|
|
Volume 9, Issue 10, May 2023
Healthy Habits Take Root Early in the Western Region
|
|
|
The Patrick Leahy Farm to School Program isn’t just for K-12 institutions. Early childcare and education (ECE) providers also buy, serve, and teach young children about local foods. Farm to ECE activities can increase children’s willingness to try new foods, and the smaller purchasing volumes needed for early childcare settings can be a good fit for smaller scale local producers.
One Fiscal Year 2021 Farm to School Program grantee in the Western Region, the Mālama Kauaʻi Farm to ECE Project, set out to provide more locally sourced food and related education for local keiki (the Hawaiian word for child). The Mālama Kauaʻi team recognized that meaningful and lasting change in keiki tastes and behavior happen when in-school activities are connected to the home. They began distributing bags of local produce with accompanying recipes for keiki to take home and hosting a bi-weekly cooking show for families via Zoom. To further engage young keiki in the school setting, Mālama Kauaʻi gave mini-grants to seven local ECE providers to implement educational projects. Each school used the mini-grants to meet their needs; some installed school gardens while others bought materials to engage keiki in local food recipe testing.
|
Mālama Kauaʻi programs had a wide reach — 15 preschools, 28 local producers, and 848 participating keiki. One key ingredient to their success was the launch of their commercial food hub, KauaiLocalFood.com. An ECE provider reflected on her seamless experience ordering through the hub saying “being able to get online, get my order in, and then get it delivered ensured our continued use with the program. Click, click, click and then Mālama Kauaʻi shows up with deliveries. Perfect, easy system!” Participating ECE providers and parents were given copies of Mālama Kauaʻi’s farm to ECE recipe guidebook, Garden to Grindz, featuring 45 Child and Adult Care Food Program compliant recipes highlighting local produce, poi, and proteins.
|
Another FY 2021 grantee in the Western Region, Snohomish Conservation District, based in Lake Stevens, Washington, developed strategic partnerships to support their farm to ECE programming. They started by building raised bed gardens at four ECE sites where students could learn about and help grow different herbs and vegetables like peas, green onions, garlic, and more. Then they designed six garden education lessons for preschool-age kids. Getting buy-in from teachers is critical to them, so they are gathering feedback from teachers on the lessons to make them easy to implement, adapt, and continue using in the long term.
Other local and State partnerships also supported Snohomish Conservation District’s grant implementation success. They collaborated with the Washington SNAP-Ed program to launch nutrition education and cooking demonstrations at local ECE sites in Fall 2022 and will translate lessons into non-English languages with SNAP-Ed support in Fall 2023. A few farm field trips are also in the works for this fall, thanks to budding partnerships between Snohomish and local farmers including Jim Eichner at Food Bank Farms.
Reflections from both grantees highlighted the magic of seeing young kids grow and try local foods with some of their first friends in life. They emphasized that garden and local food education is really a holistic learning experience for young kids — they build a relationship with the outdoors as a place that they can care for and that cares for them. We can’t wait to learn about more healthy habits taking root as farm to ECE programs expand across the country!
|
|
|
|
USDA Celebrates AANHPI Heritage Month
USDA is proud to join the nation in recognizing Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month. AANHPI Heritage Month is a time to reflect upon and celebrate the remarkable role of the AANHPI community in our nation’s history. Throughout the month of May, USDA agencies have hosted events and shared resources designed to commemorate AANHPI Heritage Month. The USDA Food and Nutrition Service launched a SNAP-Ed AANHPI resource page featuring resources on preparing traditional foods, cultural toolkits, and other educational materials available in Chinese, Hmong, and Vietnamese.
New USDA Blog Post: Farm to School and Child Nutrition Programming Model in Rialto, California
Check out USDA Food and Nutrition Service Administrator Cindy Long’s blog post about her recent visit to Rialto Unified School District (RUSD). She toured RUSD’s kitchen facilities and gardens, participated in a farm to school activity with a local farmer, and sampled healthy school meal recipes. She also reflected that RUSD represents an entire school community that embraces and supports the notion of serving and teaching kids about healthy foods.
|
Countdown to the USDA Farm to School Census
In fall 2023, USDA will field the 2023 Farm to School Census, which requests information from school food authorities (SFAs) on their use of local food in school meals and participation in farm to school activities in school year 2022-23. The new Farm to School Census Partner Resources page offers resources to help State agencies, SFAs, and their partners prepare for and complete the 2023 Census. One fun fact from the most recent Farm to School Census: in school year 2018-2019, SFAs that participated in farm to school activities spent about 20 cents of every food dollar on local foods!
