This Week in Farm to School from NC March 31, 2022

Farm to school connects local agriculture, schools, and partners to benefit students, educators, farmers, families, and communities.

Policy and Advocacy for Food Systems Change Courses (Virtual) April 5 - 7 // 1-2pm EDT & April 20 // 3pm EDT Join the Wallace Center’s Food Systems Leadership Network for a spring series dedicated to building collective knowledge around policy and advocacy for food systems change. Equity Advocates will debunk the misconceptions around nonprofits and advocacy and offer tips for how to get started and stay involved. The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition will walk through the Farm Bill as everyone gears up for its 2023 reauthorization.  Learn more and register here. Drip Irrigation Systems For School Gardens April 6, 2022 // 2 pm EDT Drip irrigation systems can save time, conserve water, and enhance the ease and health of your school garden plants. Join the School Garden Support Organization Network to discuss how to set up and manage a simple drip irrigation system. They will share the components needed to create a system, steps to calculate/order materials, demonstrate basic skills to build/repair your system, and tips for year-round management within a school garden context. The webinar will be a mixed presentation of lecture, sharing of video clips, and ample time for Q and A. Presenters will include Moses Thompson, Brit Palomarez, and Caleb Ortega of the University of Arizona Community and School Garden Program.  Register here. Ecological Gardening: Companion Planting and Other Earth-Friendly Practices April 7, 2022 // 7 pm EDT Join KidsGardening as they talk with garden expert and author Charlie Nardozzi about how using an ecosystem-based approach in the garden including techniques such as companion planting and no-dig gardening can help you grow a successful and sustainable youth garden program. They will also explore how the garden can be used to teach youth about the intricate and vital relationships of plants, animals, fungi, and other microorganisms in our world and the benefits of environmental diversity. All registrants will be entered to win a Tubtrug full of garden goodies and a copy of Charlie’s book The Complete Guide to No-Dig Gardening.  Register here. 2022 CEFS’ Committee on Racial Equity (CORE) Two-Day Training – Focus on the Food System April 12 - 13, 2022 // 9:30 pm - 3:30 pm EDT Join CORE for their multi-day virtual racial equity training that will offer a shared language, a shared framework, and a shared history for understanding how racism and systemic barriers inhibit equity in the food system, with a focus on food insecurity. Register here.

Join a Farm to School Coalition of North Carolina Working Group! Are you interested in collaborating with other farm to school stakeholders in North Carolina? The Farm to School Coalition of NC is seeking individuals to join one or more of our Working Groups – education & engagement, systems change, impact & outreach, resiliency, and sustainability. If you’d like to learn more about these Working Groups and how you can get involved please complete our interest form below. We look forward to collaborating with you all!  View Working Group Interest Form here.

What You’re Eating Podcast: Episode 4 – The Big Problem of Food Waste What You're Eating is a podcast series from the team at FoodPrint. Their collection of podcasts shed light on the food system and the culture of food. In episode 4, FoodPrint talks to experts about why food waste is a problem and digs into some of the cultural reasons why our society treats food as disposable. Listen here.

NPR Article: Millions of children will miss healthy school meals when pandemic relief expires Millions of children rely on school meals to keep hunger at bay, so School Nutrition Directors scrambled to adopt new, creative ways to distribute food to families. As a part of pandemic relief legislation, the USDA Food and Nutrition services agency waived the requirement that schools serve meals in a group setting, increased school-year reimbursement rates to summer levels for school food programs, and granted more flexibility in how food is prepared and packaged. School Nutrition Directors have stated that some of these changes were improvements on the status quo. Read more here.

Research Article: The Association Between Duration of School Garden Exposure and Self-Reported Learning and School Connectedness  When students feel connected to their school, they experience positive health and academic outcomes. School garden programming has the potential to help children achieve academic outcomes and feel connected to their school. Researchers describe the results of a secondary analysis utilizing data from an evaluation of a university-supported community school garden program (CSGP). Using a cross-sectional survey study design, researchers examined the impact of school garden programming in Title I schools on primarily Latino/a (Hispanic) elementary student self-reported learning and feelings of school connectedness by comparing students with ≤ 1-year exposure to those with >1 year. Read more here.

