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This Week in Farm to School
January 27, 2022
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Farm to school connects local agriculture, schools, and partners to benefit students, educators, farmers, families, and communities.
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Farm to School Census Comment Opportunity
Deadline: January 31, 2022
The USDA Food and Nutrition Service, which administers the Farm to School Census, is asking for stakeholders to weigh in on the burden of information collection for the Farm to School Census before administering the next round in 2023. More information about this comment opportunity is located in the policy section below.
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Cultivating Roots: Basic Classroom Hydroponics
January 31, 2022 // 1:30 pm EST
Part of the 2022 Webinar Series, presented by the New Hampshire Farm to School Network and the New Hampshire School & Youth Garden Network, join 4-H Field Specialist, Michelle Bersaw-Robblee, and 6th grade Special Education Educator, Kristen Bean Warren, to hear how they partnered to bring hydroponics into the classroom for a hands-on interactive experience for students.
Food Justice and Disability Justice Webinar
January 31, 2022 // 8 pm - 9 pm EST
Join the Autistic Women and Nonbinary Network for a discussion about food justice and disability justice. During this time they will discuss how we build a world where food justice becomes a reality. They will provide American Sign Language interpretation and Communication Access Real-time Translation (CART) captioning for this event, which participants will be able to join by video or phone.
Virtual Transplant Training Workshop
February 14, 2022 // 1 pm - 4 pm
Join the Center for Environmental Farming Systems for a free virtual transplant workshop. Learn how to correctly transplant your plants and about general transplant production information. Their presenters and researchers will also introduce new seeds for planting specialty fruits and vegetables. These new crops will be showcased through fun, exciting recipes, and cooking tips. The afternoon will end with a Q&A session so bring your questions!
2022 North Carolina Child Hunger Leaders Conference
February 17, 2022 // 9:30 am - 4 pm
The Carolina Hunger Initiative is looking for school and community partners to share short videos of stories, innovations, or “silver linings” related to fighting food insecurity in children for the upcoming N.C. Child Hunger Leaders Conference. This year’s conference theme is “Celebrate Silver Linings,” focusing on stories of hope, innovation, and perseverance that have emerged from a challenging year. Select videos will be shown during the conference and made available on-demand for conference attendees and the public.
Film: Growing Connections for Farmers in Northeastern NC
Growing Connections for Farmers in Northeastern NC is now LIVE on the Community Food Strategies Youtube page! Learn why our local farms are so vitally important for the health and wealth of our state.
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A.T. Allen Elementary School Q&A Preview |
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A.T. Allen Elementary School, located in Cabarrus County, welcomes all students to the garden. All grades K - 5th use the gardens as an Outdoor Learning Lab where science, math, literacy, and social studies come to life!
Q: How has the pandemic affected your garden program?
A: It was difficult because there was limited in-person instruction, so students were not able to maintain the garden. During the pandemic, students also forgot how to respect the garden space. Now students are divided up into teams that help maintain the garden (cleaning, composting, weeding, etc.). The fifth graders also became more hands-on and started a mentoring program with the kindergarten students to show them how to properly take care of the garden.
View the rest of our Q&A with the GROW (Gardeners Reaching Our World) lab teacher, Janet Childress, on our Facebook and Instagram tomorrow, Friday, January 28th. The Q&A explores how the program began and how they foster student autonomy in the garden!
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Garden to Kitchen Resource
Each month, the Poe Center’s expert health educators post how-to instructions for growing and maintaining edible plants and how to use them in the kitchen.
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Captain Planet Foundation’s Project Hero
Project Hero is a free online platform that offers a standard-oriented and authentic project-based learning experience for empowering and engaging students to take action for their local endangered species and ecosystems. When you register for a free account as an educator, you gain access to additional teaching resources, tips, and opportunities, including eligibility for grant funds to support your class’s projects.
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School Nutrition Association 2021 Supply Chain Survey Report
SNA surveyed its School Nutrition director members in the fall of 2021 to evaluate current challenges with supply chain and staffing, and assess the state of School Nutrition Program finances. In the findings, 98 percent reported experiencing shortages of food and packaging supplies due to pandemic-related supply chain issues.
