Back to Lunch 2008


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As the farm to school movement builds, this newsletter highlights pivotal policies, news, publications, and events with this month's focus on Back to School. Please contact us if you have any comments or suggestions.

Spotlight

Farm to School Highlights

With the ringing of the first 2008-2009 school bells, farm to school programs continue to grow across the nation. Here are some highlights:

- Farm to School in Wisconsin is getting a big boost this coming school year with the start of a new Farm to School AmeriCorps program. Twenty half-time AmeriCorps members will be assigned to 10 school sites across the state to facilitate the purchase of local foods for school meal and snack programs and to facilitate food/nutrition educational activities with students.

- A grant from Kaiser Permanente Community Fund will subsidize approximately 2,640,000 meals with the funds needed to serve more Oregon grown and processed foods in Portland Public Schools and Gervais School District.

- The Congressional Hunger Center and Victory Wholesale Group grant awards to 25 organizations for innovative farm to school programs.

- The Durango Farm to School program was selected by the Rhode Island School of Design to be part of an exhibit called Partly Sunny during the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

- Great press attention from an article in the Wall Street Journal to local television coverage. Check it out!

Featured Profile

Partner with PTA to Promote Healthy Lifestyles

PTA Healthy Lifestyles is helping communities make health and wellness a priority throughout the month of November. Be part of the program!

Partner with a local PTA on a November event promoting regular exercise, good nutrition, or other healthy habits. Then, encourage the local unit to apply for a PTA Healthy Lifestyles Award of up to $1,000 to support those plans.

In 2007, hundreds of PTAs across the country held health fairs; encouraged students to walk or ride their bikes to school; introduced families to new, nutritious foods; and launched ongoing fitness programs to celebrate Healthy Lifestyles. For their outstanding commitment to promoting health and wellness in their communities, 40 PTAs received PTA Healthy Lifestyles Awards.

This year’s award applications are due Friday, September 5, 2008.For more information, go to www.pta.org/healthylifestyles.

Coming Soon

Farm to Cafteria Tracks at CFSC Conference

This year’s Community Food Security Coalition annual conference will focus on access to healthy food: how many communities have been transformed into food deserts; the health and economic impacts that these communities face; and the policy and grassroots-based solutions to this ever growing problem. From October 4-8 in Philadelphia, the following farm to cafteria tracks will be offered:

Issues for 2009 Child Nutrition Reauthorization Legislation
Every 5 years Congress reviews and makes changes to all child nutrition programs. This workshop will include such discussion topics as nutrition standards for foods that compete with school lunches, the need for increased school lunch reimbursements in order to meet higher nutrition standards and meal quality, and farm to school and other related issues in school breakfast, summer food and child care food programs.

The Secrets of Successful Farm to College Programs
Through a panel of experienced food service and farmer veterans working on farm to college projects at private liberal arts colleges and a community technical college, you will gain detailed insights into the nitty gritty details of how to make farm to college projects sustainable.

Public-private Partnerships Propel Farm to School
Participants will learn how dynamic private-public partnerships have resulted in institutionalizing farm to school on a statewide level through new locally grown and processed foods for schools, as well as new local and state level programs and policies.

The State of the State Farm to School Programs
A handful of states have dedicated funding to farm to school positions within state agencies. With state budget cuts, how was support developed for funding? Do these farm to school positions make sense for all states? State funded farm to school staffers will address these and other questions.

Assessing the Impacts of Farm-to-Institution Programs: On-going Research and Implications for Action
This session will present selected findings from farm to institution research, evaluation and outreach efforts, and explore perspectives of students, farmers, distributors and food service buyers. Results from a USDA National Research Initiative and an evaluation of the National Farm to School Network will be shared. Discussion will focus on what these findings mean for growing farm to institution efforts, to people developing similar programs, and how they can help support current or beginning efforts.

Join us at the Farm to School meeting on Tuesday, October 7th 4:00-5:30 during the Committee Meetings time slot.

Register now!

This Month's News

Some schools to start serving local, seasonal foods

KATU TV.

Students in the Portland and Gervais school districts will have much healthier, and local, options for lunch this year.
Watch the video.

Eat Up, Kids, This Spud's for You

by Anne Marie Chaker. Wall Street Journal.

With the dawn of the 2008-09 school year, districts across the country are signing on to the burgeoning "farm-to-school" movement. As a result, a number of school districts have cut back on fruits and vegetables purchased from large distributors in favor of working individually with local farmers. While that can be more expensive and may involve more work -- from procurement to preparation -- food directors say it pays dividends in fresher, better-tasting produce that more kids eat. Read the entire article.

Schools seek Virginia produce

by Kim Barto. Martinsville Bulletin.

Local school divisions say they want to serve more Virginia-grown produce in their cafeterias through a new state program, but first they need to connect with local farmers who have crops to sell. The Farm to School program, a national program administered here by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS), is meant to give students access to fresh, nutritious food choices and support local agriculture. Read the entire article.

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