What’s not to like about farm-to-school programs? If you’re not familiar with the term, it means just what it sounds like: programs that bring farm-fresh, local foods to public and even private schools so that kids can enjoy great nutrition. The programs also offer excellent educational opportunities, bringing students to farms, and chefs to classrooms, while at the same time giving local farmers a great place to sell their products. Read on, and we’ll take a look at 10 farm-to-school programs that are doing a great job. Read more…
Archive for school food service
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September/October, 2011 • Excerpt from Organic Connections (Natural Vitality)
Three years ago, the name Tony Geraci was known to only a few in the school food industry. Now school systems across the country are begging to see him; top food service companies are courting him; he’s on a first-name basis with food activist legends such as Michael Pollan; and there’s even been a major documentary film, Cafeteria Man, made about him.
But back in 2008 when he first arrived in the Baltimore City Schools to take the job of food service director, not many knew of his appointment. He had been a successful chef, food broker, food manufacturer and food service director before he was hired by Dr. Andrés Alonso, CEO of Baltimore City Schools, for the express purpose of transforming an extremely distressed food program into something nutritious and good for the students. Read more…
Exclusive Interview with Kathleen Merrigan: Farm to School Movement Comes of Age
By Farm2School
Monday,
July
18th,
2011
July 12th, 2011 • Excerpt from Civil Eats, Twilight Greenaway
It’s a big day for the farm to school movement. At the 2011 School Nutrition Association national convention in Nashville today, Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced a comprehensive, groundbreaking report on the current state of farm to school efforts around the country. Download the full report here.
The data in the report was complied by the USDA Farm to School Team (comprised of both Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) and Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) staff), which made visits to 15 school districts (over what time frame) in a wide range of states. Merrigan spoke with Civil Eats earlier today about the findings and how it might shape the farm to school landscape of the future. read more…
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June 2, 2011 • Excerpt from Fooducate Blog
School lunches, served daily to millions of children across the nation, are a nutritional mess. What can you expect from a meal that must cost less than $2 per child? Subsidized by the USDA through surplus agricultural commodities and extensively processed to lower costs and extend shelf-life and transportability, these lunches must improve. They have become a focal point in the war against obesity.
Now some good news from Hawaii:
Starting in August, 15 entrees in the 25-day monthly menu cycle will be made from scratch in Hawaii public schools, where 100,000 meals are served daily in the nation’s 10th largest school system and the only statewide district in the country. read more…
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Tags : school food service
May 26, 2011 • Excerpt from Capital Press, Dan Wheat
WENATCHEE, Wash. — Wenatchee School District buys about 20 percent of its produce for school lunches directly from local farms, and its food services director says it’s a good way to meet new federal criteria for more fruits and vegetables.
Kent Getzin said he increased local buying for better quality, improved student nutrition and to support local farms.
Students are educated about what grows locally, said Vicki Kelley, Getzin’s secretary.
Last fall, Kelley helped high school kitchen staff get students to sample about a dozen heirloom varieties of tomatoes in school hallways.
“We set up tables and sliced all these goofy looking tomatoes and encouraged kids to try them,” she said.
“Some would say, ‘I don’t like tomatoes,’ and I would say, ‘You should try this one. It’s lower in acid and a little sweeter,’” she said.
Students liked the tomatoes, she said.
The district began buying apples from local fruit giant Stemilt Growers Inc. 12 years ago but buys from several area farms now and places orders before the growing season.
“We get great variety,” Getzin said.
The district buys most of its local produce in the fall, but it buys potatoes, winter squash and apples year-round. Suppliers include Cloud View Eco Farms in Royal City, Smithson Ranch and T&T Farms near Wenatchee and Yaksum Canyon Truck Farm near Peshastin.
“The Wenatchee School District is way ahead of the curve on this,” Getzin said, noting the buy-local concept appears new to other school food service directors. read more…
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February 11, 2011 • Excerpt from Alaska Food Policy Council
Support funding for school gardens!
Alaska House Bill 93, “An act relating to school gardens, greenhouses, and farms,” provides for funding of school growing programs through matching funds and a small percentage of annual operating support for school districts.
It would enable community nonprofits to work with school systems to help ensure the long-term prospects for teaching, nutrition, and health programs that use school gardens, farms, or greenhouses. The food should be used in the district meal programs.
More information is available from Calypso Farm & Ecology Center, which operates a school garden program in the Fairbanks area, and Representative David Guttenberg’s office. Guttenberg explained his rationale for the bill in his legislative report for January 22, 2011. read more…
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February 4, 2011 • Excerpt from Seattle’s Child, Rebekah Denn
Eric Boutin knows his way around a good kitchen. The son of a chef, he grew up cooking and waiting tables. Eventually, he managed a restaurant. Now he’s a member of Slow Food Seattle and an advocate for whole, healthy foods.
