefits that LFS funding had enabled, including farm fairs, cooking demonstrations and student recipe contests.

Farmers and food‑service providers gave examples of local sales enabled by the federal program. James Klett, a Mercer County grower and distributor, said without the federal funding “there’s really no prospect for us to work with schools,” adding New Jersey produce is costly to grow and schools need specific incentives. Kyle Smith, owner of Smith Poultry, told the committee that sales to school districts allowed him to expand processing and bring other local farmers into school markets.

Committee members asked for detail about the federal program replacement and funding levels. Witnesses and committee members gave different figures in the hearing: Keith Leader of the New Jersey School Nutrition Association said nationwide cuts were “approximately $750,000,000”; later testimony clarified $26,000,000 had been cut from New Jersey programming (testimony attributed to Keith Leader and other witnesses). Committee amendments and staff discussion made the program mechanics and appropriation limits explicit.

On the motion to amend and release, members recorded votes in the affirmative and the committee chair announced the bill “is released as amended.”

The bill’s proponents urged the committee to approve state funding now that the federal pilot is ending. Opponents were not recorded during the public testimony portion; a committee exchange noted the LFS funding had originally been pilot/ARPA-funded and is temporary.

If enacted, the bill would create a reimbursable grant program administered by the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, require automated expense tracking, and prioritize exhausting federal funds before spending any new state appropriations.