MAY 2011

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The National Farm to School Network newsletter highlights pivotal policies, news, publications, and events. Please contact us if you have any comments or suggestions.

Publications

NFSN Contacts
This is the best go-to document for basic Farm to School information as well as a complete list of our national staff, regional leads and state leads. It is updated regularly and re-posted to the same location on our website.

Advisors
The National Farm to School Network welcomes a new Advisory Committee. These experts from across the country will help guide the future of NFSN over the next two years. We are very grateful that each of these highly qualified individuals has agreed to contribute their time to NFSN.

DONATE

The National Farm to School Network has been recognized by Philanthropedia as one of the top ten nonprofits working on childhood nutrition issues. Help us grow grow with a donation through the Philanthropedia portal where you can make a secure, tax-deductible contribution.

VIDEO

Vermont's 4th annual Jr. Iron Chef event was a fantastic success! More than 750 spectators watched students from across the state dice, slice and saute their way to culinary greatness. Check out the action and find a link to the winning recipes on the Root 4 Kids blog.

UPCOMING EVENTS

MAY 11: Spring School Garden Training: New Brunswick, NJ

MAY 11: Spring School Garden Training: Margate, NJ

June 4: Getting Your Green Thumb: Planning, Maintaining , and Teaching from the School Garden, CA

Helpful Links

www.FarmtoSchool.org
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Lunch Bites

NFSN Launches 20-minute Webinar Series

Twenty minutes is all you need to participate in our new "Lunch Bites" webinar series. Short, information-packed presentations covering a variety of Farm to School topics will take place at 12 p.m. CST on the second Tuesday of every month. A short Q&A session will follow the presentation for those who want to dig deeper. Check out the new webinar page on our website for information about upcoming presentations as well as resources, slides and videos from past webinars.

There's still time to register for our next webinar on May 10: Topic: "Evaluating your Farm to School Program: Best Practices and Tools."
Description: As Farm to School programs continue to develop, there is a need to create a strong evidence-base for these efforts to strengthen programs, practices, and policies. This webinar will highlight impacts from a national multi-site evaluation of Farm to School programs conducted by UNC, share tools and evaluation strategies, and provide a framework for identifying and using preferred methods of evaluation by Farm to School programs across the country. Register here.

Policy

Geographic Preference Rule Released

The USDA recently released a final version of the geographic preference rule, which you can read here. To help make sense of the details, take a look at NFSN's final rule summary and this Q&A document about applying geographic preference

Conference

CFSC Seeks Conference Proposals
The Community Food Security Coalition's (CFSC) annual conference, "Food Justice: Honoring Our Roots, Growing the Movement," will take place in Oakland, California on November 5-8, 2011. CFSC is seeking workshop and networking session proposals. This is a great opportunity to highlight your Farm to School efforts. See this document for more details and guidelines. The deadline for submissions is May 13.

Transitions

Marion Kalb Accepts New Position
Marion Kalb of the Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC) will be moving from her position as Co-Director of the National Farm to School Network (NFSN) to another position at CFSC as Director of Training & Technical Assistance. Ms. Kalb will continue to be involved with the NFSN serving as an Advisory Committee member. Ms. Kalb has been an invaluable contributor to the Farm to School movement from its early years, successfully advocating for supportive policies and providing training and assistance to communities nationwide. We wish her success in her new position, and future endeavors.

Top News

Growing a Healthier crop of Kids in Minnesota

By Jenny Kirk, Marshal Independent

In the Third Survey of School Foodservice Leaders, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) reported that number of Minnesota school districts participating in the Farm to School program rose dramatically, from 10 schools in 2006 to its current total of 123 districts. Read the full article

A Chat With USDA's Janey Thorton

By Tom Karst, The Packer

I had the chance to chat on April 26 with Janey Thornton, Deputy Undersecretary of Agriculture for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services. The USDA recently published a rule allowing geographic preference for food purchased for school nutrition programs. Read the entire article

Bill Sparks Worries Over Farm to School Programs

BY DIANE CONNERS, MICHIGAN LAND INSTITUTE

The Michigan House will vote soon on a bill that could force many schools to privatize their food service, raising questions about the fate of popular farm to school programs and whether school cafeterias should be seen as profit centers or, instead, as places to invest in fresher, healthier food for kids. Read the entire article

Local Preschoolers Learn to Tend a Garden

FOX 5 SAN DIEGO

Preschoolers at North County Community Services in Oceanside, Calif. tend a small garden and enjoy its bounty as part of their school lunch. Read the entire article

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