School Garden Fact Sheet
 With
more than 7,000 school gardens across the nation, many school districts are
using gardens to grow healthy habits in cafeterias, classrooms, and
communities.
We
know that school gardens come in all shapes and sizes, and districts are
finding ways to establish gardens both within and outside school grounds.
Gardens can be as simple as a few containers on a windowsill or cover acres,
and can thrive in all climates. Program operators find that even small
gardens help children gain familiarity and comfort with the fruits and
vegetables they are seeing more of at meal times.
Just
in time for spring, this new fact sheet provides guidance on using school
garden produce in the cafeteria, planning for food safety needs, incorporating
gardens into summer meal programs and early child care settings, and
successfully sustaining garden efforts.
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State Administrative Expense (SAE) Funds Can Support Farm
to School!
It is the
time of year when state agencies can request additional SAE
funds to support the administration of Child Nutrition Programs. What does that mean for farm
to school programs? State agencies can use SAE
funds to support state-level farm to school
and/or school garden coordination and activities! This includes funding farm to
school coordinators, promotional and guidance materials, trainings and
conferences, and more. Requests are due March 28.
Be sure to check out this memo to learn more about the full
scope of opportunities when it comes to using SAE funds for farm to school
activities.
Team Nutrition Grants
What a way to celebrate National Nutrition Month and School Breakfast Week: Team
Nutrition Grant funding was just announced! "The $6.8 million in grant funds USDA is offering to
support school breakfast and other child nutrition programs demonstrates our
commitment to providing schools and child care sites the resources and support
they need to help kids start their day off right and continue strong all day
long," said Agriculture Undersecretary Kevin Concannon.
USDA's Team Nutrition provides technical assistance, training,
and nutrition education resources for schools and child care providers
participating in USDA's child nutrition programs. Grants through this program can support farm to school! For example, in 2014 Montana was awarded a Team Nutrition Grant to build
statewide support for nutrition education, school wellness policy
implementation, and farm to school programs in school and child care
environments. Activities included empowering
food service personnel and educators to motivate students to consume
Montana-grown foods through a Montana Harvest of the Month toolkit and increasing
local food procurement, garden-based nutrition education activities, and farm
to school initiatives through a statewide farm to school conference.
Upcoming Webinars
Don’t
miss the upcoming webinars in our Planning
for Farm to School Success webinar series!
You can find the entire menu of topics on our website.
Promoting Your Farm to School
Program: March 17, 2:00 PM EDT
You’ve put in so much hard work! Now, how do you promote your farm to school
program to ensure student, school, and community engagement? Hear about
programs that have successfully promoted farm to school programs while managing
a tight budget. Chef Ann Cooper, Food Service Director for Boulder Valley
School District in Colorado, joins us with tips and tricks for successful
promotion.
School Gardening: March
31, 2:00 PM EDT
Hear about the different ways to incorporate school gardens into your farm to
school program as well as hear how schools are successfully procuring school
garden produce for their meal programs.
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USDA Farm to School in the News
Epicurious – Janet Rausa Fuller
– February 29, 2016
“We are absolutely
seeing greater use of cooking classes as an educational tool in schools across
the country, particularly when it comes to teaching nutrition education,” said
Deborah Kane, director of the USDA's Office of Community Food Systems, which
oversees the Farm to
School Program.
News Channel Nebraska – Jay Hannah
– March 2, 2016
“This event is the first of its kind
for us, especially here in the Midwest. We have a four state collaboration
here. Farm to School is an opportunity to engage so many different stakeholder
groups. Here we have school gardens, food producers, ranchers, beef
representatives, Department of Ed., Department of Ag., all these different
groups coming together to share best practices and ideas. It’s just very
energizing,” said Sara Smith, National Farm to School Network Nebraska State
Lead.
Watch the video to catch Mountain Plains Farm to School Regional Lead, Bob Gorman, share his enthusiasm for local procurement!
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