http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100208/ap_on_bi_ge/us_farm_scene_farm_to_school
By LISA RATHKE, Associated Press Writer Lisa Rathke, Associated Press
Writer – Mon Feb 8, 3:13 am ET
SHARON, Vt. – The third and fourth graders at Sharon Elementary know
where the veggies in their soup come from because they've visited the
farms. They know the nutritional value of the carrots, onions and
cabbage because they've studied them in class, and they know how
they're grown because they've nurtured them in raised beds out back.
The 105-student school is part of the National Farm to School Network,
aimed at getting healthier meals into school cafeterias, teaching kids
about agriculture and nutrition and supporting local farmers.
About 40 states have farm-to-school programs, but Vermont is a leader
in incorporating all three missions into its programs.
"Vermont has really taken it on in quite the most holistic way and not
just in a couple of school districts but statewide," said Anupama
Joshi, director of the Farm to School program, based at the Center for
Food and Justice at Occidental College in Los Angeles.
Vermont may be a step ahead of other states because a nonprofit
partnership called Vermont FEED had already been working to get local
foods into schools.
The state also has backed the farm-to-school effort with funding to
help schools buy equipment to chop or process the local food and buy
meat from a local farmer.
What started as a handful of pilot programs has grown into 45 Vermont
schools getting grants and about 60 with farm-to-school activities.
The funding is expected to dry up next year with budget cuts.
Sharon used its $13,500 grant to buy a potato chopper and a food
processor. Food service director LinAnn Perry now uses the food
processor machine to slice squash and tomatoes picked from the
school's gardens and area farms in the summer and fall, later to be
frozen. The school also bought a salad bar, which has been a huge hit
with the kids.
When Perry used to prepare salads for the kids, there was a lot of
waste. But when kids could choose what they wanted in their bowls or
on their plates, more were eating fruits and vegetables, she said.
The number of students buying hot lunch has jumped by 50 percent since
the school added the salad bar, Perry said. The salad bar is also used
for tacos and stir-fries.
The students take part in lunch room taste tests to see what they
like. Harvest soup, also known as cabbage soup, with and without beef,
got rave reviews.
"This is great, guys," said sixth grader Daniel Lazar.
The third and fourth graders who chopped up vegetables for the soup
also tried to sell other kids on the meal. They hung up posters in the
cafeteria that advertised the nutritional value and cancer-fighting
properties of the ingredients, which they learned about that morning.
"Super onions say no to cancer," one read.
The students are learning to eat healthier, and the focus on
agriculture, local food and nutrition is paying off in the classroom,
said principal Barrett Williams.
Kids are interested, and teachers are given more diversity in the
curriculum — they can work the food angle in science, reading and
health classes, he said.
"That really changes kids' perspectives on the traditional reading,
writing, math, science, social studies," Williams said. "If they can
see that they are meeting writing standards through doing a response
to their cooking activity that day, you know, that means something to
them."
But activities like the farm field trips are what Williams really likes.
"A student who may struggle with a textbook — sitting down and reading
text and responding to text — may excel going into a place-based
activity," Williams said. "Whether it's visiting a farm or going on
some type of field trip and having a hands-on experience, and then
being able to respond to that through writing."
Working with local farmers helps build community, he said, although
that food may be more expensive than the commodity food that some
schools use.
The grant helped to buy at least 200 pounds of ground beef from Back
Beyond Farm in Chelsea, which cost about a dollar more per pound than
hamburger from an area distributor, Perry said. But Vermont apples are
cheaper than apples from other states, she said.
The school has raised money for the program by hosting a winter
farmers' market.
"I think it's really good because we get healthier here than at my old
school, and we get more fruits and vegetables and local meat," said
fourth grader Morgan Jones.
--
Dr. Teri Hamlin
North Region Agriculture Education
Georgia Department of Education
204C Four Towers University of Georgia
Athens, Ga 30602
706-542-3679 / 706-540-0032
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