National Involved Groups and Organizations

The following organizations have resources and information to help with your local Farm to School program.
School Lunch Talk
School Lunch Talk dishes out the latest on public school food, from chicken nuggets and chocolate milk to legislation and regulations. In addition to school lunch news and commentary, we run a number of regular columns: - This Week in School Lunch highlights the best and the worst of menus across the country - Legislation Updates keep tabs on school food bills at the federal level - Cafeteria Profiles take a behind-the-scenes look at what goes on in the lunchroom, from menu-planning, to budget woes, to figuring out what to do with USDA commodity beans - Country Watch examines what students eat for school lunch in other countries - Tray Trends looks at the hottest items in school food

Department of Defense Produce Program

The Lunch Box
The Lunch Box is a web-based portal that enables all schools and school districts to make a healthy difference for all children in America by providing relevant information and the pragmatic tools necessary to make good food available for all kids. Tools include scalable recipes, how to’s and student activity guides for salad bar implementation, budget calculators to help school understand the cost of changing to fresh scratch cooked meals, training videos to help implement change, and multitudes of the latest research and resources aggregated from experts working around the country in school food change.

Sustainable Agriculture Coalition
The Sustainable Agriculture Coalition is a national alliance of farm, rural development, and conservation groups that organized in 1988 to affect federal agriculture policy. SAC member groups advance common positions to support small and mid-size family farms, protect natural resources, promote healthy rural communities, and provide nutritious and healthy food to consumers. By bringing grassroots perspectives to the table normally dominated by big business, SAC levels the playing field and gives voice to sustainable and organic farmers.

Kids and Nutrition
Kids And Nutrition is a UK based website offering a unique reference point on maintaining a healthy and nutritious diet in children. The website features and articles are written by professionals with expertise and interest on the topics.

Action for Healthy Kids
A public-private partnership of more than 50 national organizations and government agencies representing education, health, fitness and nutrition, Action for Healthy Kids addresses the epidemic of overweight, sedentary, and undernourished youth by focusing on changes in schools to improve nutrition and increase physical activity. Thousands of volunteer administrators, educators, health professionals, parents, and others take action at the state, district, and school building level through Action for Healthy Kids' Teams in all 50 states, New York City, and the District of Columbia, because healthy children learn better.

Slow Food USA - School Food in Schools Program
Slow Food in Schools - Garden-to-Table projects rest on the three building blocks of pleasure, tradition, and sustainability. Ranging from after-school cooking classes to farm tours to schoolyard gardens, our Garden to Table projects are diverse yet all involve the fundamental principles of Slow Food. All projects are hands-on and create a direct connection between children and their food source, emphasizing the pleasures of taste and the table.

To Nourish
Sharon Vecchiarelli, CHHC is a certified holistic nutrition education and counseling. While most dietitians dwell on calories, carbs, fats, proteins, restrictions and lists of good and bad foods, she works with her clients to create a happy, healthy life in a way that is flexible, fun and free of denial and discipline.

New Orleans Food & Farm Network
The New Orleans Food & Farm Network believes everyone should have access to fresh, healthy, and sustainably produced food for the long-term health of our environment, economy, and communities. We work with individuals, organizations, growers and communities to help make fresh, healthy food more accessible to everyone.

World Hunger Year: Food Security Learning Center
This WHY webpage provides links to Farm to Cafeteria under the following subject areas: General, Farm to School, Farm to College, Farm to School Curriculum, and Farm to Hospital Programs.

Food Family Farming Foundation
Our Mission: To provide tools that enable all schools, parents, advocates, students, administrators, teachers and food service staff to progress from serving highly processed, unhealthy food to serving fresh, scratch-cooked food.
Our Work: F3 is focusing its efforts on The Lunch Box: Healthy Tools To Help All Schools and Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools, which grants equipment to schools throughout the US to help support simple steps toward sustainable, nourishing school food systems.

Real Food Alliance
We build, manage and maintain local farm-direct relationships, and provide healthy-living strategies for our DFW community members. We "cultivate change, breaking conventional food chains, one bite at a time".

USDA Farm to School Team
The USDA Farm to School Team is comprised of staff from AMS and FNS and works to provide resources, support and technical assistance to State Agencies, School Food Authorities, non-profits and farmers implementing Farm to School activities.

Food and Nutrition Service