The National Farmers Union applauded the introduction of the “American Food for American Schools Act of 2016” Tuesday. The legislation aims to enforce provisions of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act that require school nutrition providers to purchase domestically produced and processed foods, to the extent practicable. NFU senior vice president of public policy Rob Larew says improving transparency and enforcement of the Buy American provisions allows the U.S. to “better support both American agriculture and child nutrition.” The legislation, introduced by California Democratic Representative John Garamendi, would require school nutrition providers to request a waiver from the Department of Agriculture should they decide to purchase a foreign food product, differing from the current law which does not require a waiver be requested.