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The Food and Agriculture Service Learning Program
Deadline: January 31, 2022
The Food and Agriculture Service Learning Program (FASLP) is a farm-to-school program that supports projects that bring together school cafeterias and classrooms and fosters community engagement between local farms and schools. The goal of these efforts is to not only increase access to school meals for underserved children but also improve their quality. FASLP is focused on the development of leadership skills, knowledge, and qualities necessary to prepare students for food, agricultural, and related careers.
GroMoreGood Grassroots Grant
Deadline: February 4, 2022
The Scotts Miracle-Gro Foundation and KidsGardening are excited to announce the launch of the 2022 GroMoreGood Grassroots Grant! This grant will award a total of 150 programs $500 in funding to start or expand their youth gardens or greenspaces. The Grassroots Grants are part of Scotts Miracle-Gro’s larger GroMoreGood initiative, which aims to bring the life-enhancing benefits of gardens and greenspaces to 10 million children by 2023.
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.
WNC Farm to School Jumpstart Grant
Deadline: August 2022
The Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project’s Growing Minds Jumpstart Grant is now open! Eligible schools and organizations can apply for funding in the amount of $500 to $1,000 to support their farm to school project. Funding can be used to start new projects or to expand upon existing activities. Pre-k through 12 schools, homeschool groups, teacher and nutrition education programs, and community-based organizations serving children and families are eligible to apply (see below for more details). Schools/organizations must be located within the 23 westernmost counties of North Carolina (Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, Yancey) or the Qualla Boundary. Applications are due on the 15th of each month through August 2022, starting on January 15, 2022.
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Farm to School Census Comment Opportunity
Deadline: January 31, 2022
The USDA Food and Nutrition Service, which administers the Farm to School Census, is asking for stakeholders to weigh in on the burden of information collection for the Farm to School Census before administering the next round in 2023. The Farm to School Census is a rich source of information from School Food Authorities (SFAs) across the country. You can see the information gathered in 2019 that was released earlier this year here. USDA welcomes your first-hand experiences on the burden on School Food Authorities to collect information for the Farm to School Census.
2022 Census of Agriculture
Every five years, the Census of Agriculture counts the number of U.S. farms and ranches, as well as the people who operated them. As long as you’ve raised or sold $1,000 or more of fruits, vegetables, or livestock, you can be counted. The Census looks at land use, ownership, operator characteristics, production practices, income, and expenditures. The data that the Census of Agriculture collects is used to shape future policy decisions, funding opportunities, and more, so it is vitally important that smaller, BIPOC-owned, and other historically under-represented producers, are counted. If you did not receive the 2017 Census of Agriculture questionnaire and should have, or if you are operating a new farm or ranch, please sign up here to receive your survey code, and encourage others to as well!
The Native Farm Bill Coalition Planning Policy Roundtables for 2022
The Native Farm Bill Coalition is currently planning its 2022 policy roundtables. These in-person roundtables are an excellent opportunity to hear from Tribal producers, leaders, and stakeholders, and the feedback collected will help shape the Coalition’s policy priorities for the 2023 farm bill. The locations and dates are still currently being decided, so if your Tribe or organization would like to host a policy roundtable in your region, reach out to Lexie Holden at lexie@indianag.org. Native Farm Bill Coalition will also be offering a series of virtual listening sessions.
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Racial equity in local food incentive programs: Examining gaps in data and evaluation
Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (JAFSCD)
In the past 18 years, over 60 local food procurement incentive bills for schools and early care sites have been introduced in state legislatures and 23 have passed. While these bills promise benefits to children, schools, and producers, limited data collection and evaluation make it difficult to assess the true impacts of policy implementation. Data and evaluation focused on equity impacts of these bills are especially sparse. In a new JAFSCD commentary, authors Kristin Gimobi, Research Economist, RTI International, and Lacy Stephens, Programs Director, National Farm to School Network, provide recommendations for improving data collection and evaluation of these local food incentive bills in order to inform and advance more equitable farm to school policy and programs.
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