What is Farm to School?

Farm to School programs connect schools with local farms. Schools buy and feature farm fresh foods on their menus, incorporate nutrition education curriculum, and provide students experiential learning opportunities through farm visits, gardening, and recycling programs. Farmers have access to a new market and participate in programs designed to educate children about local food and agriculture.

Why Farm to School?

Childhood Nutrition Crisis:

In the last 20 years in the United States there has been a dramatic increase in childhood diseases related to poor nutrition. The percentage of children ages 6-11 that are overweight more than doubled between the late 1970s and 2000. For adolescents aged 12-29 it tripled. Research has shown that a poor diet and lack of physical activity influence a child’s ability to learn. There is an urgent need to educate children about the connections between food choices and health as well as to provide them with healthy food choices in school settings.

Struggling Family Farms:

At the same time, our local family farmers are struggling. Farm to School programs offer a new market to family farmers, a reliable, consistent, local customer. By showing children that fresh local produce is delicious, farm to school connections turn on the next generation of consumers to locally grown food.
Girl

Farm to School programs:

•  - Promote healthy eating habits and reduce the risk of childhood obesity and other related disorders
•  - Provide children with access to local, healthy, fresh foods
•  - Facilitate education about nutrition, food, and agriculture through curriculum and activity based, experiential learning
•  - Increase school lunch participation and revenues to schools
•  - Open up new markets and increase revenues for farmers
•  - Generate community support and awareness about local food systems and agriculture
•  - Help keep agricultural land as open space

Overcoming Common Farm to School Barriers

When starting a farm to school program, you will surely encounter some barriers.

Knowing how to effectively address common barriers will help maintain support for the program and maximize limited resources. This document addresses the common barriers to farm to school programs - cost, access to sources of local food, and institutional barriers; and highlights innovative ways programs have chosen to address these commonly encountered hurdles. This document addresses such as cost, access to local foods and institutional barriers.


Growing a Movement with Farm to School Champions

•  - Farm to School Publications
•  - Nutrition Education Publications
•  - Farm to School Organizations