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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Tried and True Food Systems Lessons in the Elementary School Classroom
Today! November 16, 2023 // 4:30 pm ET
Join Vermont Feed and listen in as educators from around the Northeast share what farm to school and early childhood looks like at their site and how they’re creating change, both big and small. Whether you’re looking for inspiration, motivation to deepen farm to school efforts in your classroom, or simply to be in community with other food systems practitioners, this workshop is for you! In this webinar, 3rd and 4th-grade teacher Vanessa Stern from Grafton Elementary (VT) will present lessons, themes, or units for you to consider implementing into your classroom. Q+A to follow the presentation.
Learn more and register.
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Lunch and Learn: Small Fruits and Tree Fruits for Small-Scale Producers
November 21, 2023 // 12 pm ET
Join Melissa Bell from the Center for Environmental Farming Systems and John Lyttle, NC Cooperative Extension, Durham County – Agriculture Agent (Small Farms & Local Foods) for the next installment of their Lunch and Learn webinar series. During this free virtual workshop, they will discuss propagation, cultivation, and maintenance techniques unique to fruit trees and berries.
Learn more and register.
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School Food Forests Webinar
November 29, 2023 // 1 pm ET
Hosted in partnership with the School Garden Support Organization Network and the National Farm to School Network, this webinar will be for anyone at any stage of interest in school food forests. Dive into the edible and abundant world of food forests at schools with speakers from the Education Fund in Miami, Florida and Growing Healthy Kids in the East Bay Area of Northern California. They'll cover everything from design and planning to implementation and maintenance of this garden design rooted in permaculture, regenerative agriculture, and native foraging and foodways.
Learn more and register.
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School Meals for All NC 5K Fun Run
December 2, 2023 // Wrightsville Beach, NC
The SMFA Ambassadors are hosting a 5K Fun Run to bring awareness and support for School Meals For All NC. They are offering a virtual run in addition to the in-person event.
Learn more and register.
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Incorporating Nature Into Occupational Therapy
KidsGardening recently chatted with Amy Wagenfeld and Shannon Marder, both occupational therapists with a deep love of nature who incorporate the outdoors into therapeutic practices. Amy and Shannon are co-authors of a new book Nature-Based Allied Health Practice, and they shared their inspiration for writing the book together and what they hope it offers therapists and educators working with kids.
Learn more.
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Understanding Your Community’s Food System
This toolkit was developed by Community Food Strategies, a multi-organizational team that provides network and technical support for food council development throughout North Carolina. They partner with councils in all phases of development, with the goal of building more resilient and equitable food systems. This toolkit was written for community members who are interested in assessing their community’s current food system. It offers an overview of what a baseline food system assessment is and provides a step-by-step guide for engaging practitioners and seeking community input to better understand a community’s food environment.
Learn more.
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TEDxYouth@ChavisWay Applications Open
TEDxYouth@ChavisWay is being curated by the NC State Extension program, #PassTheMicYouth, in collaboration with Wake County 4-H, Alliance Health, and John Chavis Community Center. Their goal is to bring together bright young minds to give talks that are idea-focused to foster learning, inspiration and wonder – and provoke conversations that matter. They are excited to announce that applications are open for TEDxYouth@ChavisWay, an independently organized TED event happening in April 2024. Youth ages 10 - 19 are encouraged to apply.
Learn more and apply.
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Racial Equity Core Concepts
Racial Equity Tools is designed to support individuals and groups working to achieve racial equity. In doing racial equity work, it is important to understand and align around core concepts, including: structural racism, intersectionality, racial identity development, and anti-racism. It is also important to understand how race and racism are operationalized, how white privilege is embedded in our institutions, and how internalized racism is maintained. One necessary step to undertaking this work is developing a common analysis. Groups that move forward without investing in shared language and values often find themselves stuck later, when they realize that team members are working from different assumptions and definitions, and thus may arrive at or buy into a different set of solutions.
Learn more.
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Advancing Racial and Social Equity in Wisconsin Farm to School
Farm to school procurement has immense potential to support economic, environmental, and racial justice, while also respecting workers and educators, animal welfare, and student health. Advancing racial and social equity in Wisconsin farm to school requires equitable access to farm to school markets. Wisconsin lacks data to provide a holistic understanding of how these particular producers access farm to school markets. The University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Human Ecology’s (SoHE) Civil Society and Community Research Department and Center for Community and Nonprofit Studies (CommNS), the University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension Community Food Systems Program, and REAP Food Group conducted a study to better understand how Wisconsin’s historically underserved producers are participating in farm to school procurement, with a focus on understanding how to make their participation in school food supply chains easier and more profitable.
Learn more.
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NC Innovative School Breakfast Grants
Deadline: December 1, 2023
Governor Roy Cooper recently announced that $1.4 million in federal funds will go to support North Carolina public schools in expanding School Breakfast Programs. The funding will provide grants of up to $50,000 per School Nutrition Program to allow schools to better provide students with innovative school breakfast options, such as Breakfast in the Classroom, Grab-and-Go Breakfasts, or Second Chance Breakfasts. Priority will be given to schools that are newly participating in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP).
Learn more and apply.
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.
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.
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Operationalizing Equity: How State Entities are Targeting Socially Disadvantaged Producers in USDA’s Local Food for Schools and Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Programs
In 2021, the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) established the Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) and the Local Food for Schools (LFS) cooperative agreement programs to mitigate supply chain disruptions that arose during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study explores how state governments are using LFPA and LFS funding to develop or advance local food purchasing programs that target socially disadvantaged producers.
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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