July 28, 2022

This Week in Farm to School 

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

Grant Basics for Youth Garden Programs

August 4, 2022 // 4 pm - 5 pm ET

Join Sarah Lane, KidsGardening’s Program Director, to learn the basics of writing grants for youth garden programs. She will go over the fundamentals of grants, share where to find grant funding, and how to apply for a grant. 

Register here. 

The Center for Environmental Farming Systems' (CEFS) Symposium on Agriculture, Food Systems and Climate Change

August 11, 2022 // 1 pm - 7 pm ET

The CEFS Symposium on Agriculture, Food Systems, and Climate Change will bring together interdisciplinary researchers, policymakers, farmers, and community leaders for interactive discussions to highlight novel ideas and priorities for agriculture and food systems to address climate change. This symposium is open to all and will conclude with a networking opportunity to cultivate new collaborations and communication among symposium participants. CEFS is excited to exchange ideas, share solutions, and engage with others committed to addressing climate change. This is an in-person event.

Register here.

Recorded: USDA Seeding Success Series - Track It! How to Make Your Farm to School Efforts Count

This webinar discusses the importance of tracking local food purchases. USDA fiscal year 2020 Farm to School State Agency Grant awardee Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets, shared the Vermont approach to assessing tracking strategies and implementing new tools and systems for data collection.

Watch here.

Turnip the Beet for Summer 2022!

The Turnip the Beet Award, by the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), recognizes outstanding Summer Meal Program sponsors who work hard to offer high quality meals that are appetizing, appealing, and nutritious. All Summer Meal Programs sponsors in good standing, including Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) sponsors and National School Lunch Program Seamless Summer Option (SSO) sponsors, may be eligible for a Turnip the Beet Award. Sponsors may self-nominate or be nominated by another party. Participation in the NC Farm to Summer initiative can help with your Turnip the Beet award application!

The Turnip the Beet nomination form must be completed and submitted along with a detailed one-month menu. No more than 5 supporting documents can be submitted. Submit 2022 Turnip the Beet Award applications to NCDPI at summernutritionprogram@dpi.nc.gov by 5 pm on September 16.

More details here.

Celebrate #NCFarmtoSummer 

Everyone is encouraged to take the #NCFarmtoSummerChallenge any time during the summer by completing one or more of the following steps:

1) Serve locally grown foods in meals and/or snacks,

2) Teach or learn about local food, agriculture and/or nutrition,

3) Post or share about farm to summer activities, and

4) Sign up for the #NCCrunch for Farm to School Month.

Sign up for the NC Farm to Summer Challenge and be entered to win a NC Farm to Summer resource kit with storybooks, activity guides, calendars and more.

Learn more here.

Overview of Local Food Systems Online Professional Development Training

The NC Cooperative Extension Local Food Programs team is offering a local food systems professional development training. The training program is designed for those who are just getting started in their local food systems career or for those who have experience but want to gain a broader more complete perspective. There are three courses and participants can earn a Certificate of Completion from NC State University upon successful completion. 

The Training Program includes the following courses: 

• Foundations in Local Food System Development, 15 hours (Register here.)
• Farm to Fork: Foundations in Local Food Supply & Value Chains, 10 hours (Register here.)
• The Bottom Line: Economic Realities and Other Opportunities in Local Food Systems, 10 hours (Register here.)

National Institute of Food and Agriculture Grant

Today! Deadline: July 28, 2022

The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Sustainable Agricultural Systems supports approaches that promote transformational changes in the US 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.

Duke Energy Social Justice & Racial Equity Grant Program

Deadline: August 31, 2022

This grant program will award $25,000 grants for general operating funds to North Carolina nonprofits dedicated to the fight for social justice and racial equity. Grants will empower nonprofits that are led by, and provide services to, communities of color.

Learn more here.

Big Green Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) Grants

Big Green is a USA 501c3 non-profit that believes growing food changes lives. They’re launching a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) as an experiment in democratizing and decentralizing their grantmaking. Food or gardening nonprofits can receive funding from the Big Green DAO. Successful applicants will also receive a DAO governance token to drive future funding.

Take the eligibility quiz here.

Raise Your Voice for Investments in Child Nutrition

The House Committee on Education and Labor introduced the Health Meals, Healthy Kids Act, a package of legislation that would reauthorize and improve the largest Child Nutrition Programs that support over 30 million kids every year. This proposal for Child Nutrition Reauthorization (CNR) drafts a comprehensive plan that not only includes many key priorities for farm to school and farm to early care and education (ECE), but that builds on the lessons learned since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and the gains made from the implementation of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act over a decade ago. 

Contact your Congress member here.

Values-Aligned Universal School Meals

The National Farm to School Network has been exploring a movement toward values-aligned universal meals focused on equity for the most impacted stakeholders across the food system. Universal meals embedded with the core values of farm to school have the potential to radically transform our food system for the better. Six key values, put into action, get us closer to a just, equitable food system that promotes the health of all school children and benefits producers, workers, educators, and their communities.

Learn more here.

Honor Native Land: A Guide and Call to Acknowledgement

Acknowledgment is a simple, powerful way of showing respect and a step toward correcting the stories and practices that erase Indigenous people’s history and culture and toward inviting and honoring the truth.

Learn more here.

Different Strategies for Challenging Different Levels of Racism 

Race Forward has created a document that describes different strategies to challenge the various levels of racism (internalized, individual, systemic, and institutional).

Learn more here.