10 Cents a Meal for Michigan’s Kids and Farms is a state-funded program that matches what schools and other non-school sponsors spend on Michigan-grown fruits, vegetables, and dry beans with grants.

Amplifying Impact with More Michigan Farms and Foods: 10 Cents a Meal 2021–2022 Evaluation Results

Expanded Eligibility, Increased Impacts: 10 Cents a Meal 2020-2021 Evaluation Results

All About Beans: A Summary of Legumes in the 2020-2021 Year of 10 Cents a Meal for Michigan's Kids and Farms Program

What a Dime Can Do: An Evaluation of the 10 Cents a Meal Pilot

10 Cents a Meal

10 Cents a Meal for Michigan’s Kids and Farms (10 Cents a Meal) helps schools source and serve fresh and minimally processed (including frozen) Michigan-grown vegetables, fruits, and dry beans. One of the first of its kind in the United States, this state-funded program matches what schools and other non-school sponsors spend on fresh Michigan-grown products with grants.

The 10 Cents a Meal program has two primary goals:

  1. Improve daily nutrition and eating habits of children through the school setting, and
  2. Invest in Michigan agriculture and the related food business economy.

The Michigan Department of Education administers 10 Cents a Meal. Since the program launched in the 2016-2017 school year, a core team has supported 10 Cents a Meal: MSU Center for Regional Food Systems has provided evaluation, Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities supplied communications and advocacy, and the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development assisted with food and agriculture connections.

In the future, the program could be designed to include strategies to reduce health disparities, support minority-, women-, and veteran-owned businesses, and strengthen local food supply chains.

To learn more about 10 Cents a Meal, visit tencentsmichigan.org and like 10 Cents a Meal on Facebook. See who was involved with this list of 2021–2022 Grantees and their counties by MASA Region and review who has participated to date with this table of grantees across all years of the program.

Schools, policy makers, and advocates can use the resources on this site to understand and communicate about the value and impact of the 10 Cents a Meal program and similar school-based incentive programs for locally grown foods.

Why 10 Cents Matters: A Framework

This resource describes how 10 Cents a Meal for Michigan’s Kids & Farms works and the impacts it can have. This state-funded pilot program matches what schools spend on Michigan-grown fruits, vegetables, and legumes with grants of up to 10 cents per meal.

Center for Regional Food Systems

Farm to Institution/School

Food System Infrastructure, Planning and Policy

Michigan Good Food

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