10/23/2017 WASHINGTON Across the countryside, October is a time to harvest, and for folks at the National Farm-to-school network, to get that harvest onto lunch trays in nearby school district as part of National Farm-to-school month. Sarah Mock has more from Washington.

Schools are finding many ways to celebrate National Farm-to-school month.

“All across the country, there’s different farm to school activities. Some schools are doing one day apple crunch, where everyone at the same time is biting into an apple. The thought is that it’ll resonate throughout the whole state […] some states are doing farm tours, they’re getting their different lawmakers and legislators in the field to learn about the different farmers who are providing fruits and vegetables.”

But programs represented by The National Farm-to-school network go beyond putting local produce in school cafeterias.

“Farm-to-school basically has three core elements, it’s local procurement, so getting fruits and vegetables as well as meat and fish into local schools. It’s also agriculture education, so teaching kids where their food comes from, and it’s also food gardens.”

And national support for farm-to-school programs is only growing. The recently introduced Farm-to-school Act, championed by Senators Leahy and Cochran, will increase funding and provide additional resources for early childhood centers and native communities. Similar state level programs are already underway.

“States like Oregon just passed it’s Farm-to-school Bill that allocated about 4.5 million dollars to offset costs for local foods. Why did they do that? […] they believe that once you have the possibility at scale, the price comes down. So when you’re purchasing from one or two or three farmers, of course there will be a cost issue, but as you get more school districts involved and get the economies of scale involved, not just in theory, but we see it in every industry, those prices come down substantially.”

The Secretary Of Agriculture has advocated for more flexibility for schools that have struggled to secure affordable ingredients that children want to eat. But Merrill agrees with the USDA’s Anne Hazlett that Farm-to-school Programs are about rural community development, not just school nutrition.

“we see procurement issues even with local fruits and vegetables, basically that the products just aren’t out there yet. and we know it puts pressure on these folks who we know are providing nutritious meals to our students, but we all need to work forward to do more to, you know, make sure they have the amount of vendors available, make sure we’re supporting local farm programs that will help them develop those local economies.”

The USDA says that american schools purchased nearly $790 million in local food from farmers, ranchers, fishermen, food processors and manufacturers in a single school year, which they predict will drive over a billion dollars in local economic activity. now that’
According to the USDA, 42% of american school districts participate in farm-to-school activities, representing more than 5,000 districts and more than 42,000 individual schools.

With
Maximillian Merrill, National Farm-to-school Network Policy Advisor


Sarah Mock
Washington Bureau Chief, RFD-TV
@Sarah_K_Mock

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