Farm to School

Contents

Farm to School:
nourishing kids and community.

What is Farm to School?

Farm to School is broadly defined as a program that connects schools (K-12) and local farms with the objectives of serving healthy meals in school cafeterias, improving student nutrition, providing agriculture, health and nutrition education opportunities, and supporting local and regional farmers.

Since each Farm to School program is shaped by its unique community and region, the National Farm to School Network does not prescribe or impose a list of practices or products for the Farm to School approach.

Farm to School at its core is about establishing relationships between local foods and school children by way of including, but not limited to:

• Local products in school meals –breakfast, lunch, afterschool snacks; and in classrooms – snacks, taste tests, educational tools.
• Local foods related curriculum development and experiential learning opportunities through school gardens, farm tours, farmer in the classroom sessions, chefs in the classroom, culinary education, educational sessions for parents and community members, visits to farmers’ markets.

The National Farm to School Network aims to enable every child to have access to nutritious food while simultaneously benefiting communities and local farmers.

Benefits of Farm to School:

• Strengthen children’s and communities’ knowledge about, and attitudes toward, agriculture, food, nutrition and the environment.
• Increase children’s participation in the school meals program and consumption of fruits and vegetables, thereby improving childhood nutrition, reducing hunger, and preventing obesity and obesity-related diseases.
• Benefit school food budgets, after start-up, if planning and menu choices are made consistent with seasonal availability of fresh and minimally processed whole foods.
• Support economic development across numerous sectors and promote job creation.
• Increase market opportunities for farmers, fishers, ranchers, food processors and food manufacturers.
• Decrease the distance between producers and consumers, thus promoting food security while reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and reliance on oil.

Download our brochure, contact information, chronology, and list of accomplishments.

Farm to School brings healthy food from local farms to school children nationwide. The program teaches students about the path from farm to fork, and instills healthy eating habits that can last a lifetime. At the same time, use of local produce in school meals and educational activities provides a new direct market for farmers in the area and mitigates environmental impacts of transporting food long distances.

More than 30 million children eat a school lunch five days a week, 180 days a year. If school lunch can taste great, and support the local community, it is a win-win for everyone.

The National Farm to School Network sprouted from this desire to support community-based food systems, strengthen family farms, and improve student health by reducing childhood obesity. Eight regional lead agencies and national staff provide free training and technical assistance, information services, networking, and support for policy, media and marketing activities. Farm to School is a comprehensive program that extends beyond farm fresh salad bars and local foods in the cafeteria to include waste management programs like composting, and experiential education opportunities such as planting school gardens, cooking demonstrations and farm tours. The Farm to School approach helps children understand where their food comes from and how their food choices impact their bodies, the environment and their communities at large.

National Farm to School Network

The National Farm to School Network is a collaborative project of the Center for Food & Justice (CFJ), a division of the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College and the Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC).

The overarching objective of the National Farm to School Network is to create a viable and sustainable structure to promote, institutionalize and catalyze farm to school programs as viable models for improving the economic viability of family-scale farmers and child nutrition. We strive to achieve this objective through the following goals:

1. To support state and national policy efforts for developing regulations and legislation that addresses policy barriers and develops new opportunities for farm to school programs.
    
2. To increase visibility and momentum about farm to school programs as a strategy to strengthen family farms and local economies, and reduce childhood obesity through a coordinated marketing and media campaign at the state, regional and national levels.
    
3. To update and revise existing informational resources on farm to school to reflect the growth and complexity of programs, regional differences and develop new resources to meet any gaps. To develop improved systems to collect and compile information from existing farm to school programs, including evaluation data.
    
4. To develop networking systems among existing farm to school programs to share information and lessons learned to avoid “reinventing the wheel.”
    
5. To provide training and technical assistance to school administrators, food service, parents, farmers and community members, and others interested at the state, regional and national level.

HISTORY

The National Farm to School Network is a collaborative project of the Center for Food & Justice (CFJ), a division of the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College and the Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC). From just a handful in the late 1990’s, Farm to School programs have spread to approximately 400 in 2004, 1,000 in 2007 and over 2,000 in 2009 spanning 40 states. Click here for the Chronology of Farm to School.

Origins of the National Farm to School Network date back to a collaborative project, the National Farm to School Program, led by the Center for Food & Justice in 2000. A four-year project funded by the USDA Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems (IFAFS 2000-2004), the National Farm to School Program spearheaded the development of the farm to school movement across the country, successfully assisting organizations in starting up and sustaining farm to school efforts, fundraising, and providing informational resources, education and training for stakeholders.

In order to sustain and build on the momentum created through the National Farm to School Program, over 30 organizations across the nation gathered in 2005 to explore the opportunities for a collaborative national farm to school structure that strengthened and expanded activities in states with existing programs and assisted others that did not yet have programs. Out of this planning process supported by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the National Farm to School Network was born in 2007. Eight regional lead agencies and national staff provide free training and technical assistance, information services, networking, and support for policy, media and marketing activities. The National Farm to School Network is supported in part by a $2.4 million grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Click here for a summary of our accomplishments.

Contact Debra Eschmeyer for more information and join our network here.

Also contact: Le Adams - Farm to Table / Southwest Marketing Network / National Farm to School Network-Southwest.

The Farm to School Network is jointly managed by staff from the two organizations:

Center for Food & Justice
Urban & Environmental Policy Institute
Occidental College
1600 Campus Road | Mail Stop M1
Los Angeles, CA 90041
www.foodandjustice.org · www.uepi.oxy.edu

Anupama Joshi - Program Director
Tel: 323-341-5095
Fax: 323-258-2917

Debra Eschmeyer - Outreach & Marketing Director
Tel: 419-753-3412
Cell: 419-905.8612

Community Food Security Coalition
www.foodsecurity.org

Marion Kalb - Program Director
3900 Paseo del Sol
Santa Fe, NM 87505
Tel: 505-474-5782
Fax: 505-473-3421

Megan Lott - Program Policy Manager 
110 Maryland Ave NE #307
Washington DC 20002
Tel: 202-543-8602
Fax: 202-543-0978