USDA Farm to School Team Visits Washington DC Youth Garden at the U.S. National Arboretum
USDA Farm to School staff recently attended an open house at the Washington Youth Garden at the U.S. National Arboretum. They got to explore the one-acre site’s pollinator garden, sensory garden, orchard, vegetables beds, covered pavilion, and youth nature play area. Friends of the National Arboretum (FONA), the National Arboretum’s primary nonprofit partner, received a USDA Farm to School Implementation Grant in Fiscal Year 2020. FONA staff, volunteers, and interns from local high schools now harvest over 7,000 pounds of produce each year!
|
USDA Announces Finalists for 12 New Regional Food Business Centers
USDA recently announced the creation of 12 new Regional Food Business Centers that will provide national coordination, technical assistance, and capacity building to help farmers, ranchers, and other food businesses access new markets and navigate federal, State, and local resources. The Centers will support a more resilient, diverse, and competitive food system. They will also target their work to historically underinvested communities in their region.
|
 |
|
New Infographic on USDA AMS Food Systems Transformation Programs and Funding
USDA is transforming the food system for farmers and families through a variety of new programs and funding opportunities. This new interactive infographic details how the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service is implementing these initiatives and building food system resiliency.
|
|
|
NFSN Racial Equity Public Webinar
In partnership with the USDA, the National Farm to School Network is implementing the Racial Equity Learning Lab (the “Lab”) to advance racial equity within the farm to school movement. The Lab will be a collaborative space, designed for small groups to foster an intensive learning experience and engage around the challenges and opportunities for working with diverse, multi-racial audiences in their farm to school organizations, networks, and communities. Through a series of facilitated learning sessions, Lab participants will dive into literature, resources, and discussions to build the foundations of shared understanding of racial inequities in the food system. If you are interested in learning more about the Lab and application process, mark your calendar for a public webinar on June 14, 2023, from 3pm-5pm Eastern Time.
|
USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Food and Nutrition Security Webinar Series
Save the date for June 13, 2023 from 1pm-2:30pm EST for the first webinar of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Food and Nutrition Security Webinar Series. This webinar is titled, “An Overview of NIFA’s Food Loss and Waste Relevant Funding Opportunities.” Dr. Jean Buzby, USDA’s Food Loss and Waste Liaison, will be sharing her vision for integrating approaches to food loss and waste across the USDA.
Leveraging Farm to ECE to Achieve SNAP-Ed Goals
Do you currently manage a USDA SNAP-Ed Program? Are you interested in how to integrate Farm to Early Care and Education (ECE) activities to fulfill SNAP-Ed requirements? The Association of Public Health Nutritionists recently published a brief which offers information about the intersection of USDA’s SNAP-Ed program and Farm to ECE, how Farm to ECE can support SNAP-Ed goals, and steps to take to include Farm to ECE in SNAP-Ed programming for your State.
|
USDA Farm to School 2023 Seeding Success Webinar Series
The USDA Farm to School Program recently wrapped up their 2023 Seeding Success webinar series. The 2023 webinar series provides engaging content and resources for Farm to School grantees with a focus on supporting Indigenous food practices, climate smart practices, developing relationships with state agency partners, and marketing your farm to school program. View each of the webinars below:
National Farm to School Network’s Farm to Early Care and Education Survey
In 2021, the National Farm to School Network (NFSN) and Michigan State University’s Center for Regional Food Systems (MSU CRFS) surveyed early care and education (ECE) providers across the country to better understand current initiatives, motivations and challenges in applying farm to ECE activities in ECE settings. In August 2022, NFSN and MSU CRFS released a series of briefs that detail the results of the survey. They also include background on farm to ECE, survey results, and recommendations. Additionally, NFSN and MSU CRFS developed an infographic and fact sheet for partners and supporters. NFSN and MSU CRFS also recorded a webinar that delves into the findings and recommendations from the survey.
