For the first time in northwest Tennessee, one school district purchased a whole bovine from a local farmer for use in school meals. Obion County School District is a Fiscal Year 2021 Farm to School Turnkey Action Planning grantee. The beef purchased from Giffin Farms was sampled by over 2000 students in seven schools in a district-wide local beef taste test.
The entire bovine was processed and packaged into ground beef for the seven schools. Processing the beef in this manner allowed all of the schools to utilize the beef given the limited time and space for food preparation. The beef has been incorporated into a variety of school meals and has provided local meat throughout the school year. One school is planning to have a cooking contest in January with their remaining beef.
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The biggest hurdle to overcome in this effort was processing the beef. The closest USDA approved processor was over 60 miles away. With this challenge in mind, the local university – University of Tennessee Extension – applied for and was awarded a grant to create a processing facility on its campus. This new local processing facility will make it easier to supply fresh local meats for school meals.
With school food authorities across the U.S. sourcing more food locally, there are more opportunities for local producers to have their foods incorporated into school meals. If farmers are interested in providing local foods to schools, one way to get started is to contact their district’s school nutrition director before the next growing season. Child nutrition directors have their finger on the pulse of the district’s food needs, purchasing schedule, and menus. Child nutrition directors can help determine if the foods are a good fit for the school’s needs, and give farmers, ranchers, and fishers a sense on how to best get involved in serving their local foods in school meals.
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Meet the Farmer – Derek Giffin of Giffin Farms
Derek Giffin, and wife, Micayla with their baby boy, are the owners of Giffin Farms out of Obion County, Tennessee. Giffin is a 5th generation farmer who manages his family’s commodity crop farm and cattle raising operation through the use of cover crops and regenerative agricultural practices.
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Local & Regional Procurement as Resilience
Supply chain disruptions and labor shortages are the topics of the day in any lunchroom across America right now. However, local and regional food sourcing has helped USDA Fiscal Year 2019 Farm to School Implementation Grantee, Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) in Colorado, to weather the storm. BVSD schools are prepared to adapt to challenges, thanks to the School Food Project’s scratch-cooking approach and dedication to local food partnerships.
"Our local and regional farmers and vendors have definitely been a big part of our district's ability to serve our full menu to students amidst the chaotic supply chain issues this school year. Because we have diversified suppliers and are cooking most of our meals from scratch, we have been able to pivot when we run into shortages. We may still experience product shortages this year but have so far been largely buffered by our network and process. It has definitely been an unprecedented school year and we're grateful to our local and regional suppliers for the produce, meat, dried beans, milk, and other staples that have helped us continue to nourish our students on a daily basis," says Stephen Menyhart, RD, SNS, Director of Food Services for BVSD.
Additionally, the School Food Project’s new Culinary Center building has been a pivotal asset during these challenging times. It provides centralized production for scratch-cooking and greatly increased storage capacity, allowing for bulk purchases to avoid supply chain shortages.
While not every school district is where BVSD is with locally sourced scratch-cooking, their ability to weather the supply chain disruptions and labor shortages is one more reason, among many, to buy local!
Inspired by these grantees? Check out these resources to learn more about local procurement to bring local fresh foods into Child Nutrition Programs:
Schools turn to local farmers, supplies during food shortage
North Carolina’s Craven County Schools’ nutritional team are planning their menus a year in advance and are taking a proactive approach to supply chain issues by meeting with local suppliers and producers. The school held their 2nd Annual Food Festival bringing together child nutrition staff and local producers to discuss incorporating more locally sourced items into the menu and how doing so will relieve a lot of the burden staff have when it comes to purchasing food. To read the full article in the New Bern Sun Journal please go HERE.
Locally made marinara to be brought to students statewide
In Montana over 320 gallons of locally made “Montana Marinara” will be distributed to schools statewide. The ingredients for the sauce have been sourced from small, sustainable family farms around Montana through the Western Montana Growers Cooperative. Supplying Montana Marinara to the students shows supports for Montana’s local farmers and local schools. To read the full article in the Valley Journal please go HERE.
FY 2022 Farm to School RFA – Applications Due January 10th, 2022
The fiscal year (FY) 2022 Farm to School Grant Program Request for Applications (RFA) is open! Additional resources for the FY 2022 Farm to School Grant application are now available on the "Related Documents" tab of the Grants.gov page. Visit Grants.gov for templates to assist with the proposal narrative and budget narrative sections of the application, plus a fillable priority declaration checklist!
Be sure to visit the Resources for Grant Applicants page to access other helpful resources when applying for a Farm to School Grant. These links are for our webinars that provide specific assistance on applying:
Farm to School Grant Overview and How to Apply | Food and Nutrition Service
Developing and Writing a Successful Application | Food and Nutrition Service
Updates to the Federal Micro-Purchase Threshold
On November 17, 2021, FNS released a memo explaining updates to the Federal Micro-Purchase Threshold. The memo alerts State agencies and Program operators of regulatory changes made by the Office of Management and Budget to the Federal Micro-purchase threshold in government-wide regulations found at 2 CFR 200.320(a)(1). Included in these changes in an increase of the Micro-purchase threshold up to $50,000 for low-risk Program operators. The guidance applies to the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Summer Food Service Program, and Child and Adult Care Food Program and can be found on the FNS website:
https://www.fns.usda.gov/cn/updates-federal-micro-purchase-threshold
December is Root Vegetable Month!
December is a time for gathering and getting back to our roots – root veggies that is! December is National Root Vegetable Month, and to help you celebrate National Agriculture in the Classroom (NAITCO) has a great lesson for the kiddos to investigate root vegetables, like carrots. Yum!
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Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreements Program
Applications for the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) are now being accepted. LFPA Program is part of the “Build Back Better” initiative with the purpose of maintaining and improving food and agricultural supply chain resiliency. For more information on the LFPA Program visit their website HERE. Eligible state and tribal governments can apply now at www.grants.gov.
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Food and Agriculture Service Learning Program
Food and Agriculture Service Learning Program (FASLP) is a farm-to-school program that supports projects that bring together school cafeterias and classrooms and fosters community engagement between local farms and schools. The goal of these efforts is to not only increase access to school meals for underserved children, but also improve their quality. FASLP is focused on the development of leadership skills, knowledge, and qualities necessary to prepare students for food, agricultural, and related careers. For more information, please see The FASLP Request for Applications . The submission deadline is January 31, 2022.
USDA Distributes $1.5 Billion to Strengthen School Meal Program
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the Biden-Harris Administration is providing up to $1.5 billion to states and school districts to help school meal program operators deal with the challenges of supply chain disruptions brought on by the pandemic. Funds will be made available through USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation. USDA will provide $1 billion for schools to purchase food for their meal programs; $300 million will be for states to purchase foods to be distributed to schools; and, an additional $200 million will be used for cooperative agreements to purchase local foods for schools with a focus on buying from historically underserved producers.
The KidsGardening team is hosting a webinar on January 11th, 2022 discussing the results of their survey of 542 edible school garden leaders. Join this free event for an opportunity to connect with school food garden educators and share your thoughts on how to better support your garden.
Applications for a free Value Chain Coordination Training are being accepted through January 10! This five-part, virtual training series will focus on how to organize and prioritize Value Chain Coordination (VCC) activities that make local food systems more resilient and efficient. Participants will gain a clear understanding of the history of this work, tangible steps for coordination in your region, and establish connection to experienced peers and mentors who are performing and supporting VCC work in food systems across the country.
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