This year has been a hard one for Jerilyn Nieslanik’s cattle ranch.
Bone-dry conditions have caused hay supplies for Nieslanik Beef, a fourth-generation ranch based in Carbondale, to dwindle. It’s a situation facing many ranchers across Colorado, who are contending with less feed for cattle at a time of increased costs on everything from supplies to equipment.
“The drought is really tough, the hay shortage is really tough,” said Nieslanik, who serves as Nieslanik Beef’s account manager.
But help is coming from an unlikely place: school districts. Starting this fall, K-12 schools will receive millions of dollars in grants from the state’s universal school meals program to purchase food from local farms and ranches. Nieslanik said the new customer base from schools couldn’t have come at a more critical time.
“It’s going to keep us in business,” she said.
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The grants will come from the state’s Healthy School Meals for All Program, which was approved by voters in 2022 but had not been fully implemented due to funding constraints.
While the program has provided free school breakfast and lunch to students in participating districts — regardless of income — the state has not fully funded two of the program’s other main components: grants for local food purchases and increased pay for front-line cafeteria staff. That will change this year after voters last fall approved twin ballot measures that raised more money from income taxes and eliminated the program’s revenue cap.
The increased funding will generate over $15.4 million in grants for local food purchases for more than 130 school districts and 14 charter schools for the 2026-27 school year, according to a joint news release from the Colorado Department of Education and Hunger Free Colorado. Additionally, 151 districts will receive more than $8.4 million to increase pay for breakfast and lunch staff.
“It’s a really amazing commitment from the voters in the state,” said Octavio Maese, director of food and nutrition services for the Roaring Fork School District.
A ‘win-win’ for schools and producers
Maese said his district has partnered with producers like Nieslanik Beef in the past to bring in local food, but not to the level that will be possible this school year, thanks to the new funding.
“Now, more than ever, it’s important for school districts that receive that funding to coordinate with producers because producers are having a bad year,” Maese said.
Nieslanik said she’s grateful not just for the business from schools, but also to be part of helping deliver nutritious, local food to students. She’s hoping her ranch can partner with more Western Slope districts this coming school year.
“It’s a win-win for everybody,” she said.
Nancy Scheinkman, owner of Mountain Freshies, a distributor that works with producers across the Western Slope, said schools have for years bought from local farms and ranches, but it hasn’t been on the scale that will now be possible.
“Schools have a lot of power,” Scheinkman said. “We’re talking about a lot of school districts with a lot of kids, and so, when you look at the value of that for not only us as an aggregator but for our farms, it makes a huge, huge difference.”
Scheinkman said schools can fill an important customer gap for producers. She gave the example of “smalls,” which refers to fruit, like peaches and apples, that have been picked and are in good condition but are smaller than average.
“Supermarkets don’t want smalls, but schools love them,” Scheinkman said. “So, when we have a built-in market with schools, and the farms know this product can be sold, and it’s not going to have to be donated or go to waste, that’s where this incredible relationship really pays off for the schools and for the farms.”
Nancy Scheinkman, owner of Mountain Freshies, a distributor that works with producers across the Western Slope, is pictured driving one of its trucks.Nancy Scheinkman/Courtesy photo
The rollout of local food grants also comes at a challenging time for Western Slope growers.
A warm winter caused earlier-than-usual orchard blooms that were devastated by a mid-April frost, leading to a near-total loss of apples, pears and other fruits in Delta County and the North Fork Valley area, where Mountain Freshies mostly sources from. Scheinkman said it means schools will have to pivot to buying other produce, such as vegetables and fruits that were not affected by the spring freeze.
That’s where organizations like Mountain Freshies step in by filling bulk orders from multiple suppliers so that districts have an array of ingredients.
“They could make an entire marinara sauce from what we can deliver in a pallet, and it all can be fresh and amazing quality,” she said.
Ultimately, Scheinkman said the grant program will help expand food access to students.
“Otherwise, we would just have to be really focused on selling to high-end restaurants, and they’d be the ones ending up with all this beautiful, artisanal produce,” Scheinkman said. “But because of programs like this, and because of the grant funding, it creates a level playing field. I really believe that everybody has a right to access fresh, healthy produce. It shouldn’t be a privilege.”
More pay for lunch staff — and a safety net for students
Along with more funding to buy local produce, Maese, the Roaring Fork schools’ nutrition director, said he’s excited about the ability to increase pay for cafeteria staff.
Districts will have flexibility over how they divvy up that money. Because the state funding is still new — and could change — Maese said most districts, including Roaring Fork, are choosing to give staff stipends as opposed to wage increases.
Maese hopes it helps with hiring and retention, especially in high-cost resort towns like his.
“It will be huge,” he said. “Staff is tough to come by, and when you get staff that is dedicated … you want to show them that they’re valued.”
And, perhaps most critically, the increased funding passed by voters last year will likely ensure the program remains universal for all students. Had voters not signed off on the extra revenue, the state would have had to limit free meals this coming school year to only lower-income students who qualify for free and reduced lunch, a federal program.
Anti-hunger advocates say keeping the free meals program open to all students, regardless of income, helps reduce stigma and ensures all children have the opportunity to eat at school. Hunger Free Colorado, a nonprofit that advocates for greater food access, said last year that roughly 100,000 more school children are eating lunches as a result of the program.
“We’re seeing participation from all economic backgrounds,” Maese said. “I think for the meals to continue to be universal just makes school meal programs available in the way that we are intended to be. We’re of service to anyone who needs it in the school community, not just for folks who might have a severe need.”
Maese said he hopes the focus on food access in schools is just the start.
“This is a great step forward, and we still have a lot of room to continue doing the meaningful work that we all want to do,” he said.
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