What is in the FY2026 District Budget for the DC Food System?

Posted on by DC Food Policy

On July 28, the D.C. Council approved the District’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Budget. Mayor Bowser and the Council continued investment in many of the key local programs that promote equitable, healthy, and sustainable local food system. Read on to find out how food programs are funded by local dollars in the next fiscal year and what policy changes were made in the FY 2026 Budget Support Act.

Printable Factsheets:

FY 2026 Final Budget for District Food Programs (English)
Presupuesto final del AF26 para los programas de alimentos del Distrito (Spanish)
እ.ኤ.አ. በ2026 የመጨረሻ በጀት ለዲስትሪክት የምግብ ፕሮግራሞች (Amharic)
Budget final de l’exercice 2026 pour les programmes alimentaires du District (French)

Equitable Food Access and Nutrition

Funding for farmers market licensing, operation, and promotion support: The Farmers Market Support Amendment Act of 2025, which the Mayor signed into law on July 7, 2025, was fully funded including:

  • $494,000 for the Department of Health will create one full-time staff position and a grant program to:
    • Provide technical assistance to market operators and farmers around permits, licensing, and nutrition benefits;
    • Distribute $250,000 in grants to support opening, expansion, and operation of farmers markets in low food access areas; and
    • Conduct marketing and promotion activities.
  • $220,000 for the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection will create a centralized application system for licensing and permitting of farmers market.

This is a big win for the DC Food Policy Council’s Sustainable Supply Chain Working Group, which worked with farmers market stakeholders to develop recommendations to support farmers markets and helped inform the bill.

Expansion of the Senior Nutrition Programs: recognizing the high food insecurity rates among District seniors, the budget expands two critical nutrition programs administered by the Department of Aging and Community Living:

  • An increase of $452,000 to add two new Community Dining program sites in Ward 7 and to pilot a program for seniors to enjoy restaurant dining once a month.
  • An increase of $930,0000 to serve more eligible seniors in the Home Delivered Meals program, which currently has a waitlist of over 700 seniors.

1 year Extension of the Online Grocery Delivery Pilot: $120,000 in one-time funding to extend the Department of Health’s Grocery Access Pilot Program into a 2-year pilot. The program will provide 1,000 SNAP- Ed participants with access to buying groceries online without delivery fees. The program is slated to launch in summer 2025.

Other key food access and nutrition programs were funded at similar levels as the previous year:

Food Economy

Food Retail Development and Investment Opportunities

  • $20 million for continued Hill East infrastructure and $15 million for Saint Elizabeths continued infrastructure site improvements: opportunities to invest in grocery and food retail development to increase access to food in these neighborhoods and continue to build on the success of the Sycamore & Oak, a community-led food retail village that has supported Black-owned food businesses.
  • $350,000 in one-time funds to create the Rhode Island Avenue Support Grant Program: the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) will distribute awards to businesses through a competitive process.
  • $250,000 in recurring funding to create the Chinatown Chinatown Long-Term Lease Program within DMPED and $250,000 in one-time fund to rejuvenate and preserve the cultural identity of Chinatown.
  • Sales tax holiday for restaurants and other specific provisions for restaurants were not included in the final budget.

Changes to the Initiative 82 Tipped Minimum Wage Timeline:

The FY 2026 Budget Support Act partially repealed the Initiative 82, which would have eliminated the tipped minimum wage by 2027 by:

  • Maintaining the tipped minimum wage at $10/hour (56% of the regular minimum wage) until July 2026, increasing it to 60% of the regular minimum wage in July 2028, and increasing it by 5% every two years thereafter, capping it off at 75% of the regular minimum wage in 2034.
  • Requiring employers to begin providing detailed breakdowns by source on pay stubs effective January 1, 2026.
  • Directing the Office of the Chief Financial Officer to release a report on the impacts on tipped restaurant workers and the restaurant industry every two years.

Changes to the Street Vending Advancement Act: To enhance the implementation of this law, which went in effect in 2023, the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection will create a staff position dedicated to serve as a Sidewalk Vending Manager at Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection (DLCP). The Council also gave DLCP an authority to issue grants to support vendors in purchasing vending equipment, but no funding was allocated for FY26. The Office of Tax Revenue will be required to notify all registered vendors of the Vending Amnesty Program, which forgives previous vending violation fines and unpaid minimum sales tax payments for vendors who are applying for or renewing a license.

Urban Agriculture

Lederer Communal Farm Capital Improvement: $1.5 million for the Department of Parks and Recreation will rebuild a greenhouse at the Lederer Garden in Ward 7, which was destroyed by the fire in 2024. The new greenhouse will serve as a seedling production facility serving three Communal Farms and their weekly produce giveaway events, which distributes over 14,000 lbs. of free produce to residents.

Urban Agriculture Infrastructure & Operation Grant: $75,000 for the Office of Urban Agriculture’s grant program that supports infrastructural investment and operational costs for small farmers. The decision to restore the program was made due to historically high demand: for both FY23 and FY24, the program received requests for more than double the available funds both with only a third of applicants receiving funds, but the funding was not offered in FY25.

Water connections for Wangari Gardens: $75,000 for the Department of Transportation (DDOT) to assess, design, and install a water meter and potable water source for Wangari Gardens, a community garden located on a DDOT property in Ward 5. Wangari Gardens – and many other farms and gardens in the District – use the fire hydrant permit from DC Water for irrigation, which is costly, logistically challenging, and often times unsafe if a farmer has to run fire hoses across busy streets to access a fire hydrant. The Committee on Transportation and the Environment discussed the possibility of making policy changes through the legislative process to support urban farmers in accessing consistent and affordable water source, such as establishing a separate “community-use” water rate for urban farms and community gardens. This issue is one of the 2025 priorities for the Urban Agriculture Working Group.

Sustainability

Expansion of Residential Composting Programs: An increase of $2,270,000 to expand the Department of Public Works’ Compost DC Food Waste Collection Program from 9,000 households to 12,000 households and to install additional 20 Food Waste Smart Bins, expanding the total to 51 locations across the District.

Legislation Repealed

The DC Council has a rule where legislation passed requiring funding to implement will be repealed if they are not funded for two fiscal years. The FY 2026 Budget Support Act repealed some key food-related legislation:

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