Students at Lexington County schools will soon be eating more locally grown food.

Last month, the state Department of Agriculture announced a $3.1 million grant under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. The state will divide up the money between participating schools and districts to use to buy foods and beverages from local farmers through in-state distributor Senn Brothers.

All five school districts that touch Lexington County are participating in the program, as are 76 of the 85 public school districts in South Carolina, including all school districts in the neighboring counties of Richland, Newberry, Saluda, Orangeburg, Calhoun and Aiken.

The funding was offered to all school districts in the state, the Department of Agriculture noted in a release, and were given until Nov. 18 to decide whether they would use the funding this school year. Unused funds will be reallocated to the districts that opted to participate, the release states.

“Senn Brothers currently works with school districts across the state to supply fresh local food to students,” the Department of Agriculture release states. “The grant will allow them to expand their sourcing from small local farms, and to help those farms equip themselves to serve larger scale customers.”

Lexington County School District 3, which is set to receive $6,000 through the grant, said in a release that it plans to use the money to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables to incorporate into its menus.

“This summer, Lexington 3 purchased fresh peaches directly from Watsonia Farms and broccoli and collards from Rawls Farms,” Todd A. Bedenbaugh, the district’s director of child nutrition and school security, is quoted. “We also continue to purchase several protein items from the House of Raeford that are on our menus.”

Lexington County School District 1 will receive $75,865. Lexington County School District 2 will receive $29,084. Lexingotn County School District 4 will receive $14,737. Lexington-Richland District 5 will receive $53,521.