|
Farm to Early Childhood in New England: New Report
Early Child Education and School Garden Lessons
Denver Urban Gardens, a Fiscal Year 2021 Farm to School Grantee, Denver Public Schools, and the Museum of Food and Culture partnered to support early childhood education teachers in using community gardens and food to teach science, technology, engineering, and math concepts to their students. Together these organizations created five interactive school garden lessons. Each lesson is suited with a learning guide and accompanying materials, such as a presentation or student worksheet. Topics include learning colors, practicing counting, sensory exploration, and much more!
|
|
|
Healthy Meals Incentive Grants for Small and/or Rural School Food Authorities
USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) established the Healthy Meals Incentives (HMI) initiative to improve the nutritional quality of school meals through food systems transformation; school food authority (SFA) recognition and technical assistance; and the generation and sharing of innovative ideas, tested practices, and grants. FNS and Action for Healthy Kids have partnered to offer competitive grants (up to $150,000 per SFA) for small and/or rural SFAs to improve the nutritional quality of their school meals and meet the HMI Recognition Awards criteria. The application deadline is May 26, 2023.
|
USDA Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers Program
The USDA announced $45 million in grant funding to be available to organizations that help underserved and veteran farmers, ranchers, and foresters in owning and operating successful farms. This funding is being offered through USDA’s Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers Program, also known as the 2501 Program. This program is administered by the USDA Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement. Funding can support projects that provide education, technical assistance, and training in agriculture, agribusiness, forestry, agriculturally-related services, and USDA programs and/or conduct outreach designed to assist historically underserved farmers participating in USDA programs. Grant applications are due by July 25, 2023. The 2501 Program webinars for grant applicants will be held on June 12 and July 10, 2023.
USDA Food and Nutrition Services Fiscal Year 2023 School Breakfast Expansion Grants
On April 24, 2023, USDA Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) released the School Breakfast Expansion Grant for States and the District of Columbia (D.C) RFA and U.S. Territories RFA, totaling approximately $9 million in competitive funding to begin operation of, or expand the School Breakfast Program (SBP). The purpose of the SBP expansion grant is to provide sub-grants (not to exceed $10,000 per qualifying school or group of qualifying schools) to local education agencies to improve the quality and nutritional standards of breakfast food, establish, maintain or expand a school breakfast program, and increase breakfast participation in qualifying schools. Applications are due by July 24, 2023.
|
USDA Rural Development’s Intermediary Relending Program
The USDA Rural DevelopmentIntermediary Lending Program provides 1 % low-interest loans to local lenders or “intermediaries” that re-lend to businesses to improve economic conditions and create jobs in rural communities. Funds can be used to promote community development, establish a new business, create employment opportunities, and much more. This fact sheet provides information about the objective of the program, the application process, and funding information. The fourth quarter application deadline is June 30, 2023.
USDA Rural Development Food’s Supply Chain Guaranteed Loan Program
The USDA Rural Development Food Supply Chain Guaranteed Loan Program is part of USDA’s Build Back Better initiative to strengthen critical supply chains and the food system. This program guarantees loans of up to $40 million for qualified lenders to finance food systems projects, specifically for the start-up or expansion of activities in the middle of the food supply chain. The program will support new investments in infrastructure for food aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storage, transportation, wholesaling, and distribution. This fact sheet provides further information about the program, and here is a list of frequently asked questions. Applications will be accepted until funds are exhausted.
|
USDA Micro-Grants for Food Security Program
USDA announced $7.6 million in grant funding available to promote food security in Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. Territories through the Micro-Grants for Food Security Program (MGFSP) Program. The program will award funds to eligible individuals, tribes and tribal organizations, non-profits and governments to increase the quantity and quality of locally grown food through small-scale gardening, herding, and livestock operations in food insecure communities in these States and territories. Applications are due June 6, 2023.
USDA Cooperative Agreement for Compost and Food Waste Reduction
|
USDA Funding Opportunity to Expand Meat and Poultry Processing for Underserved Producers and Tribal Communities
USDA’s new Indigenous Animals Harvesting and Meat Processing Grant Program will provide up to $50 million to expand value-added infrastructure related to harvesting and processing meat from indigenous animals like bison, reindeer, or salmon. The additional new Local Meat Capacity Grant Program will provide up to $75 million in grants to fund innovative projects that expand meat and poultry producers local processing options and strengthen their market potential. Applications for both programs are due July 19, 2023.
|
|
|
USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (866) 632-9992 (Toll-free Customer Service), (800) 877-8339 (Local or Federal relay), (866) 377-8642 (Relay voice users).
|
|
|
|
|
