Farm to School
Could you imagine a school cafeteria where healthy, fit 4th graders come back for seconds of fresh tomatoes but leave the chocolate pudding untouched? We can.
Ecotrust, in close collaboration with a diverse coalition of project partners, is working to promote the long term health of children by making changes in the school lunchroom that will lead to lifelong healthy eating habits. At their best, farm to school programs, as they are known, enable schools to feature healthy, locally sourced products in their cafeterias; incorporate nutrition-based curriculum; and provide students healthy meals and experiential learning opportunities through farm visits, gardening, and recycling.
We work at the local, state and regional level, and our efforts are part of the National Farm to School Network.
Western Regional Assembly
On September 18–19, 2008 we will host a professional development opportunity for farm to school practitioners throughout an eight state region. For more information about the Assembly, please click here (228 kb pdf).
Community Events
From time to time we host community events related to school food and school gardens. Most recently we partnered with the Portland Culinary Alliance to provide a historical perspective on the issues, shared in the publication "What’s For Lunch" (4.5 mb pdf).
Sign up for Ecotrust Food & Farms Updates to stay informed about upcoming community events.
Legislation
Ecotrust, along with its partners, advocated for public policies in the state of Oregon that would impact school food in both the 2007 general legislative session and the 2008 special legislative session. In 2009 we’ll continue to play a leadership role in suggesting policy changes that will make it easier to bring school children in Oregon the very best this region has to offer.
Likewise, colleagues in other states are pursuing legislative agendas designed to increase the amount of money spent on school food and increase opportunities for garden-based education and literacy related to health, agriculture, and nutrition.
Sign up for Ecotrust Food & Farms Updates to receive emails regarding Ecotrust’s progress.
Benevolent Broker
These days there is no lack of interest in sourcing locally produced or processed products for the school cafeteria. The challenge is to find farmers, food processors and manufacturers that can work with schools. At this critical time, while systems barriers require retooling, Ecotrust serves as a benevolent broker, connecting school food service personnel to those that have products well suited to the lunch line.
To this end, we’ve put our popular Guide to Local and Seasonal Products (Guide) into the hands of every school nutrition service director in the region. The Guide connects agricultural producers (including farmers, ranchers and fishers) directly to food buyers (chefs, grocery retailers, processors and institutional purchasers). This publication and online resource serves as a veritable "yellow pages" for those looking to source or sell local, seasonal products. Please register for the Guide to Local and Seasonal Products, either as a producer or a buyer, by visiting www.farmerchefconnection.org.
Research
During the 2005–06 school year, Portland Public Schools invested in a pilot program at Abernethy Elementary, introducing an integrated farm to school program with on-site scratch cooking, an outdoor garden, and curriculum focused on gardening, nutrition, and general wellness principles. Comparing results to a control school where no changes were made, Ecotrust conducted a thorough analysis of the pilot program evaluating cost efficiency, nutritional content, participation in the national school lunch program, preferences of the school children, and community perceptions of the program.
To build on this base of knowledge, Ecotrust continues to (a) analyze the efficacy of the Abernethy pilot program and (b) evaluate district-wide lunchroom changes currently underway. With solid data in hand, our goal is to identify policies and strategies that can support system-wide change, yet work within the constraints of the existing institutional framework. Here, objective information about program acceptance, fiscal viability, and impact is crucial.