Today! School Nutrition Foundation Equipment Grants Deadline: March 31, 2022 The School Nutrition Foundation is teaming up with industry partners to provide new kitchen equipment to deserving districts. Apply now for the 2022 SNF Equipment Grant Program, featuring applications for not one but FIVE grants! Eligible applicants have the opportunity to win equipment grants, each worth between $20,000 to $100,000 of equipment. Applications and photos must be submitted by a School Nutrition Director. This year, only finalists will be asked to submit a 2-3-minute video. They will announce the recipients in May of 2022. Learn more here. Outdoor Classroom Challenge  Deadline: April 8, 2022 Project Green Schools is challenging schools across the country to develop and implement a meaningful outdoor classroom and learning space that awards one Grand Prize of $10,000 to further enhance an existing space or build a new space. Schools will submit a formal write-up, proposed budget, and design of their outdoor learning classroom/space. Project Green Schools will invite the top five designs to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges in Spring 2022 to determine the winner.  Learn more and apply here. Local Agriculture Market Program (LAMP) Deadline: May 16 USDA has opened grant applications under the Local Agriculture Market Program (LAMP). This funding is available through three channels, with the USDA including a focus on Farm to Institution (FTI) projects for two of the funding streams: The Local Food Promotion Program (LFPP) grants will develop food businesses that connect local food to institutions, and the Regional Food System Partnerships (RFSP) grant supports public-private partnerships that build and strengthen the viability of local or regional food economies. The third stream, the Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP), supports direct-to-consumer markets such as farmers markets and CSAs. The Wallace Center has created this set of resources on applying. USDA is hosting informational webinars for FMPP and LFPP on April 5th 1 PM EST and for RFSP on April 6th 1 PM EST. Learn more here. National Institute of Food and Agriculture Grant Deadline: July 28, 2022 The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Sustainable Agricultural Systems supports approaches that promote transformational changes in the U.S. food and agriculture system. NIFA seeks creative and visionary applications that take a systems approach for projects that are expected to significantly improve the supply of affordable, safe, nutritious, and accessible agricultural products while fostering economic development and rural prosperity in America.  Learn more here. Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) Grants CSPI is releasing several grant opportunities this funding cycle that is organized into 4 focus areas: State and local policy grants, Community prioritized policy innovation grants, Federal lobbying grants, Power building grants. Many topics will be relevant to school food, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Child Nutrition Reauthorization (CNR), and other categories related to Farm to School. Click the link below to find more information, including resources for applicants and application information, and sign up to be notified about relevant funding opportunities. Learn more here.

Share Your Story: Supply Chain Difficulties and Adaptations Deadline: Rolling Supply chain difficulties are ongoing, and the National Farm to School Network (NFSN) wants to hear from you the stories that they should be elevating to policymakers about the Child Nutrition Program challenges you are facing now and that you anticipate facing this summer and fall. If you have a story to share, contact NFSN's Policy Director, Karen Spangler, at karen@farmtoschool.org. Tell Congress: Health and Economic Gains of School Meals at Risk If Child Nutrition Program Waivers Expire Congress did not include the extension of Child Nutrition waiver flexibilities in the recently passed omnibus appropriations bill (see NFSN's statement); however, Child Nutrition advocates are continuing to seek opportunities to grant USDA the authority to extend flexibilities. Please continue to raise awareness with North Carolina Representatives and Senators about the urgency for Congress to grant these flexibilities.  Take action here to call your legislators. Extensions for Child Nutrition Waivers A report released on March 7 by the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service underscores the negative impact of supply chain disruptions and staffing challenges on School Nutrition Programs during the 2021-2022 school year. The report also found that nearly 90 percent of school districts used the Seamless Summer Option (SSO) waiver to serve meals for the school year 2021-2022, which allows schools to offer all students meals at no charge and provides higher reimbursement rates which have been needed to support nutrition finances during the pandemic. Learn more here. Child Nutrition Reauthorization (CNR) Update Advocates are gearing up for another potential push for Child Nutrition Reauthorization, the largest piece of federal legislation that authorizes school, summer, after-school, and early care and education (ECE) meal programs. You can read more about the CNR process and National Farm to School Network's top issues here, and see information about key legislative proposals ("marker bills") here. While no package of legislation has yet been released, there is an opportunity to build support among legislators for strengthening these programs through funding, access, farm to school activities, and an equity lens that can truly shift power for a racially just food system. Use this form to reach out to your legislator and let them know the Child Nutrition priorities that are important to you.

2022 CEFS’ Committee on Racial Equity (CORE) Two-Day Training – Focus on the Food System Join CORE for their multi-day virtual racial equity training that will offer a shared language, a shared framework, and a shared history for understanding how racism and systemic barriers inhibit equity in the food system, with a focus on food insecurity. Register here. drWorks Online Workbook and Resources drWorks’ resources include – toolkits, resources for parents and teachers, organizing and training, books, videos, and articles.  Learn more here. 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge  Food Solutions New England will host its 8th version of the 21-Day Racial Equity Habit-Building Challenge from April 4th to the 24th in 2022. Register here. An Annotated Bibliography on Structural Racism Present in the U.S. Food System, Ninth Edition This annotated bibliography provides current research and outreach on structural racism in the U.S. food system for the food system practitioner, researcher, educator, and advocate. Read more here.

Farm to School Coalition of NC | www.farmtoschoolcoalitionnc.org

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