The Institute of Child Nutrition works to help Child Nutrition Program operators remain up to date on best practices in preparing and serving meals to children. Farm to school has proven to be a driving force in child nutrition programs and has quickly become an everyday factor in successful child nutrition programs across the nation. Did you know? According to the National Farm to School Network: • 76.8% of school food authorities are utilizing fresh, locally grown foods on their menus. • 67,369 schools utilize local foods and produce in their daily menus.
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Farm to School -with-
• 42.8 million students across the nation are benefiting from farm to school programs and activities. • All five meal components can be procured by farm-to-school partnerships!
Farm-to-school efforts have exploded in the past three decades. Integrating fresh local goods into the meals students receive at school allows for an impactful, educational, and nutritional experience. It bears repeating that ALL FIVE meal components (milk, fruits, vegetables, meats/meat alternates, whole grains) can be procured with farm-to-school processes!
Kids win. Farmers win. Communities win.
Farm-to-school benefits students, farmers, and the community while emphasizing education, economic development, environment, equity, and overall public health. The consistent positive attributes it brings to everyone are why we will continue to see an increase in the number of schools participating. Empowering children and adults to make (and understand) healthy food choices is a far-reaching benefit of farm-to- school efforts. Motivating farmers or teachers to continue growing and outsourcing their products is essential to the continued success and overall health of our nation’s children. Farm to school has continuously proven beneficial and impactful in the child nutrition industry. Many child nutrition operators struggling to feed students turned to local growers during COVID-19 when faced with supply chain issues (FoodCorps, 2021). Schools in every state continue to face procurement barriers, global supply chain delays, and struggle to feed students (FoodCorps, 2021). Not only is farm to school an excellent source for educating school children on the importance of nutrition and farming, but it could also be the solution to school cafeterias facing supply chain problems.
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