Serving local food in Louisiana schools has gained widespread support. The problem? Money.

Over three decades after Duriel Harris left the Dallas Cowboys, the Texas native settled in Acadiana and became a cowboy in his own right.

The former wide receiver bought two dozen Black Angus heifers in 2016, and since then, his Ville Platte operation has only grown. Last year, Harris Cattle Company had its best year yet, grossing nearly $400,000. 

His success is largely thanks to a market niche he found: a federal program that pays for schools to source food from local farms. After learning about the program, he started selling to schools in Alexandria, then Baton Rouge and St. Tammany Parish. All of his customers last year were schools across 10 different parishes, “from Shreveport to New Orleans,” he said.

“If there was ever a win-win-win situation, that was it,” said Harris, known to some football fans for a 1982 hook-and-lateral play while with the Miami Dolphins. “Good for the economy, local producers and good for the state.”

But whether Harris can keep selling his Angus beef to schools hangs in limbo. While the push for more local food in schools has gained broad support – from “Make America Healthy Again” backers in Louisiana’s legislature to traditional nutritionists – government cuts and a lack of long-term funding are major stumbling blocks.

The Trump administration eliminated the USDA program in March, as part of cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Louisiana spent about $3.4 million on the farm-to-school program this fiscal year, according to information on the USDA website that has since been deleted.

The state will lose out on over $18 million due to cuts to the local food in schools and childcare programs, Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain said in a May Senate committee meeting.

The administration also ended another USDA program that reimbursed food banks for local purchases. Across the country, the two federal programs provided around $1 billion to schools and food banks. The U.S. Department of Agriculture did not respond to a request for comment.

Louisiana officials have pushed back, including Republican supporters of the president. State Senator Patrick McMath, R-Covington, authored a resolution urging Congress to bring back the federal program.

He also sponsored a sweeping nutrition bill, which awaits Gov. Jeff Landry’s signature after unanimous passage, aligned with the “Make America Healthy Again,” or MAHA, movement of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. While Senate Bill 14 is largely focused on restricting or notifying people about ingredients like artificial sweeteners or seed oils, it also seeks to expand local food in schools.

For McMath, access to local food – such as through the Biden-era program that the Trump administration cut – is central to the MAHA movement. The push for healthier eating is not a new idea, McMath noted, mentioning the work of former first lady Michelle Obama, only now the phenomenon has gained prominence with right-wing podcasters and pundits like Joe Rogan and Tucker Carlson. 

Kennedy is set to visit Louisiana on Friday for a “MAHA LA official bill signing.” McMath said bringing back the farm-to-school program is the first thing he’s going to talk to the health secretary about.

“The further away from a farm you are, the less nutrient rich the food,” he said. “You have to have this local farm infrastructure built in – harvesting lettuce in the morning and hitting kids’ plates at lunch.”

Skeptics of MAHA, proponents of local food

Senate Bill 14 will change how food manufacturers, schools and restaurants provide and sell food. McMath’s motivation for sponsoring it stemmed from his own experiences, he recounted during legislative debates.

He said he taught himself about wellness and “the effects of ultra-processed foods” after his wife faced health problems. The legislation was also written with input from Casey Means, a holistic doctor and wellness influencer who is Trump’s pick for surgeon general.

Companies selling food with certain artificial ingredients – such as sweeteners in diet soda and additives in white frosting – will be required to include a QR code that links to a webpage warning of potential harms. Restaurants must alert customers if they use seed oils, like canola oil, in their food.

Doctors and nurses will also need to complete a one-hour training on nutrition and metabolic health. The various measures will begin to take effect as early as 2026 through 2028.

When it comes to schools, Louisiana districts will not be allowed to serve certain additives and artificial colors in breakfasts and lunches (after-school snacks and concession stands are exempt). Many of these ingredients are found in cereals, candies and colorful drinks.

Jacqueline Richard, the president of the School Nutrition Association of Louisiana, is vocal in her opposition to the legislation. A registered dietitian and the school nutrition director for Calcasieu Parish, she said the soon-to-be banned ingredients are “seemingly random” and not well-researched.

“I hated the whole thing,” Richard said of the legislative process. “It was so very performative. Those things will do very little to help the health of children. There are other things that would.”

‘That means nothing’

But as the bill made its way through the Legislature, she found herself agreeing with the lawmakers on the idea of increasing local food in schools.

As she and others point out, local ingredients can be healthier than food transported far distances, as it is often fresher and less processed. The short travel and typically smaller-scale, sustainable operations also mean buying local food is better for the environment.

The legislature added an amendment that would require all schools that receive state funds to purchase at least 20 percent of their food from Louisiana farmers. But there was a problem: No additional funding was granted.

Complying with it in the absence of the USDA program would be a nightmare, Richard said. So the nutrition association urged lawmakers to remove the specific number and provide funding for local food in schools.

Instead, the final draft of the bill states that schools “shall purchase food produced in this state to the extent practicable.” There is no funding attached.

“That means nothing,” Richard said of the bill’s vague language.

Buying local food in many districts was only possible because of allocated money, she stressed. The local ground beef Richard procured for Calcasieu Parish schools was three times more expensive than national alternatives, as is the case with the vast majority of locally sourced meat and produce.

In the absence of long-term funding, schools will likely forgo local food entirely or buy cheaper commodities grown at a larger scale in Louisiana, like rice and sweet potatoes, said Marguerite Green, the director of the Louisiana Food Policy Action Council and an urban farmer in New Orleans. Previously, the federal program had allowed schools to buy more expensive, specialty crops and protein common in Louisiana cuisine, like okra, tomatoes and shrimp.

“The more local food items on the school lunch tray, the better,” said Catherine Carmichael, a registered dietitian at LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center. “I love it when my kids come home from school and tell me they’ve had sweet potatoes or satsumas for lunch.”

The center has worked with the state and USDA to help schools offer meals like shrimp etouffee, catfish fresca, and grits and grillades.

“When students know where their food comes from, they will be more likely to develop healthy eating habits that will last a lifetime,” she said.

What does this mean for farmers?

Farmers involved in the USDA program are struggling to prepare for an uncertain school year.

Richard said that growers who sold food to schools in her area feel uncomfortable committing to the program with “funding so wishy-washy.” The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, which dispersed the funds to local schools, has told farmers and educators to plan on not having the funding for the upcoming school year, Richard said.

“At this time, we have not been informed of any changes from our USDA partners,” said Jennifer Finley, press secretary for agriculture commissioner Strain. 

Harris, the football star turned cattle farmer, is hopeful that there will be some funding for local food in schools next school year. The impact of the program for him was far more than economic.

Both his parents were educators, he said, and providing food to schools brought him back to his roots.

“If [the funding] doesn’t materialize, then I have no choice but to process my beef and end up selling to wholesale markets and restaurants,” Harris said. “I prefer the school business.”