This Week in Farm to School | |
Farm to school connects local agriculture, schools, and partners to benefit students, educators, farmers, families, and communities. | |
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North Carolina Produce Safety Professionals Conference
December 12, 2023 // NC A&T University
This one-day conference, hosted by NC Cooperative Extension, will expand your knowledge on the legal aspects of food safety regulations when growing and selling produce and other value-added products. The audience will gain an understanding of the interplay of federal and state law and regulations in the area of produce safety, what happens in the event a farm or facility is involved in an official regulatory action (such as recalls, outbreak investigations), and how to put in place mitigation strategies to protect your farm and/or business. They strongly encourage growers, market managers, food hubs, CSAs, roadside stand operators, small food distributors, consultants, and extension agents to attend. The deadline to register is tomorrow, December 8th.
Learn more and register.
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Approaching Garden Education with Compassion and Empathy
December 13, 2023 // 6 pm ET
During this webinar, Crystal Bowne and Kristine Lockwood of Leah’s Pantry will offer a fresh perspective on garden programming with the objective of increasing your ability to connect with and engage your participants. The webinar will introduce a trauma-informed approach to garden education and explore ways to apply trauma-informed principles. Topics will include protective factors and teaching strategies in garden settings.
Learn more and register.
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Farm to School Institute Impacts: Adapting the Shelburne Farms F2S Institute for K-12 & ECE
December 14, 2023// 12 pm ET
Join the National Farm to School Network and Betsy Rosenbluth, Jennifer Cirillo, and Qing Ren of Shelburne Farms in discussing the impacts of the Farm to School Institute, lessons learned, and recent state-led adaptations.
Learn more and register.
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Introduction to Food Safety and USDA Harmonized GAP Certification Standard Series
Starting January 29, 2023 // 4 pm - 5:30 pm ET
Do you plan to get GAP (Good Agricultural Practices)-certified under the USDA Harmonized GAP Standard? This FREE five-part training series is for you! Carolina Farm Stewardship Association will take each section of the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) audit in 1.5-hour sessions and break down, step-by-step, what you need to do to get GAP certified. They will cover all updates to the certification and what we learned from helping farms get GAP certified throughout the year. CFSA loves discussion and welcome farmers to come to the webinars with questions.
Learn more and register.
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Overview of Local Food Systems: Online Professional Development Training
Are you interested in learning more about local food systems? Do you work with local food projects, but are unsure of the research about their impacts or the resources available to support you? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you might be interested in NC Cooperative Extension Local Food Program’s Overview of Local Food Systems Online Professional Development Training. The Training Program consists of three courses. Register in December for the second and third courses in the series:
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Farm to Fork: Foundations in Local Food Supply & Value Chains, 15 hours: Price = $200 (register starting December 1, course begins 1/15/24)
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The Bottom Line: Economic Realities and Other Considerations of Local Food Systems, 15 hours: Price = $200 (register starting December 1, course begins 1/15/24)
Please note that in order to register for these two courses, you must have completed the first course in the series, Foundations in Local Food Systems Development.
Learn more.
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USDA Shared Kitchen and Food Start-Up Resources
Shared kitchens are a business development strategy that communities have adopted to enable diverse local food businesses to produce, store, and sell their products. The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service partnered with Colorado State University and the Food Corridor to create fact sheets and case studies about the food business owners operating out of shared kitchens and the role of shared kitchens across the country.
Learn more.
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Seed Crew Program Manuals, Volume I, II, III
The Food Project’s Seed Crew (formerly known as Summer Youth Program) employs 72 youth from greater Boston and the North Shore of eastern Massachusetts to work on the land, grow organic produce, serve the community, and grow together. Behind the scenes, this program is complex to run and execute. These three manuals will provide readers with an entire picture of how to recruit young people, how to train them, how to set up the program, and how to run it once the summer begins. The three volumes together form a complete guidebook for running a successful and dynamic summer youth program.
Learn more.
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“Sovereignty Gardens” A Children’s Educational Animation Series
Through a cooperative agreement, the USDA Office of Tribal Relations and Dr. Lee Francis of Native Realities created an animated series to help build excitement and pride with children about using Indigenous knowledge in gardening, food sovereignty, traditional foods, and healthy eating habits. “Sovereignty Gardens” uses animation and puppetry to follow Stompy, the buffalo, and his friend, Bran, through a series of learning adventures, which include cameos by Indigenous and scientific leaders. There are also accompanying educator’s guide and lesson plans available for download.
