Regenerative school meals

Abstract

The Rockefeller Foundation’s Regenerative School Meals initiative transforms public school feeding into an engine for nutrition, climate resilience, and rural livelihoods, sourcing from regenerative farmers to deliver healthier, lower-cost meals, boost smallholder incomes by up to 100%, cut CO₂ emissions by an estimated 200,000 tons annually, and create thousands of local jobs. The programme is building scalable initial “lighthouses” in four countries, demonstration hubs that connect policy, finance, and practice to enable global replication. It is also working to support countries as they expand their school meal programs and develop procurement mechanisms to incentivise regenerative production.

Partners

Scaling partners

Agroecology Coalition, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, World Food Programme

Innovation partner

Regenerative and Agroecological Finance for Transition (RAFT)

Demand partners

Global Alliance Against Poverty and Hunger

Financing

USD 300 million (2025-2030)

Challenge

Global food systems drive more than one-third of greenhouse gas emissions while leaving 153 million children hungry each night. Undernutrition and obesity coexist in many countries, even within the same schools and households. At the same time, the majority of the world’s food producers are smallholder farmers, and around 1.5 billion people depend on these households for their livelihoods. Yet food insecurity among producers is significant, and market opportunities are scarce. School meal programmes, which already reach 466 million children daily and represent 70% of public food budgets, offer a unique opportunity to transform food systems by linking public procurement with regenerative agriculture.

Solution

The Rockefeller Foundation’s Regenerative School Meals embeds regenerative principles into national school meal systems. It supports efforts to link public procurement with local, sustainable food production, rewarding farmers who restore soil, water, and biodiversity.

Building on successful models in Brazil and Kenya, it works through subnational “lighthouses” that pilot procurement reforms, financing tools, and farmer support models aligned with local context. The process to embed regeneration focuses on incentivising local sourcing from farmers using regenerative methods and aligning finance across supply chains to fund agroecological transitions.

Alongside these, systemic shifts are enabled by connecting ministries across education, agriculture, and environment; developing supportive policy interventions; strengthening demand signals and data systems; diversifying finance; and ensuring risks are shared equitably across the value chain. Over time, lighthouse pilots will expand agroecological adoption, increase local sourcing, and generate playbooks for national and global replication, showing how every meal served can regenerate both people and planet.

Impact

• Nutrition and education: More diverse, culturally relevant, nutrient-dense meals; For example in Kenya, switching menus to fortified whole grains and high-iron beans reduced per-meal costs (US$0.25 → US$0.22) while raising protein ≥20%.
• Climate and environment: For example, shifting half of Kenya’s school meals to local sorghum/millet (vs. imported rice) could save ~200,000 tCO₂/year; procurement linked to regenerative practices improves soil health, water quality, and biodiversity.
• Farmer incomes and equity: In Brazil, school-meal procurement and public food purchasing have generated income gains of 23–106% for family farmers (largest benefits for the lowest-income quartile).
• Jobs and inclusion: For every 100,000 school meals, an estimated 1,377 jobs are created, many benefiting women and youth; programmes increasingly include support services and training for smallholders to access these markets.
• High social returns: WFP estimates up to US$35 of returns per US$1 invested in school meals (health, education, jobs); broader evidence cites ~US$9 per US$1 across sectors, underscoring strong public value.

Scaling plan

IGI plans to mobilise funding over the next five years to expand its portfolio and support ready-to-scale programs in food security, agriculture, and climate adaptation.

• 2026: Establish regenerative “lighthouses” in pilot regions; enable farmer groups, local businesses, and local governments; launch initial regenerative procurement pilots; and gather early evidence in coordination with funders and investors.

• 2027: Expand adoption of agroecological practices among lighthouse farmers; increase local sourcing for school meals; strengthen enabling policies and financing mechanisms; and demonstrate measurable gains in nutrition, livelihoods, and climate resilience.
• 2027-2030: Consolidate learnings and develop playbooks for national and global replication, providing place-based evidence and practical models for embedding agroecology into municipal procurement, education, and agriculture systems.

Enablers

Political commitment; existing school-meal infrastructure; active farmer networks; aligned donors/private investors; strong evidence narrative via Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) systems.

Contact

Jenny Briggs, Head of Food Systems - Organisation: Greenhouse Communications (supporting Rockefeller Foundation), jenny.briggs@greenhouse.agency +447542566437