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COVID-19 Special Edition | May 2020
Farm to School Feeds Children Across the US
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The USDA Office of Community Food Systems would like to thank you and your partners for the extraordinary actions you are taking to ensure that all Americans, especially children, get the food they need during this pandemic. Building strong and resilient local food systems, supporting farmers, and educating kids and communities about how to grow their own food is more important than ever. This special edition of the Dirt will provide resources and examples that demonstrate how farm to school is supporting feeding children across the country, like Farm to School of Park County (F2SPC) of Livingston, MT. Their farm to school program is meeting the challenge that the coronavirus emergency poses by supporting their Food Service department’s efforts to provide meals to children who rely on the school meals program.
One parent shared— “Going to meet the school bus delivering lunches is a highlight of my kids’ day. They are so excited to come home and see what the school and farmers prepared for them. But more importantly, it has given them a sense of consistency and stability in a world that is anything but normal right now. I have noticed lately how happy and centered they seem after lunch time. Thank you Food Service and F2SPC for all your hard work these last weeks!” Lauren, Livingston mother of two
 From developing virtual trainings and providing resources on how to grow and harvest food safely, to distributing meals that feature local food to those in need, we would like to highlight best practice examples from our farm to school grantees and partners across the country. In this issue, you will find:
USDA Resources Creative Actions Taken by Farm to School Grantees
State Agency Success Stories Partner Resources Federal Grants
For updated information and resources from the USDA Food and Nutrition Service related to COVID-19, please visit www.fns.usda.gov/disaster/pandemic/covid-19. USDA's “Meals for Kids” interactive map directs people to local sites where kids can get free meals. The site finder currently lists nearly 50,000 meal sites from 38 States, and more sites will be added as States submit data each week. The map is available in both English and Spanish at www.fns.usda.gov/meals4kids.
Current and previous USDA Farm to School Grant recipients are hard at work feeding children and providing food and agricultural education opportunities while students are at home.
-With school closures in Bowling Green City Schools and Allen County, Scottsville schools in Kentucky, Need More Acres transitioned their school-based snack program to salads and snacks that are distributed by buses to over 3,000 students at home per week. (FY18 Farm to School Implementation Grant Recipient)
-Produce grown on the Jones Valley Teaching Farm, located in Birmingham, AL is being distributed locally at no cost to individuals and families. The dedicated farm staff developed strict protocols to follow so that they can safely continue to grow and harvest fresh food for their community. They also continue to offer educational content including lesson plans and recorded lessons on their blog. (FY19 Farm to School Implementation Grant Recipient.)
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-Growing Gardens in Oregon is distributing hundreds of free take-home Garden Activity kits at school-based food pantries. Pictured is Growing Gardens' FoodCorps Service Member, Kelley Smith distributing the Garden Activity Kits at Cherry Park Elementary. (FY19 Farm to School Implementation Grant Recipient)
-The Wisconsin Farm to Early Child Care and Education (ECE) team at Rooted, in Madison, WI produced Farm to ECE Resources For At-home Activities which include a list of children's books, songs, and free curriculum related to gardening, food, and nutrition. (Formerly Community GroundWorks, FY17 Farm to School Implementation Grant Recipient)
-The Northwest Tennessee Local Food Network based out of Martin, TN and the Weakley County School District in Northwest Tennessee had organized a Local Food Procurement Discussion Panel that was supposed to be in-person; however, they quickly created an online event. Listen and learn on their Local Food Procurement website page. (FY19 Farm to School Planning Grant Recipient)
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Our farm to school partners located in State agencies, such as State Departments of Education, Agriculture, and Health, are playing important roles supporting communities across the country by sharing resources, addressing food supply chain issues and more.
-The California Department of Food and Agriculture and the California Department of Education created a new resource, Navigating a Changing Food Supply Chain During COVID-19 School Closures, for school districts, child care centers and family day care homes to provide methods for finding local foods, purchasing them, and preparing them.
-The Indiana State Department of Health, in partnership with the Indiana State Department of Agriculture has published a list of resources to support farm to school partners during this pandemic through the Indiana Grown for Schools Network.
-The Oregon Department of Agriculture and partners from Oregon Department of Education, Oregon Farm to School and School Garden Network surveyed Oregon schools and producers to help match supply and demand via their Business Intake Form and a Oregon School Food Products Survey . They had an overwhelming response from producers in Oregon who had product for school markets and wanted to know what they could do to provide food for their communities.
-The NC Cooperative Extension farm to school working group is distributing seeds and planting kits to families across the state to provide hands-on educational activities during school closures. The farm to school working group at present has distributed just under twelve thousand seed kits across servicing one third of North Carolina counties.
