Farm to School Program - FarmingForumSite.com

mommagoose · #1 10-20-2009, 05:05 AM

Is anyone here participating in the Farm to School Program? Finding any information is like pulling teeth around here. With my new greenhouses extending my season, it sounds as if I will be able to participate but I need to know if it is a viable alternative to conventional markets. Need a lot of information.
Linda

EditorBob · #2 10-20-2009, 08:27 AM

I'm checking into some contacts/resources for you. We've done several features on this topic, especially in NY.

mommagoose · #3 10-20-2009, 09:30 AM

Thank you so much. Can previous issues be searched. Are they on line>
Linda

EditorBob · #4 10-20-2009, 10:10 AM

One place to start would be http://farmtoschool.cce.cornell.edu/...oducers-1.html

I'll keep digging around, but that will probably be your best resource for the NY program.

mommagoose · #5 10-20-2009, 12:23 PM

Thanks but that site is not dial up friendly. I waited 15 minutes for it to load and lost patience with it. I even have trouble with this site because of all the pictures at the top and along the sides of the page. I have reminded Cornell that the whole world cannot afford fancy high speed stuff but they forget.
Linda

EditorBob · #6 10-20-2009, 12:40 PM

Ah, okay. Sorry to hear.

Kara Dunn, who originally wrote our series on this program sent me some more resources for you to check out:

Jennifer Wilkins, Program Director
Cornell Farm to School
305 MVR Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
Phone: 670-255-2730
jlw15@cornell.edu

A more roundabout path would be through the New York State School Nutrition
Association - http://www.nyssfsa.org/

New York School Nutrition Association
125 Wolf Road
Albany, New York 12205
Ph: (518)446-9061
Fx: (518)446-0113

Don't know anything about the following NY Coalition for Healthy School Food
seen in passing - http://www.healthylunches.org/

mommagoose · #7 11-16-2009, 09:21 AM

After contacting all the wonderful people at Farm to School, a higher power gave me a really good boost in the right direction on Saturday. I was mentioning to one of my customers at the Farmer's Market that I would love to sell healthy produce to the local schools when she said, " I know the guy who purchases for all the schools in Broome County." She looked around the market and said" Oh , there he is" . We had a nice chat, his wife bought some eggs and he gave me his card. There is going to be a meeting of his committee, and local farmers on December 11. He said that the Federal government is mandating that certain local foods be purchased to improve the kids diet. Dark , leafy greens and legumes are on the top of his list and he has not found a local source yet. Well at least not until we chatted. Legumes are my favorite veggie to grow and spinach, Kale and Swiss Chard are always in my garden. Just need to add collards and try to get Broccoli Raab to germinate and I think I can help him. I think our meeting at the very last Farmer's Market of the year was a direct link to a Higher Power. I can't wait until Dec 11. I am already thinking about how we can have local school class visits to the farm

Linda

EditorBob · #8 11-17-2009, 10:47 AM

That's fantastic news! Congrats and thanks for updating us.

LeslieH · #9 11-22-2009, 07:17 PM

Hey Linda!
Good idea for the farm to school program.
Have you considered selling to BCC or BU? I know BU has a food coop and might be interested in a form of CSA, if you're interested. I can refind the information for you too, if you'd like.
Since you're on dial-up, let me know what you need to find and I'll see what I can come up with.
Leslie

mommagoose · #10 12-12-2009, 11:41 PM

The days are just too short right now. Yesterday , I attended a meeting between local farmer's and the county school cafeteria managers. It was decided that the managers need to come up with a vocabulary which the farmers can use when trying to sell them produce. It seems their idea of a box of produce differs in some way to our bushels of produce? They have been surprised to find out that while the cost of a "box " Of our produce is higher, they actually get more product for the dollar. That tells me their suppliers are ripping them off and that is my tax dollar!!!! One school manager said the quality is so much better. There is so much less waste. He is looking forward to buying a lot more stuff locally. It was a very inthusiastic crowd.
They have also decided to pair farms up with schools that are close to them. This may make my dream of providing healthy food to kids in my own school district a reality. There are only 1,000 kids total in the school 2 miles from my house . It would seem to be a good fit for our tiny 14 acre farm. The school is looking for yellow veggies and dark leafy greens, specifically winter squash and spinach both of which we grow a lot of already. They also want legumes, I like to sell my own 12 bean soup mixes so it is also a good fit for us.

The down side of the program is the county schools use a bidding system to buy their produce. If I ramp up to supply the schools, there is no guarentee they will actually buy my product. I need to know where I am going to sell my produce before I purchase the seed , plant and cultivate and harvest. It is obvious to me the purchasers have no idea what a risk it is for us to enter this arena. I am weighing the pro's and cons and have two weeks to make my decision. Tonight , I am thinking it might be too big a gamble for me. I wish our cooperative extension agent who sponsered the meeting could help us with this but she has said on more than one occasion she has no idea how to grow produce. I wish we had someone who did know what we go through to grow the perfect veggie.
Linda
Linda