Pennsylvania Media Coverage

Not your father by The Reporter. Pennlive.com. Published 08/29/2011.
Pamela Gallagher, coordinator of School Nutrition Services in the North Penn School District, said, “We’ll continue to work at creating exciting, appetizing meals for kids that are also healthy and nourishing," as students prepare to return to the classroom, school food serve departments are gearing up to entice them to eat healthy with tasty offerings. The district is involved in the Farm to School program and cafeterias will also stock fresh apples, pears, peaches and apple cider from Frecon Farms in Boyertown and lettuce from Ray Gehman’s Greenhouse in Franconia. Read the entire article.

Farms Do No Harm: Volume I - Spring-Ford Could Adopt Farm to School by Jennifer Hetrick. Limerick, Royersford and Spring City Patch. Published 07/27/2011.
With the multi-faceted benefits of buying regionally raised food becoming broadly recognized, more and more schools and districts throughout the country are moving toward purchasing the freshest samplings of nourishment. Read the entire article.

Upper Moreland School District Grows and Grows by Gerry Dungan. Upper Moreland WillowGrove Patch. Published 07/25/2011.
The Upper Moreland School District has taken nourishing its students to the next level. Through its wellness program, the district was able to procure a $6,500 Farm to School grant, received last July. With this grant, the district has been able to make unprecedented headway in promoting nutrition and healthy choices among its student body. Read the entire article.

Farm-to-School project premieres in Mt. Laurel by Kevin Haslam. The Central Record. Published 06/01/2011.
The Mount Laurel school district premiered its participation in the Farm-to-School program in early May. Food Service Director Stella Crawford, who has been with the district for eight years, debuted the program and was happy to see all of the fresh produce that came in, including farm fresh strawberries, tomatoes, radishes and garden salads. Read the entire article.

'Kidnapping' a fundraiser for farm program . Philly Burbs. Published 03/17/2011.
A mock "kidnapping" will take place this morning at the Snipes Farm & Education Center in Falls to raise money for the farm's education program. Before calling the donors, the volunteers will be treated to a breakfast of green eggs and ham, the spokeswoman said. They'll also get a look at the farm's effort to teach sustainable farming through its school program and its community supported agriculture initiative, the spokeswoman said. Read the entire article.

Norristown students learn about healthy food choices by MELISSA BROOKS. The Times Herald. Published 02/06/2011.
It’s no secret: Many studies have shown childhood obesity is associated with various health problems, including high cholesterol, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, asthma and sleep apnea. And while for many Americans, old food habits die hard, children only know what they’re taught. Read the entire article.

Foods from farm to school by Amanda Cregan. The Intelligencer. Published 11/18/2009.
At Palisades School District, school board members are among a growing number of school officials across the country looking to bring organic and locally grown food from the farm to the school. Read the entire article.

Agriculture, Education Departments Launch Farm to School Program. Earth Times. Published 09/22/2009.
Pennsylvania's students stand to benefit from better nutrition and enhanced education through a new program linking schools with local farms, Pennsylvania Agriculture acting Secretary Russell Redding and Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak announced today. Read the entire article.

Secretaries of Agriculture, Education to Launch Joint Farm to School Program. Reuters. Published 09/21/2009.
Department of Agriculture acting Secretary Russell Redding and Education Secretary Gerald L. Zahorchak will hold a news conference at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 22, at Great Valley School District in Malvern, Chester County, to announce a joint partnership to encourage schools to plant sustainable gardens. Read the entire article.

Rural schools go loco for local food by Joe Smydo. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Published 09/03/2009.
In Elk County, about 120 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, Ridgway Area School District Superintendent Tom Butler is planning a lesson in nutrition and economics for the entire community. On Sept. 16, Dr. Butler wants to serve the district's 1,000 students a meal made almost entirely from locally grown and raised foods. Read the entire article.

Snipes Farm gives students a taste of farming by Steve Gengler. The Intelligencer. Published 04/24/2009.
Third grade students from George Washington Elementary School in Levittown visit Snipes Farm in Morrisville as part of the farm's new "Farm-to-School" program in which they teach students about growing food. Read the entire article.

"Real Food Is"? Video Contest Open for Youth Entries. PA Farm News. Published 02/08/2009.
Students in kindergarten through college can enter the National Farm to School Program "Real Food is"? video contest through Feb. 8. The contest is intended to inform, inspire and encourage student advocacy to connect community, food, land and physical environment through Farm-to-Cafeteria programs. The winning videos will be prominently posted on YouTube.com in the spring and the winning directors will receive $1,000 for their cafeteria projects. Read the entire article.

