A growing movement

1. A growing movement Farm to School In Alabama

2. Contents Farm to School from a national to an Alabama perspective…history, timeline, benefits, impact.

3. Alabama Farm to School Quick Facts The Challenges School cafeteria dieticians learning to utilize the program. Produce farmers learning to work cooperatively with the program. • Feeds 500,000 school children. • Provides nutritious Alabama-grown fruits and vegetables. • Has grown dramatically in 13 years to a $1 million program. • This year launched its own website.

4. Introduction • Serving food grown in Alabama in our public schools isn’t new. What is new is a program that systematically connects Alabama’s food and farms with its schools. Farm to School – A program whereby schools buy and feature locally grown and produced foods as a means of improving the nutrition of our students. • Schools also incorporate nutrition-based curriculum and provide students with experiential learning opportunities such as farm visits, gardening, and recycling programs. As a result of Farm to School, students have access to fresh, local foods, and farmers have access to new markets through school sales. Farmers are also able to participate in programs designed to educate kids about local food and agriculture.

5. National Perspective Currently, school lunches are generally designed according to the guidelines put out by the USDA National School Lunch Program (NSLP).More than half of US children participate daily, which translates to approximately 28 million lunches distributed per day. The nutritional guidelines for the NSLP lunches are based on "Dietary Recommendations for Americans" composed by the Institute of Medicine. Its requirements are that a school lunch includes one third of the RDA of calories, vitamins A and C, calcium and iron, and protein.

6. Childhood Obesity Farm to School provides a model for positively influencing children’s eating habits through school cafeteria improvements, hands-on nutrition education, and community involvement and support. The last decade has witnessed a tremendous spike in nutrition- and health-related diseases in the country, especially those affecting children. Farm to School is one such initiative to combat childhood obesity, and it also has the added benefits of supporting small farmers, local agriculture, and local economies.

7. History The National Farm to School Network sprouted in 1996-1997 from the desire to support community-based food systems, strengthen family farms, and improve student health by reducing childhood obesity. In 2004 the National Farm to School Program was officially authorized, and included 400 programs in 22 states. Additionally, the 2011 White House Task Force Report on Childhood Obesity recognized Farm to School as a strategy for obesity prevention.

8. Timeline • 1996/1997 - Birth of farm to school through pilot projects in California (Santa Monica-Malibu USD and The Edible Schoolyard, Berkeley) and Florida (New North Florida Marketing Cooperative). • 2000 - USDA IFAFS supports the establishment of the National Farm to School Program enabling program development, research, and policy. • 2001 - USDA AMS began organizing farm to school workshops around the country as part of the Small Farms/School Meals Initiative. Groundbreaking meetings brought farmers and food service together for the first time to discuss how to implement farm to school programs in Kentucky, Iowa and Oregon. Estimated 6 pilot programs operational.* • 2002 - 1st regional Farm to Cafeteria conference organized at Cornell University (with support from University of New Hampshire). 1st Farm to Cafeteria Conference in October in Seattle, Washington with approximately 200 attendees.

9. Timeline (continued) 2004 - National Farm to School Program authorized in statute in the 2004 Child Nutrition Reauthorization. (While the program has been established, it has not yet received any federal funding.) National survey of farm to school projects with an estimated 400 programs in 22 states. 2005 - Planning grant received for National Farm to School Network from Kellogg. 2nd Farm to Cafeteria Conference in June in Gambier, Ohio with over 350 attendees. 2005/2006 - Regional meetings held across the country to gather feedback on need for a national network and setting priorities; national survey estimates 1000+ programs.* 2008 - Partners of the National Network, Program Strategy Advisory Committee and Regional Steering Committees established to guide national efforts. Farm Bill legislation successfully passed allowing food service directors to purchase local products.

10. Farm to School Network The Network, established in 2007, began as a collaborative of the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute, Occidental College and the Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC). In late 2011, the National Farm to School Network became its own organization under the fiscal sponsorship of the Tides Center. The Network coordinates, promotes and expands Farm to School at the state, regional and national levels. Currently, the National Farm to School Program sponsors a competitive grants program, involving over 2,500 programs in all 50 states and over 10,000 schools.

11. The Network’s six main priority areas are: • Policy development • Training and technical assistance • Information development and dissemination • Networking • Media and marketing • Research and evaluation

12. From the Child’s Viewpoint… The Farm to School approach helps children understand where their food comes from and how their food choices impact their bodies, the environment and their communities at large.

13. Potential benefits of the program for communities, schools, farmers and children include: Nutrition education for students Increased consumption of fruits and vegetables Reduced hunger Obesity prevention Local economic development Market opportunities for farmers Food security for children

14. Environmental Impact Multiple studies have looked at the environmental impact of conventional agriculture versus the local food movement.[These studies show that there is not yet a consistent methodology for measuring energy consumption in local versus non-local farms. “Local” is not a clearly defined measurement, and by only examining the energy in terms of “food miles” versus an entire life cycle assessment (LCA), much of the research on local farming is missing key components of the farm-to-consumer process, and the energy consumption involved.

15. Economic Impact There is a widespread perception that serving healthier meals in schools and doing away with serving typical vending foods such as chips, sodas, and sweets will decrease the financial viability of the school lunch program. A growing body of evidence indicates that this concern may not be warranted. Though there may be an initial decrease in revenue, most schools have reported an increase or no change in revenue after implementing strong nutrition standards and restricting the sale of unhealthy a la carte foods in pilot studies. This seems to be due to an increase in school lunch program participation.

16. Aiding Alabama’s Regional Economies Advocates of farm to school argue that it will have a beneficial effect on the regional economy but there are few comprehensive analyses that have evaluated this. At least one analysis evaluated the potential economic impact of farm to school programs for an entire region in a comprehensive manner. Depending on the price paid for the farm foods and how often the farm foods are utilized in school lunches, the regional economic impact ranged from $20,000 to almost $500,000 in their analysis.

17. Alabama’s Farm to School Alabama’s Farm to School Program in the current fiscal year will spend approx. $1 million on locally grown produce for all of the state’s public school students (K-12). This includes purchases of Satsuma oranges, tomatoes, apples, sweet potatoes, and watermelons. All from Alabama farmers. Our plan is to continue to expand the program.

18. Tremendous Growth Since 2002- The Alabama Farm to School program’s first year volume was $15,000. - Two years later, it grew to $100,000. - Last year, 2012, the number was $800,000.- This year, volume will grow 25% to $1 million.

19. What is GAP? Good Agricultural Practices USDA Specialty Crops Inspection (SCI) Division Audit Programs offers voluntary independent audits of produce suppliers throughout the production and supply chain. SCI’s Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Good Handling Practices (GHP) audits focus on best agricultural practices to verify that fruits and vegetables are produced, packed, handled, and stored in the safest manner possible to minimize risks of microbial food safety hazards. GAP & GHP audits verify adherence to the recommendations made in the FDA’s Guide to Minimize Microbial Food Safety Hazards for Fresh Fruits & Vegetablesand industry recognized food safety practices.

20. Resources Our Alabama Farm to School website – AlabamaFresh.org – serves as a clearinghouse for both school dieticians and farmers seeking to sell/purchase farm fresh produce.

21. Supporting farm-to-school programs increases the amount of fresh produce available to cafeterias as it helps support local farmers by establishing regular, institutional buyers. Comm. John McMillan, Alabama Dept. of Agriculture & Industries

22. Here’s to Better Nutrition for Alabama School Kids!