National School Lunch Act).
Criteria for Evaluating Policy Success
The school commodity program’s current success in terms of supporting the agriculture sector is best
evaluated through evidence that the program has created the additionality—meaning consumption in excess
of that which would occur without the program—that policymakers originally expected.
Ironically, however, any evidence of additionality due to the school commodity program may also be
interpreted as a policy failure with respect to the nutrition goals of the school lunch program, now that
overconsumption of calories is a primary challenge to children’s health.
In terms of child nutrition, the most desirable evidence of the commodity program’s policy success would be
findings that show that the program improves school meal nutrition or compliance with USDA nutrition
standards.
The most desirable evidence of the commodity program’s success in terms of school finance would be that
which proves that schools can obtain foods more cheaply through the USDA than through commercial
vendors.
Current Research
Impact on Agriculture
The most recent study to assess additionality for agriculture due to the NSLP is based on data from the early
1980s. After controlling for factors affecting NSLP participation, demographic factors, household factors, and
geographic factors, it was reported that for each dollar of federal NSLP benefits—both cash and
commodities—received, households reduced their spending by only 61%, or $0.61, rather than a full dollar
(Long, 1991).
One way to interpret this result is that the NSLP reduces household food expenditures. Another way to
interpret this result is that NSLP benefits do not fully replace household food expenditures; thus, the total
effect of each federal dollar spent on NSLP reimbursable meals is an estimated $1.39 for the agricultural
sector.
The per-lunch federal cash reimbursement rates for school year (SY) 2009-10 for free, reduced-price, and
full-price lunches are $2.68, $2.28, and 25 cents, respectively, while the commodity benefit provides an
additional 0.195 cents per meal served, regardless of student payment (USDA Food and Nutrition Service,
2009). Based on 39 cents additionality for every dollar of federal NSLP benefits received by households, it
may be inferred that the school commodity program estimated additionality for the agricultural sector due to
the school commodity program is 8 cents for each lunch served in schools.
However, there are significant drawbacks to applying this estimate to assess the additionality of the school
commodity program. First, this estimate is nearly 30 years old. Second, this estimate includes only the
federal per meal reimbursement, which represents just part of the full cost of the commodity program at the
federal, state, and local levels. Thus while it is accurate to say that every $1 in school commodity benefits
received by households results in additionality according to this estimate, it is inaccurate to say that $1 in
public spending on the commodity program results in additionality.
Finally, the use of household food expenditures to estimate additionality due to the commodity program,
specifically, is a convoluted means of measurement. The more accurate way to determine whether the
school commodity program creates additionality for the agricultural sector would be to assess school food
expenditures among schools that have “cash in lieu of commodities” or commodity letters of credit (CLOC)—
which enable school districts to conduct local procurement of foods specified by the USDA—compared to
food expenditures among schools that receive commodities.
Kansas is the only state with 100% cash in lieu of commodities, though a few other school districts across the
country have cash in lieu or CLOC programs that remain from a 1980s pilot study of alternatives to the