Those are unusual resume details for his newest job, nutrition director for Seattle Public Schools. But in an age of White House gardens and food revolutions, Boutin’s arrival may signal a sea change in school lunches, notoriously known as food wastelands.
Before coming to the state’s largest school district, Boutin held the same spot in the Auburn schools, where he was hailed for moves like bringing in fruits and vegetables from local farmers, promoting conversations that led to a ban on chocolate milk at elementary breakfasts, and supporting a student garden meant to supply cafeterias. (He’s also worked in various Eastside school districts, as well as with a software company specializing in the food service industry.)
Seattle’s Child recently chatted with Boutin about his goal to bring healthier foods into the schools – and what barriers he faces. read more…
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On February 8, 2011, an article appeared in The Daily Meal online magazine featuring 10 of America’s best school lunch programs – Orcas Island is one of them!! The Huffington Post online magazine also picked up the story. View slide show and article
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December 17, 2010 • Excerpt from TEAFP Alliance Blog – Foodlinks America Newsletter
Now that the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act has become law, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will be challenged to put policy theory into practice expeditiously and fairly. The Department will be called on to address meal standards, restrictions on junk food, direct purchases of farm goods, and numerous other issues in the course of implementing the Hunger-Free Kids Act.
Undoubtedly one of the most contentious issues will be revised nutrition standards for school and childcare meals, standards that directly address America’s child obesity epidemic. For the first time in 30 years, USDA has been given the authority to regulate the availability and quality of all foods served on a school campus during the entire school day, along with an extra six cents per meal for upgrading the menu. However, the National School Boards Association is already saying that “the actual increased cost of compliance” will require twice as much money as the Act provides. read more…
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December 17, 2010 • Excerpt from TEAFP Alliance Blog – Foodlinks America Newsletter
President Barrack Obama signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act on December 13, 2010, capping a two-year effort to reauthorize and strengthen the nation’s nutrition assistance programs for children. The legislation will increase meal reimbursement rates for the first time in 30 years, ease program access so more low-income children can be fed, and simplify paperwork for participants and administrators alike.
However, finalizing the reauthorization of child nutrition programs has had significant repercussions for other programs, notably the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps. The Hunger-Free Kids Act relies, in part, on $2.2 billion in SNAP funds to pay for child nutrition improvements. Adding in another $11.9 billion in future SNAP benefits reprogrammed in August 2010 to pay for a jobs bill, a total of $14.1 billion in SNAP funds has now been redirected to pay for other government services and avoid further growth of the national debt.
But the trend is worrisome. “We are concerned about recent moves to balance the federal budget on the backs of poor and hungry people – including the cuts to SNAP benefits used to pay some of the cost of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act,” Kathy Mulvey, policy director for the Community Food Security Coalition told Foodlinks America. “Times are hard enough for people struggling to makes ends meet. Protecting SNAP is critical not only to address food insecurity, but also to prevent future efforts to raid federal nutrition programs,” she added. read more…
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Tags : legislation, school food service
Upcoming Events
- JCF2S Meeting • TBD
Help the School Gardens
We love volunteers!!
If you would like to work with kids or contribute your gardening, farming or administrative experience to our program, please email our volunteer coordinator or go to our “get involved” page to find out more about volunteer opportunities. We often need help in the garden and kitchen, as well as skilled help in carpentry, landscaping, arts & crafts, sewing, photography, videography, grant writing and other miscellaneous tasks.
Must Read Articles
- "Trouble on the Tray" – USA Today series on school lunch safety
- As demand grows for locally raised meat, farmers turn to mobile slaughterhouses
- Bill on School Lunch Is Scaled Back. Criticism of School Lunch Isn’t.
- Child Nutrition Reauthorization: Healthy, Hunger-free Kids Act of 2010
- Farm to School Investment Yields a Healthy Return into State Coffers
- Fast-food standards for meat top those for school lunches
- Old-hen meat fed to pets and schoolkids
Food Initiatives & Resources
- Cafeteria Man (The Movie)
- Center For Ecoliteracy: A New Agenda For School Food
- Chef Ann Cooper: The Renegade Lunch Lady
- Community Food Security Coalition
- Ecotrust Food & Farms
- Farm to School.org
- Fed Up With Lunch: The School Lunch Project
- National Farm to School Network (YouTube)
- Organic School Lunch Program (YouTube)
- The Lunch Box: Healthy Tools to Help All Schools
- USDA Farm to School
- WA Farm to School
Jefferson County Farm to Schools Coalition is a community-based group working to improve the nutritional value of food served in Jefferson County schools.
- » To educate students, their families, school staff and community members of the importance of childhood nutrition.
- » To advocate for fresh, whole and seasonal foods in place of highly processed ones.
- » To support the school board and administrators, food service providers and farmers, and to overcome barriers to buying and serving local and regionally grown foods.
- » To assist in making school gardening projects successful.
Jefferson County Farm to Schools Coalition
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Copyright © 2012 All Rights Reserved