A call for Obama to change school lunch policy by China Millman. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Published 02/08/2009.
For now, as part of the national Farm-To-School Network, Grow Pittsburgh is lobbying for grants that would be used to renovate or bring in new equipment that would allow local food into the school system. Read the entire article.

Changing Ways by Mara Zepeda. Philadelphia Weekly. Published 01/19/2009.
Name: Tegan Hagy Position: Mid-Atlantic Farm to School Coordinator, Food Trust Resolution: Rethink school lunches This spring Congress will reauthorize the Childhood Nutrition Act, which subsidizes school lunch programs. As it stands, each school receives $2.57 per student per lunch. About $.70 is used on food. The rest goes to salaries, benefits, cleaning fees and paper goods. And the food, Hagy explains, comes from "the cheapest, most highly processed foods agricultural surplus." Hagy is out to encourage Sen. Bob Casey and his colleagues to rewrite the bill, increasing reimbursement and inserting language that indicates a preference for locally sourced food. These improvements will support underserved children and local family farmers, and put "locavore" in the mouths of legislators. Read the entire article.

Re-Localizing Food by Tracy Sutton. Lancaster Farming. Published 09/05/2008.
It wasn't that many generations ago that nearly all food was local food. In 1900, 40 percent of Americans farmed, down to a little over 1 percent today. Back in the day, eating close to the land wasn't a "locavore" ideal, it was a simple geographic necessity. It's an oft-cited statistic that food now travels an average of 1,500 miles to arrive at your plate. But the days of cheap fossil fuel that make reliance on transported food the cheaper economic choice are coming to an end, say experts. Coupled with climate change, depleted water resources, and an aging farmer population, the United States is looking at an agricultural revolution in the next 20 years. Read the entire article.

Can the "farm-to-school" movement gain traction in Philly? by Tom Namako. City Paper. Published 10/03/2007.
"I really think there are some hurdles to doing it, but is it impossible to do? We sent a man to the moon. Just buy corn from Pennsylvania processors who buy Pennsylvania corn." Read the entire article.

Linking subsidies to healthful foods practices with Community Volunteers in Medicine by Ana M. Negrón. The Philidelphia Inquirer. Published 07/19/2007.
It's an outrageous contradiction. On one hand, public-health experts try to educate Americans about the importance of healthful food choices. On the other, our federal government shells out billions of dollars to subsidize the production of pork, beef and other artery-clogging meat, as well as oil and sugar - while fruits and vegetables receive almost no support at all. Read the entire article.

Movable Feast by Marian Uhlman. Philadelphia Inquirer. Published 07/11/2005.
Johnathan Russell is the kind of teenager who doesn't just eat his vegetables. He grows them, markets them, and gets other kids to eat them, too. None of this he could have imagined four years ago when he entered University City High School and started working in the school's half-acre garden. Read the entire article.

Pennsylvania farmers target colleges as market for produce. Knight Ridder Tribune. Published 12/19/2003.
Each week in fall, Indian Orchards of Middletown Township, Delaware County, delivers about five bushels of apples to nearby Swarthmore College. "Their student body was eager to get real apples instead of waxed apples," says Nancy Bernhardt, whose grandparents started the 15-acre orchard nearly 100 years ago. It's not a large quantity of fruit, but it's an important part of her business, said Bernhardt, one of 40 representatives of farms and colleges in southeastern Pennsylvania who met ... Read the entire article.

Taking farm to school. York Dispatch. Published 07/13/2003.
Officials last week unveiled the state's new Agriculture Education Initiative designed to make school-aged children aware of the importance of agriculture in their lives. Announcing the initiative at the Pennsylvania Association of Agriculture Educators Summer Convention in Doylestown, Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff said that with "less than 2 percent of Americans engaged in farming today, each generation is becoming further removed from agriculture." Read the entire article.

Slippery Rock University Taps Local Farmers for food by Mary Pickels. Pittsburg Tribune-Review. Published 02/09/2003.
A garden of potentially endless nutrition and community good will has been planted at Slippery Rock University, seeding interest by other state schools of higher education. It appears to be an obvious trade-off. Produce, locally grown, is harvested and delivered to nearby institutions of education, where fresh vegetables and fruits are served. Staff and students reap health and taste benefits, and farmers are assured of a buyer for a portion of what they grow. It's a process at work at the Butler County school, in a pilot project designed by a graduate student, college administration and the school's food service provider, Aramark. Read the entire article.