Minnesota state senator Al Franken delivers a brief but excellent interview on the importance of increasing access to local food:
July 2010
12 posts
Sowing Seeds: Improving Food Quality with Farm to School Programs
From the cafeteria to the classroom and beyond, farm to school programs offer children and communities a myriad of benefits including increases in consumption of healthier foods such as fruits and vegetables, and knowledge and awareness of where food comes from.
This webinar will describe how these changes can be achieved, highlight the National Farm to School network and its resources, and provide an in depth look at current federal opportunities that exist to support farm to school efforts. Additionally, this discussion will also lift up the case study of Oregon, where a pilot program successfully increased children’s access to fruits and vegetables in schools.
Play
An interview with Debra Eschmeyer and her present and future vision for the food movement at Civil Eats:
http://civileats.com/2010/07/20/faces-visions-of-the-food-movement-debra-eschmeyer/
The National Farm to School Network’s own Debra Eschmeyer discusses the new rise of gardening and what it can do for American youth at Civil Eats in “Gardening for the Next Generation”:
http://civileats.com/2010/07/16/gardening-for-the-next-generation/
Ed Bruske at Better D.C. School Food explores local produce in the cafeteria in his post “What Does ‘Local’ Mean For School Food?”:
“One of the reasons schools don’t use more local produce is because local farmers are not connected to a large-scale distribution system.”
read more at: http://betterdcschoolfood.blogspot.com/2010/07/what-does-local-mean-for-school-food.html
Here’s a great farm to school opportunity for Washington farmers:
Washington School Nutrition Association and the Washington State Department of Agriculture Farm-to-School Program are partnering to celebrate Washington agriculture on September 29th with “Taste Washington Day”. Schools around the state will be serving a locally-sourced meal and providing education and activities to celebrate the farms that feed us.
WSDA Farm-to-School Program will provide support to match up farms and schools and facilitate the purchasing process. We would love to include your farm as a participating farm. Many school nutrition directors are off for part of the summer, so we’d like to start the process as soon as possible.
See more at: http://blog.eatlocalfood.com/2010/07/taste-washington-day.html
Oklahoma’s Farm to School program helps combat obesity and educates children about agriculture and nutrition and can include field trips to local farms. Not only does the program help kids learn about health and nutrition, it’s also good for rural economic development.
http://diabetes-care.adw-in.com/oklahoma-schools-better-than-ok
The House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee marked up and approved the annual 2011 spending bill for USDA and FDA that now includes $2 million to USDA to help staff its Farm to School Tactical Teams to help school districts purchase more local food from local farms.
http://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/house-markups-ag-spending-bill/
