melanie harris nutritional coordinator georgia department of agriculture...

MELANIE HARRISNUTRITIONAL COORDINATORGEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUREMELANIE.HARRIS@AGR.GEORGIA.GOV

Farm to School 101

FARM TO SCHOOL IS BROADLY DEFINED AS A PROGRAM THAT CONNECTS SCHOOLS (K-

12) AND LOCAL FARMS WITH THE OBJECTIVES OF SERVING HEALTHY MEALS

IN SCHOOL CAFETERIAS, IMPROVING STUDENT NUTRITION, PROVIDING

AGRICULTURE, HEALTH AND NUTRITION EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES, AND

SUPPORTING LOCAL AND REGIONAL FARMERS.

What is it again?

•NUTRITION EDUCATION• AGRICULTURE-RELATED LESSONS

AND CURRICULUM• SCHOOL OR COMMUNITY

GARDENS• FARM TOURS

• TASTE TESTING•PARENT/COMMUNITY

EDUCATIONAL SESSIONS.

Yep, it’s all F2S

CAFETERIA

CLASSROOM

CULINARY EXPERIENCE

COMMUNITY

Remember the 4 C’s

What role do we at GDA play?

MISSION OF “FEED MY SCHOOL:” T H E F E E D M Y S C H O O L I N I T I AT I V E I N C R E A S E S T H E

N U T R I T I O N A L VA LU E A N D Q UA L I T Y O F F O O D I N G E O R G I A S C H O O L S A N D B R I D G E S T H E

C O M M U N I C AT I O N G A P S F R O M T H E FA R M T O T H E C A F E T E R I A , R E S U LT I N G I N H E A LT H I E R G E O R G I A

C H I L D R E N. A S T H E M I S S I O N C O N T I N U E S T O E X PA N D A N D R E A C H E V E RY S C H O O L A C R O S S T H E S TAT E ,

T H E R E W I L L B E D E C R E A S E D B A R R I E R S I N T H E FA R M T O S C H O O L E F F O R T S A N D I N C R E A S E D AWA R E N E S S

A S S T U D E N T S L E A R N A N D E X P E R I E N C E , B O T H E D U C AT I O N A L LY A N D N U T R I T I O N A L LY, W H E R E

T H E I R F O O D C O M E S F R O M .

Feed My School For a Week

Resources Provided by GDA

HELPED EACH SCHOOL PROVIDE AT LEAST 75-%100 OF ALL THE FOOD SERVED ON EACH PLATE THE WEEK OF THE PROGRAM TO BE GEORGIA GROWN.

PROVIDE TRAININGS IN FOOD SAFETY AND FOOD PREPARATION WHERE NEEDED

PROVIDE RECIPE DEVELOPMENT WHEN NEEDED

CHILDREN’S LITERATURE REQUIRED FOR THE WEEK OF THE PROGRAM

GIVE THE LOCAL NUTRITION DIRECTOR A SEASONAL CHART FOR PURCHASING

MEDIA OF THE EVENT GEORGIA GROWN MARKETING PACKETS

Educational Goals

•HOST A KICK-OFF ASSEMBLY WHERE•HOLD AT LEAST ONE GEORGIA COMMODITY “TASTE TESTING”•HOST A SCHOOL-WIDE ART CONTEST THAT PRESENTS ANY FORM OF ARTWORK CENTERED ON ANY SINGLE GEORGIA FOOD COMMODITY•DISTRIBUTE AND DISCUSS A PIECE OF LITERATURE HIGHLIGHTING AGRICULTURE

Educational Goals

•PROVIDE CLEAR IDENTIFICATION OF WHAT FOODS ARE BEING SERVED AND

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION•“WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT GEORGIA AGRICULTURE THIS WEEK…” IN AN ESSAY/SHORT STORY/ETC. CONTEST.•EACH SCHOOL IS ENCOURAGED TO SET UP THREE ADDITIONAL GOALS FOR COMPLETION

•# OF STUDENTS AFFECTED- OVER 1600•# OF STUDENTS WHO WENT ON FARM FIELD

TRIPS -700•# OF SCHOOL GARDENS - 34•# OF AG LITERATURE DISTRIBUTED- OVER 93 BOOKS (ONE TO EVERY CLASSROOM AS

WELL AS A COPY FOR EACH LIBRARY)•# OF GG MEALS AT 75-100% SERVED THROUGHOUT FMS – OVER 7,500

Last Year’s Success(Bleckley Co., Colquitt Co., Hall Co.)

Let’s Take a Look

In the Cafeteria

Labeled Food Lines

Art Contest

Art Contest

Farm Field Trips

Mini Ag Expo

Ag Education

Menu Item Tracker

Copy of Menu Item Tracker.xlsx

Farmer Bios

•CONTINUE WORKING WITH PILOT SCHOOLS

•ADD UP TO 5 NEW SCHOOL SYSTEMS FOR 2012

(MADISON, BIBB, FORSYTH, CHATHAM, GRADY)

•BEGIN WEBSITE DEVOLVEMENT

•CREATE USABLE MATERIALS

Moving Forward

CONTINUED DIRECT INVOLVEMENT AND RESOURCES

AVAILABLE FROM GDA AND GDOE FOR THREE MORE

CONSECUTIVE YEARS—TOTALING 4 YEARS TOTAL INVOLVEMENT

Moving Forward

EVALUATION WILL BE PERFORMED ON LAST YEAR’S FMS PROGRAM ACROSS ALL AREAS • Procurement• Challenges associated with operating a farm to

school program• Grower relationships• Distributor relationships • Food safety concerns, • Agriculture education development• Food volume• Alternate farm to school methods when Georgia’s

foods are not in season

Moving Forward

•AIM TO FEATURE GEORGIA GROWN FOOD ITEMS FOR AN ENTIRE MONTH AT A %30-

50 AVERAGE.•SCHOOL SYSTEM WILL ALSO BE

ENCOURAGED TO BEGIN SERVING SOME OF THE SAME LOCAL FOOD ITEMS

ACROSS ALL LOCAL SCHOOLS WITHIN THEIR RESPECTIVE DISTRICT.

•WORKING TOWARD A FARM TO SCHOOL MIND SET IN ALL SCHOOL FOOD

PURCHASING FOR EACH RESPECTIVE SYSTEM.

Moving Forward

What Roles Can UGA play?

EXTENSION-CROSS COLLABORATION OF RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING

EDUCATIONEVALUATION STUDIESCOMMUNICATION

Resources

Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives.

-Tony Robbins

http://www.extension.umn.edu/farm-to-school/toolkit/

http://www.farmtoschool.org/index.php

http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/f2s/

Let’s play the question game…..

MELANIE HARRISNUTRITIONAL COORDINATORGEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUREMELANIE.HARRIS@AGR.GEORGIA.GOV

Farm to School 101