-The Arkansas Department of Agriculture partnered with the Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau and Mangan Holcomb Partners/Team SI to support Arkansas farmers through UpliftArkansas.com, a statewide resource that provides a comprehensive list of information on local businesses, restaurants, and services for Arkansans during this pandemic. Farmers are able to add their business information to the site alongside other businesses and revise their data as they adapt their operations to the COVID-19 crisis. The website also includes an embedded link to the Arkansas COVID-19 Food Access Map which lists additional places to find food in Arkansas such as school meals, community meals, food pantries, and local food.
-The Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services moved their farm to school education efforts online! Tune in for cooking classes, nutrition lessons and more at http://www.mohealthyschools.com/.
-The North Dakota Department of Agriculture re-vamped its online North Dakota Local Foods Directory so that producers, schools, and consumers can connect quickly and easily during the time of COVID-19. It’s now searchable by product category, such as fruits & vegetables, dairy, meat, and more.
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Farm to school partners across the country are quickly pivoting to provide resources and support to assist communities across the country.
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FoodCorps service members across the country have been engaged in a variety of activities as schools have closed, including supporting food distribution, remote education and school garden support. Check out this Video Lessons by FoodCorps AmeriCorps Service Members resource to see hands-on cooking and gardening lessons with accompanying videos. You can find full lesson plans for these activities in this FoodCorps Resources to Support Remote Education document. You can also visit FoodCorps' COVID-19 Resources page which is intended to support educators, families, school nutrition professionals, and others who wish to respond to and support those impacted by COVID-19.
Deadlines to submit new requests for 2020 Local Agriculture Marketing Program grants have been extended by 2 weeks to May 26, 2020.
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-The Farmers Market Promotion Program funds projects that develop, coordinate, and expand direct producer-to-consumer markets to help increase access to and availability of locally and regionally produced agricultural products: https://www.ams.usda.gov/services/grants/fmpp |
-The Local Food Promotion Program funds projects that develop, coordinate, and expand local and regional food business enterprises that engage as intermediaries in indirect producer to consumer marketing to help increase access to and availability of locally and regionally produced agricultural products: https://www.ams.usda.gov/services/grants/lfpp
-The Regional Food System Partnerships program supports partnerships that connect public and private resources to plan and develop local or regional food systems. Effort is focused on building and strengthening local or regional food economy viability and resilience by alleviating unnecessary administrative and technical barriers for participating partners: https://www.ams.usda.gov/services/grants/rfsp
-The Specialty Crop Block Grants deadline will remain as May 27, 2020. The purpose of the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program is to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops. Specialty crops are defined as “fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture, and nursery crops (including floriculture)”: https://www.ams.usda.gov/services/grants/scbgp
-As part of the Coronavirus Farm Assistance Program, Secretary Perdue announced on April 17 that the USDA is exercising authority under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act to purchase and distribute up to $3 billion of agricultural products to those in need. The USDA has released a list of approved contractors for the Farmers to Families Food Box Program. Stakeholders such as local farmers with food to sell and potential local community distribution sites can identify approved contractors on this list that are in their area and contact them directly: https://www.ams.usda.gov/selling-food-to-usda/farmers-to-families-food-box/approved-contractors
-The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) added a program area to its main Agricultural and Food Research Initiative RFA: Rapid Response to Novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) Impacts Across Food and Agricultural Systems. There are four areas of priority: Health and Security of Livestock; Well-being of Farm, Food Service Providers, and Rural Americans; Economic Security; and Food Safety. Applicants should focus on critical and urgent research, extension, or integrated solutions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on the nation’s food and agricultural system. Deadline to submit applications is June 4, 2020. For more information and to apply, view the RFA.
-The purpose of the NIFA Food and Agriculture Service Learning Program is to increase the knowledge of agricultural science and improve the nutritional health of children. The program’s goal is to increase the capacity for food, garden, and nutrition education within host organizations or entities, such as school cafeterias and classrooms, while fostering higher levels of community engagement between farms and school systems by bringing together stakeholders from distinct parts of the food system. The application deadline is June 4, 2020. For more information and to apply, view the RFA.
-The USDA has announced the availability of $3 million for grants through its new Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production. The competitive grants will support the development of urban agriculture and innovative production projects through two categories, Planning Projects and Implementation Projects. USDA will accept applications on Grants.gov until midnight July 6, 2020.
The Dirt is a monthly publication of USDA Food and Nutrition Service, Office of Community Food Systems, providing news and resources for Farm to School Grantees and all readers who want to know what is new and exciting in farm to school.
Learn more at https://www.fns.usda.gov/cfs or contact us at sm.fn.farmtoschool@usda.gov
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