A. School food authorities are eligible to receive an incentive grant pursuant to this section to purchase New Mexico-grown, -raised or -processed products. A participating school food authority may use the amount received pursuant to this section to support implementation of program requirements described in Subsection E of Section 3 [22- 13C-4 NMSA 1978] of the Healthy Hunger-Free Students’ Bill of Rights Act.

B. School food authorities shall use the money received pursuant to this section to purchase New Mexico-grown, -raised or -processed products. A minimum of seventy- five percent of funds shall be used to purchase unprocessed and minimally processed products. Up to twenty-five percent of funds may be used for value-added processed products.

C. By August 1 of each year, subject to available appropriations, the department shall distribute to each participating school food authority the greater of one thousand dollars ($1,000) or an amount equal to ten cents ($.10) multiplied by the number of lunches that qualified for federal free meal reimbursement that the participating school food authority served to students in the preceding school year. When calculating the amount of program funding that is due to a school food authority, the department shall assume that student participation will remain at the same level as the previous year.