Farm-to-School

The Campaign has taken a leadership role in the ongoing discussion of farm-to-school programs in Illinois by convening a meeting of school food service directors, farmer organizations, and some key government agencies to discuss Illinois’ participation in the U.S. Department of Agriculture/Department of Defense Fresh Produce program in 2002. Shortly after the meeting, the State Board of Education decided to participate in the program. This program allows approximately $2 million of commodity funding to be used to purchase fresh produce. While participation in the program does not specifically require purchasing from local farms with sustainably-grown products, it is a step in the right direction, as schools are now encouraged to buy food locally under the 2002 Farm Bill.

More recently, the Campaign has also:

• Conducted a survey and summary report of school food service directors to gather information about the food programs in their districts and their level of interest in farm-to-school programs.
• Convened farm-to-school planning meetings between local growers, food service directors and farmers market coordinators to discuss barriers and opportunities to begin pilot projects at a local level.
• Provided public education and raised awareness about the problem of childhood obesity, the need to improve school meal programs, and the benefits of farm-to-school projects.

Similarly, many other individuals and organizations are developing or have developed farm-to-school programs in their local communities.

For instance, Ruth Jonen, food service director from Township High School District 211 in Northwestern Cook County, has been buying produce for its food service programs from the Schaumburg Farmer’s Market for over a decade.

Serving five high schools in the communities of Palatine and Schaumburg in northwestern Cook County, Illinois, District 211 begins purchasing from the Farmer’s Market in August for the beginning of the school year, and continues until the market ends in mid-October. The produce serves the lunch needs of students in the district’s high schools, which have enrollments ranging from 2,000 to 2,800. Food service managers for each school select what they want and need and each takes the food to his or her school building with the help of a custodial staff person.

Likewise, Seven Generations Ahead’s “Fresh From the Farm” program links communities to local farmers who use environmentally responsible practices, and works to incorporate locally raised, healthy food into school lunch programs. The organization is at work in a few Chicago Metropolitan schools, helping to create healthy environments in which kids can achieve their best and develop healthy eating habits that will last a lifetime.

Farm-to-School Resources:

Slow Food USA: www.slowfoodusa.org
Slow Food USA’s Slow Food in Schools is a unique national program of garden-to-table projects for children that cultivates the senses and teaches an ecological approach to food.

The Edible Schoolyard: www.edibleschoolyard.org
The Edible Schoolyard, in collaboration with Martin Luther King Middle School, engages 950 public school students in a one-acre organic garden and a kitchen classroom. Using food as a unifying concept, students learn how to grow, harvest, and prepare nutritious seasonal produce. Experiences in the kitchen and garden foster a better understanding of how the natural world sustains us, and promote the environmental and social well-being of our school community

National Farm-to-School Program: www.farmtoschool.org
The National Farm to School Program is a project of the Center for Food and Justice, a division of the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College. The project brings together nine partners from four states to work on promoting farm-to-school programs nationwide.

Rethinking School Lunch:
A program developed by the Center for Ecoliteracy and uses a systems approach to address the crisis in childhood obesity, provide nutrition education, and teach ecological knowledge. The guide provides a planning framework that contains tools and creative solutions to the challenges of improving school lunch programs, academic performance, ecological knowledge, and the well-being of our children. In its chapters, accessible below, experts and practitioners highlight goals and challenges, showcase success stories, and offer resources for further exploration. Available at: http://ecoliteracy.org/programs/rsl.html.