Learn more.
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2024 Youth Garden Grant
Deadline: December 15, 2023
Since 1982, KidsGardening’s Youth Garden Grant has supported school and youth educational garden projects that enhance the quality of life for youth and their communities. In early 2024, fifty organizations will be awarded $500 in funding and a collection of gardening supplies for their youth garden program. Among the fifty winners, ten programs will also receive a specialty award package: five from their friends at Crescent Garden and five from their friends at Garden Tower. The selection of winners is prioritized based on demonstrated need and program impact.
Learn more and apply.
Partnerships for Local Agriculture & Nutrition Transformation in Schools (PLANTS)
Deadline: January 22, 2024
The Chef Ann Foundation is seeking proposals for projects led by groups of local partners with systemic and equity-driven approaches to transforming school food supply chains. Projects should seek to build and strengthen relationships among community-based food system stakeholders and School Food Authorities (SFAs) as well as expand scratch cooking in schools in order to build more nourishing school meal programs. This program is funded by the USDA Food & Nutrition Service Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative and is administered by Chef Ann Foundation in partnership with Kitchen Sync Strategies Collaborative, Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition, and National Farm to School Network.
Learn more and apply.
2024 Farm to School Grant
Deadline: January 24, 2024
The USDA Farm to School Program is excited to announce the official release of the fiscal year (FY) 2024 Farm to School Grant Program Request for Applications (RFA). USDA will award up to $12 million in competitive grants to eligible entities through the grant program this fiscal year. Each grant will help implement farm to school programming that increases access to local food in eligible schools, connects children with agriculture for better health, and inspires youth to consider careers in agriculture. The RFA includes five tracks - Implementation, State Agency, and three Turnkey grants - to support a variety of projects and implementation stages. A wide variety of entities are eligible to compete for funding through this grant opportunity. Schools and other institutions operating the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Child and Adult Care Food Program, and/or Summer Food Service Program; State agencies; local agencies; ITOs; small- to medium-sized agricultural producers or groups of small- to medium-sized agricultural producers; and non-profit organizations are eligible to apply for Farm to School Grants.
Learn more and apply.
Center for School and Community Partnerships at Boise State University
Deadline: January 26, 2024
The Center for School and Community Partnerships at Boise State University’s Request for Applications for the Supporting Community Agriculture and Local Education Systems Sub-Grants (SCALES) is now open. SCALES will award up to 35 rural School Food Authorities (SFA) across the nation. Grant awards will be up to $150,000. SCALES will work with SFA directors over a two-year period to build partnerships for innovative solutions to increase local procurement in school meal programs.
Learn more and apply.
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CFSA’s Member Advocacy Program
Application deadline: December 18, 2023
The Carolina Farm Stewardship Association pushes for policies and programs in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Washington DC that benefit our farmers, farmworkers, communities, and planet. So can you! Are you passionate about sustainable food and agriculture? Do you want to enhance your ability to advocate for causes that are important to you and your community? The Member Advocacy Program is an opportunity for those interested in upping their advocacy game by studying with the CFSA policy team. Participants will grow their advocacy skills and network with fellow food and farming advocates across North Carolina and South Carolina.
Learn more.
Study: New York Farm to School Program A Net-Positive
This article from Olean Times Herald shares more about farm to school programming in New York. Farm to School programs – which bring healthy foods to children and support rural economic development and local farms, among other benefits – actually work from an economic perspective in at least one school district in upstate New York school district, according to Cornell University research. A key finding was, in addition to a clear shift in food-spending categories (including exponentially more fruits, vegetables, and beef from local farms), the government’s enhanced reimbursement to the school district was more than offset by an expected increase in GDP due to increased demand for locally sourced food.
Learn more.
2023 Farm to School Census
The USDA Food and Nutrition Service released the fourth Farm to School Census on October 2nd and your participation counts! The Census surveys all public, private, and charter school food authorities (SFAs) operating the National School Lunch Program about their farm to school relevant activities. The Census results are publicly available, and the information is vital to help schools, partners, advocates, and producers understand the role of farm to school in supporting resilient local food systems and contributing to student experiences at school.
Learn more.
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