Vermont Resources & Publications
Evaluation Tools & Reports
Impact Assessment of Vermont Farm2School Program - Executive Summaryby John Ryan April 2006
The driving goal in the Farm2School initiative is to promote healthier children and a healthier Vermont food system. Buying more fresh local produce should be seen as a means to achieving those goals. In the short-term, the capacity of the food system to
increase purchases of Vermont products is limited. At whatever level of purchase, the value of buying fresh local food is greatly enhanced by the direct connection of healthy eating with a place-based nutritional and agricultural curriculum. Student participation in discovering, growing, recipe-making, cooking, and tasting these foods represents the crucial link that drives real change in eating habits. Local school food purchases alone will not change basic nutritional values nor will it serve to secure the future of local
agriculture in Vermont. Vermont agriculture's self-interest in this effort is a long-term one: their participation will develop the connection with and loyalty of the next generation of healthier-eating, Vermont consumers.
Impact Assessment of Vermont Farm2School Program - Final Report
by John Ryan April 2006
The analysis begins by asking a number of questions:
How much Vermont farm produce and dairy product does the Vermont school food program currently purchase?
What key challenges stand in the way of increasing Vermont food purchases and local Farm2School Partnerships?
What actions would increase the likelihood of overcoming the challenges to reaching increased levels of activity?
What represents a realistic increase in the level of Vermont farm purchases over the next five years? What represents a realistic increase in the number of local Farm2School partnerships over the next several years?
What impacts would those actions have on key participants in the school food system, including farmers, school food workers, food distributors, local and state governments, parents and children?
How to Get Started
How Do We Feed Vermont's School Children :An Insiders Guide to Vermont School Meals and How To Improby Vermont FEED
The purpose of this primer is:
- To outline how Vermont schools currently provide meals to
their children.
- To show how the Farm2School initiative is working with schools to
encourage greater use of fresh local foods and helping Vermont
children make wiser, healthier choices about the food they eat.
Vermont Farm to School: A Guide for Connecting Farms to Schools and Communities
by VT Food Education Every Day January 2007
Contains information and resources on: how to market farm products for use in schools; how to use a farm for education with students; hands-on, farm-based educational activities; how to connect farms to their communities. Please contact VT Feed for a copy of this booklet.
Case Studies & Feasibility Analysis
Farm to School: Case Studies and Resources for Successby Compiled by Alison Harmon Pennsylvania State University January 2004
A case study of the farm to school project in Vermont (p. 19). (PDF)
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VT Farm to School: A guide for Using Local Food in Schools
by VT Food Education Every Day Booklet January 2007
Includes step by step process for starting local purchasing in schools; success stories about farm-to-cafeteria relationships (K-12); seasonal recipes and menu ideas. Contact VT FEED for copies
Analysis of School Food and Local Purchasing in Vermont Schools, 2003-2004
by Vermont FEED December 2004
This report is a first attempt to quantify current, and potential, local food purchasing by schools in Vermont during the 2003-2004 school year. A literature review and situational analysis of other economic analyses of school food purchasing nationwide was undertaken in the beginning of this report. This will provide a context for this Vermont local purchasing analysis. The micro-analysis of the study group (ten schools and the largest Vermont school district with nine schools), offered an opportunity to, in detail, analyze the purchasing of fresh produce during the 2003-2004 school year. A macro-analysis was accomplished through interviewing distributors which currently deliver to Vermont schools.
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Farm-to-School Purchasing Builds Social Equity in Vermont
by Benjamin King, Jane Kolodinsky, Erin Roche, Linda Berlin, Abbie Nelson, Kim Norris Poster March 2009
Statewide data from Vermont show that food service providers in low-income school districts are no less likely to purchase local foods than food service directors in high-income school districts.
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