August 4, 2022

This Week in Farm to School 

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

Crafting Your Narrative for Grant Applications

August 11, 2022 // 4 pm - 5 pm ET

Join Em Shipman, KidsGardening’s Executive Director and lead fundraiser, as she walks you through how to write a compelling case statement or narrative about your grant program.

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 - Purchasing Outside the Box! Local Procurement Beyond the Apple

This webinar shares creative ways to procure and incorporate local foods into school meals. This webinar features three amazing farm to school stakeholders from Uni Organic, Mineral County Tech Center, and Gulf of Maine Research Institute, whose stories take us from coast to coast, and dive into the ways they are getting local grains and proteins onto the trays of students in their local school districts.

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.)

Indigenous Youth Nutrition Security Grants from Newman's Own Foundation

Deadline: September 15 (Application)

Newman's Own Foundation launches its first-ever request for proposals (RFP) for Nutrition Security for Indigenous Youth. This RFP has been developed in collaboration with their partners at Tahoma Peak Solutions, a Native woman-owned firm focused on empowering and building up communities in Indian Country. Through this RFP, Newman’s Own Foundation will support organizations that build on the strengths of Native communities to enhance nutrition security for Native youth. To accomplish this, they are seeking organizations that are focused on improving nutrition security for indigenous youth.

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

Tomorrow! Deadline: August 5, 2022

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.

Indigenous Farmworkers Can Show How to Heal Our Burning Planet

Grape harvesters share traditional ecological knowledge to right our relationship with the land—and each other.

Read 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.