-Monterey County Farm to School Partnership

The Monterey County Farm to School Partnership is working to improve school lunches by promoting fresh produce sourced from local growers and by working with schools to implement healthy school food policies. The program supporting school garden- based education where children can obtain hands-on experience in growing their own vegetables, while meeting California State Content Standards. They also link schools to local farms and farmers through our Garden of Learning program.

The Garden of Learning, now in its fourth year, is a springtime program of the Monterey County Farm to School Partnership at the Watershed Institute, California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB). The organizing principle of the program is the exchange of information and services among schoolchildren, college students, and farmers. In school greenhouses, service-learning students from CSUMB and "Garden of Learning" staff help low-income Latino farmers teach schoolchildren how to plant and care for organic vegetable starts that are later transplanted to the farmers' fields. In exchange, the farmers conduct classroom visits where the schoolchildren learn about the influence of agro-ecosystems on watershed health and personal health and lead farm trips where the students learn about their food shed by maintaining, harvesting, and eating vegetables that they have helped to grow. The program has grown from a pilot project with one farmer and 20 children in one school during its first season to numerous farmers working with over 500 students in 8 schools producing approximately 100,000 vegetable starts over the course of 4 seasons.

Funding for the program was secured from the private sector for an assessment to be carried out by CSU Monterey Bay's Watershed Institute. The result, The Smart Food Assessment- An assessment of Farm to School opportunities for schools and the schoolchildren of Monterey County, was published in March 2003. Click here to read.

Several organizations form the Monterey County Farm to School Partnership (MCFTSP). The founding members of this partnership are the CSU Monterey Bay Watershed Institute, Community Alliance with Family Farmers-Central Coast (CAFF), Monterey County Food Bank, Life Lab Science Program and the Monterey County Weekly newspaper.

Other activities done as part of the program are:
Chef in the Classroom
With the support of Whole Foods Market Monterey, they have been able to offer schools fresh produce tasting and a chef in the classroom program. Over 300 students and parents participated in hands-on preparation classes and/or tasting and have received numerous healthy recipes and resources. The Chef in the Classroom program uses vegan raw food recipes for demonstration and some Latino 5 a Day Tool Box recipes/activities. All chefs involved donated their time and Whole Foods Market Monterey donated the food/beverages.

Opera of Health
In collaboration, we brought the Opera of Health Theater Production to 1600 local second grade children. It taught the importance of good nutrition and healthy lifestyle through song and dance.

Contact

Kari Bernardi
100 Campus Center, Bldg. #42
Seaside, 93955
Phone: (831) 582-5115
kari_bernardi@csumb.edu