Farm to School Grantees Gather
in Detroit to Share Accomplishments and Best Practices
The USDA Food and Nutrition Service hosted a gathering of Fiscal Year 2018 grantees in Detroit, Michigan, on September 13th and 14th. The meeting featured 120 registered grantees,
all in varying stages of program development, discussing their experiences in
establishing their own Farm to School Programs.
The grantees discussed how to measure the outcomes of their programs,
techniques for marketing and promoting Farm to School programs, and planning
sustainable action plans.
The meeting also featured keynote speakers from the greater
Detroit area. Grantees heard from Winona
Bynum, Executive Director of the Detroit Food Policy Council, who explained to attendees the value of engaging the community through
Food Policy Councils and establishing farming as a continuous presence in the
cafeteria and the community. Attendees
also heard from Mark Coe, a managing partner at Michigan Farm to Freezer, who provided a producers perspective, with his story of how this impressive program began as an
employment training program, flash freezing produce at peak ripeness, and now
employs 14 full and part-time employees and processes roughly half a million
dollars’ worth of produce each year.
A highlight of the meeting was a field trip for grantees to
Drew Farm in Detroit, Michigan. Drew
Farm is a recipient of the USDA Farm to School Grant program and works with 82 schools in the Detroit Public School District. The farm sits on the campus of a
special school for students with cognitive disabilities, replacing what used to
be two baseball fields. Today, Drew Farm grows an estimated 22,000 pounds of
food and engages children in experiential learning throughout the
Detroit Public School District through weekly field trips and visits in the
schools themselves. During school trips
to Drew Farm, students get to see how their food is grown.
Attendees left the meeting enthusiastic about their upcoming
plans for the year and excited about the announcements for the next round of
grant applications for Fiscal Year 2019.
September is Food Safety Education Month and Produce Safety University is Accepting Nominations for the Class of 2019!
September is National Food Safety Education Month. As schools across the country welcome
students for the School Year 2018 - 19, it is important to ensure that
ingredients used in the millions of breakfasts and lunches served nationwide
are safe for consumption. Fresh produce
provides many nutritional benefits, but it must be handled safely to reduce the
risk of food-borne illness. Fresh produce that is served raw does not go through
a cooking step to kill any harmful bacteria that may be present before it is
served to students, and, therefore has the potential to cause a foodborne
illness.
This is why the United States Department of Agriculture Food
and Nutrition Service Office of Food Safety (OFS), in collaboration with the
Office of Community Food Systems (OCFS), is excited to announce that Produce Safety University (PSU) will be
accepting nominations for its 2019 sessions beginning in October.
Produce Safety University is a unique, week-long, immersion
course covering all
aspects of the fresh produce supply chain from farm to fork. A combination of lecture, laboratory, and
field-trip instruction is used in a train-the-trainer format. Graduates receive
training materials to use at regional, state, and local trainings that include
lesson plans, presentations and activities related to key topics addressed
during PSU classes.
Participants will walk away with new strategies on how to
maximize the use of produce while reducing waste, improve student
acceptance, control production costs, and engage their communities while
supporting local agriculture.
Attendees will have all travel expenses paid as they
participate in this in depth training at one of five regional locations in the
spring of 2019. State Directors of Child Nutrition programs nominate participants who currently have
an active role in training child nutrition staff at either district or local
levels. Nominations should be submitted
by December 3, 2018. States should contact their Regional Offices with additional questions about the nomination process.
States may also learn more about PSU and nominating potential
attendees by contacting the PSU team at producesafetyuniversity@fns.usda.gov.
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National Farm to School Network Announces Results of 2018 National Farm to Early Care and Education Survey
On
September 11, 2018, The National Farm to School Network (NFSN), in partnership
with the Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems (CRFS), released
the results of their 2018 National Farm to Early Care and Education Survey that
was conducted during the spring of 2018. The survey was disseminated to early care and education providers across the country and garnered responses from 2,030 providers, representing 46 States, serving 255,257 young children.
Respondents
completing the survey included licensed family child care providers, child care
centers, private preschools and Head Start or Early Head Start programs.
Of
these responses, NFSN and CRFS learned that 49 percent of
respondents participate in some form of farm to ECE activity with an additional
30 percent anticipating starting their own farm to ECE activities in the
upcoming years. Among the respondents
surveyed, the most frequently reported motivations for participating in farm to ECE activities
were: teaching children where food comes from and how it grows (96 percent), improving children’s
health (95 percent), providing children with experiential learning (95 percent)
and accessing fresher, higher quality foods (94 percent). Of the respondents, 54 percent report that
they anticipate increasing local food purchase over the next 2 to 3 years.
For
more information on this survey and its findings, please visit the National
Farm to School Network website here. Sign up for the NFSN e-newsletter to receive the full survey report when it is released later this fall.
Also make sure to check out the webinar
October 11 for more information.
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Trending Topics Webinar: Results form the 2018 National Farm to Early Care and Education Survey
October 11,
2-3 PM ET
The National Farm to
School Network, in partnership with Michigan State University Center for
Regional Food Systems, launched the 2018 National Survey of Early Care and
Education (ECE) Providers in the spring of 2018. Over 2,000 ECE providers from across
the country responded and shared information about current farm to ECE
initiatives, motivations for participation, challenges to starting or expanding
farm to ECE, and more. Join us to hear about the survey findings and learn how
you can use the results to promote farm to ECE in your state and
community. Register here
2019 Local Foods, Local Places Application and
Opportunity Zones Webinar
Communities are now invited to apply for technical assistance to help revitalize their economy,
improve health, and protect the environment. Local Foods,
Local Places helps communities revitalize neighborhoods through
development of local food systems. To date, 94 communities have benefited from
assistance with support from EPA, USDA, the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Delta Regional Authority,
among others. In 2018, the Northern Border Regional Commission will join as a
program sponsor.
Eligibility: Eligible applicants include local governments, Indian tribal organizations (ITOs), and
nonprofit institutions and organizations proposing to work in a neighborhood,
town, or city of any size anywhere in the United States. Special consideration
will be given to communities in the northern border region of Maine, New
Hampshire, New York, and Vermont, and the Delta region of Alabama, Arkansas,
Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee.
Deadline: 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on October 22, 2018.
How to apply: See complete application instructions at https://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/local-foods-local-places-2018-2019-application
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