This Week in Farm to School 

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

2024 NC Jr. Chef Winner

Three high school teams competed as finalists in the annual North Carolina Jr. Chef Competition to create unique school lunch entrée recipes. The competition results were announced this week in a virtual awards ceremony. The Flaming Knights from Northern High (Durham Public Schools) won first place and a silver medal for their Crispy Taquitos recipe.

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Racial Equity Learning Lab Micro-Series

Tomorrow! March 22, 2024 // 2 pm - 3:30 pm ET

The National Farm to School Network invites you to join their Racial Equity Learning Lab micro-series, following the successful completion of their initial cohort. Designed to highlight key learnings and promote racial equity in our collective efforts, these sessions mirror pivotal aspects to the original Lab, covering topics like shared language, appreciative inquiry, and community agreements.

Learn more and register.

“School Food for Thought” Webinar Series

April 4, 2024 / 2 pm ET

Register now for “School Food for Thought”, a special three-part virtual webinar series hosted by Chef Ann Foundation Founder Chef Ann Cooper and CEO Mara Fleishman. During each webinar, panelists will explore major topics in today’s school food landscape - nutrition policy, food waste, and local procurement - with expert guests from Harvard Law School Food Law & Policy Clinic, World Wildlife Fund, and Community Alliance with Family Farmers. 

Learn more and register.

National Gardening Day Celebration

April 14, 2024 // 12 pm to 4 pm ET // Statesville, NC

Celebrate the day with the Allison Woods Outdoor Learning Center by learning about gardening and planting some seeds including veggies and pollinator-friendly plants. 

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Self-Guided Climate Boot Camp for Extension Professionals

April 24, 2024 // 3 pm ET

The National Extension Climate Initiative (NECI) serves as an anchor for Extension professionals, researchers, and partners to collaborate on climate-related issues, share resources, discuss barriers and opportunities for advancing climate change programming in Extension, and engage in professional development opportunities. This hour-long boot camp, hosted by NECI, is tailored for Extension! Learn how to use a suite of climate resources designed for DIY-learners. 

Learn more and register.

Sustainable Gardening With Kids Activity Guide

This activity guide is by KidsGardening and High Country Gardens. Empower kids to take action and make positive contributions to their communities! This FREE 18-page guide walks you through the basics of sustainable gardening and offers tips and activity ideas for four sustainable youth garden themes.

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Colorado Local Food Program Guidebook

The Colorado Local Food Program Guidebook, provided by Nourish Colorado, is an online resource for school meal operators, agricultural producers, and school and community members. The Guidebook provides insights and tools for launching, implementing, and sustaining farm to school programs. It is full of custom-designed resources based on a decade-plus of working side-by-side with School Meal Operators, listening to their needs, leading trainings to support their efforts, and now, turning that training content into tangible and digestible resources. While the website is designed for Colorado, many of the resources apply to other states as well!

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Fruit Trees For Your Community

The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation (FTPF) is dedicated to planting fruit trees and plants to alleviate world hunger, combat global warming, strengthen communities, and improve the surrounding air, soil, and water. FTPF programs strategically donate orchards where the harvest will best serve communities for generations, at places such as community gardens, public schools, city/state parks, low-income neighborhoods, Native American reservations, international hunger relief sites, and animal sanctuaries. 

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Identifying and Countering White Supremacy Culture in Food Systems

To become anti-racist, food system actors must understand how white supremacy culture narratives function to center whiteness across the food system, effectively reinforcing systemic racial inequality and by extension disadvantaging BIPOC people. The Duke Sanford World Food Policy Center’s report discusses how whiteness holds white ideals as universal, how whiteness fuels power in decision-making, and how whiteness defines food as either good or bad. 

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EmbraceRace Podcast Episode #5

EmbraceRace takes a critical look at children's media and discusses strategies for raising to resist the stereotypes they encounter. Melissa and Andrew Media speak with Courtney Wong Chin, Senior Director of Research at Nickelodeon’s Noggin, about the role the media plays in shaping the way kids think about and understand race. What do kids learn from media? And how can adults guide the kids in their lives to be critical of problematic messages about race, and embrace healthy racial attitudes about themselves and about others?

Learn more. 

Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (USDA NIFA) 

Deadline: April 4, 2024

The Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) supports projects that provide education, outreach, and technical assistance for beginning farmers and ranchers in the United States and its territories to enter and/or improve their success in farming, ranching, and management of nonindustrial private forest lands; and provide beginning farmers and ranchers the knowledge, skills, and tools needed to make informed decisions for their operations and enhance their sustainability.

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Supporting the Use of Traditional Indigenous Foods in Child Nutrition Programs

Deadline: April 8, 2024

USDA has extended the deadline to apply for the Supporting the Use of Traditional Indigenous Foods in the Child Nutrition Programs Cooperative Agreement until April 8. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, the USDA, Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) will award $2 million in total grant funding to up to four (4) organizations to provide regionally focused training and technical assistance (TA) to School Nutrition professionals on procurement, preparation, and crediting of traditional Indigenous foods, including the use of cooperator and FNS-developed resources and tools. The cooperators, with FNS guidance and approval, will also develop culturally relevant nutrition education materials for students to accompany the traditional Indigenous foods that are served, and the cooperators will train School Nutrition professionals and other school staff on providing nutrition education to students.

Learn more and apply.

Value-Added Producer Grants (VAPG)

Deadline: April 11, 2024 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is currently accepting applications for grants under the Value-Added Producer Grants program. The grants help farmers and ranchers generate new products, create marketing opportunities, and increase their incomes through value-added activities. Eligible applicants include independent producers, agricultural producer groups, farmer or rancher cooperatives, and majority-controlled producer-based business ventures. The deadline for electronic applications is April 11 and April 16 for paper applications.

Learn more and apply. 

Braiding Seeds Fellowship

Deadline: May 1, 2024

Applications for the 2024 Braiding Seeds Fellowship are now open! This is an 18-month fellowship for BIPOC-beginning farmers and land stewards across the Northeast and Southeast United States. Each of the 10 selected fellows will receive a $50,000 stipend, mentorship, professional development workshops, in-person and virtual cohort gatherings, finance and business plan support, and one one-on-one coaching. They will also be awarding 12 mini-grants of $2,500 each to runners-up. 

Learn more and apply.

The Farm Report Podcast

Join the Heritage Radio Network for a special series of The Farm Report in collaboration with the National Young Farmers Coalition that’s all about The Farm Bill. Tune in to hear from farmers, policymakers, organizers, and food advocates about all the ways the farm bill directly impacts our lives - whether we realize it or not. They’ll break down farm policy and talk to young farmers about what hangs in the balance for them as another Farm Bill gets made. 

Learn more.

USDA Census of Agriculture

The Census of Agriculture is a complete count of U.S. farms and ranches and the people who operate them. The Census, taken only once every five years, looks at land use and ownership, operator characteristics, production practices, income, and expenditures. 

Learn more.