 Every Family Needs a Farmer
By Elanor Starmer, USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Administrator
Since the beginning of April 2016, USDA has celebrated the success of
small and mid-sized farmers in conjunction with local and regional food
systems. USDA officially kicked off Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food
(KYF2) Month by not only announcing a number of new initiatives, but
also highlighting the vast array of accomplishments achieved by our stakeholders, grantees, employees and more.
KYF2 Month is soon coming to a close. However, we still have a few
announcements up our sleeves. Today we’re rolling out the revamped Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food website. The
site was redesigned to offer a more user-friendly experience that makes
it easier to navigate the wealth of USDA and partner resources. Using
updated web standards and visuals to optimize the user-experience, we’ve
reorganized the information and gathered new content. In short, the
KYF2 website has become an even better a one-stop-shop for information
on USDA’s local and regional food systems work.
 Grantee Spotlight
With four
years of grant-making through USDA’s
Farm to School Grant Program, it’s a great time to celebrate some success! This
spotlight will shine a light on the incredible work that grantees are doing all
across the country, including insights and anecdotes shared by grantees
themselves.
Colonial
School District (CSD) is an FY2015 USDA Farm to School grantee located in New
Castle, Delaware. CSD is committed to connecting farms and school leaders to
ensure that students have consistent access to healthy local foods. The goal of
their project is have students and staff directly engaged in the entire process
of planning, growing and processing foods, creating new menus, and placing
healthy foods directly into school nutrition programs.
CSD reflected
on the progress that had been made this past school year:
“Since the last
report, Colonial School District and William Penn High School were able to host
a fantastic Farm‐To‐School event highlighting great local Delaware produce and
the student impact throughout our district. Our guests were able to tour
William Penn High school and all aspects of our operation from cafeteria
serving line to the culinary Prostart students who help prepare and process
food during the summer months, chicken coops behind our football stadium, and
Historic Penn Farm. Lastly, everyone was able to enjoy a wonderful meal
prepared by our Nutrition Services staff that was centered around local
Delaware chicken and gumbo.”
|
 The Census Scoop
It’s
spring! Days are getting longer, flowers are starting to bloom, and temperatures are beginning to
rise. Spring is the perfect time to get in your school garden or school greenhouse
and begin planting for the season. According to the latest Farm to School Census for school year
2013-2014, schools cultivated more than 7,100
edible school gardens, giving children daily access to fresh fruits and
vegetables and helping them learn where their food comes from. This is a 196
percent increase over the 2,401 edible
school gardens reported in the 2011-2012 school year when the first Census was
conducted. Fourty-four percent of school districts with farm to school programs
reported having an edible school garden. School gardens provide children with
lots of positive benefits and research demonstrates
their numerous positive impacts. No matter the type of fruit or vegetable, don’t
be shy. Get out and start digging in!
|
Webinars
Community Food Systems in Native Communities
Engaging
Students: May 4, 3:00 PM EDT
Incorporating nutrition
education related to traditional food items into cultural activities such as
ceremonial songs and storytelling helps students to identify food as part of
Native American heritage. This webinar will help you plan for farm to school
educational efforts that engage students throughout the year. Gloria Begay, a
Navajo Educator, will highlight school garden efforts and local foods
activities in summer meals.
Partnering for
Success in Tribal Communities: May 20, 3:00
PM EDT
Everything is better
together, right?! In the final webinar in a series of four, we’ll hear from two
practitioners who illustrate that partnerships make the difference in keeping
food traditions alive in child nutrition programs. This webinar will identify
strategies to engage local producers and community leaders in your farm to school
efforts.
 Planning for Farm to School Success
Don't miss the last two webinars in this series!
Evaluating Your Program: May 12,
2:00 PM EDT
We all know that farm to
school programs create positive economic impacts for local and regional farmers
and improve the health and well-being of our nation’s children. But how can we
measure these changes to document these positive impacts? Hear from seasoned
farm to school evaluators to learn best practices for evaluating your farm to
school efforts.
Tying it All Together and Digging In: May 26, 2:00 PM EDT
Join us for a healthy dose
of motivation! Deborah Kane, Director of USDA’s Office of Community Food
Systems, will hit the highlights by showing how local procurement fits into the
larger farm to school picture and share several resources to help you meet your
local purchasing goals.
|
