Farm to School Resources For
School Nutrition Staff
Farm to School connects schools (K-12) and local farms by serving healthy meals in school cafeterias, improving student nutrition, providing food, farm, and nutrition education, and supporting local, family farmers.
Activities can include featuring fresh, local food in school meals, hands-on cooking and taste testing, edible school gardening, field trips to farms, and standards-based experiential learning in the classroom.
One of the first farm to school programs was established by a school nutrition director over twelve years ago—and now there are over 2,000 in the U.S. School nutrition directors and their cafeteria staff have a huge opportunity to introduce children to fresh, local produce through school meals, but they also face challenges that need to be thoughtfully addressed before launching a farm to school program.
The resources below cover farm to school basics, procurement and geographic preference guidelines, food safety, recipes and ideas for leveraging your community to help.
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Getting Started
Farm to School 101. This brief document profies an overview of what farm to school ia, why it's important, and a few steps to get started. Farmtoschool101forschoolnutritiondirectors.pdf
Guidelines for Purchasing Local Food and Food Safety Tips.schoolnutritiondirectorspurchasingguidelines.pdf This document provides the basic facts you need to know about state and federal regulations and allowances surrounding local food procurement at schools.
Georgia Department of Education Farm to School Implementation Handbook. This handbook provides a thoughtful overview of Farm to School, and tips on how school nutrition directors can start their own programs. Also included: Harvest calendar and seasonal availability guides, food safety information and a list of Georgia farmers.
School Food 101. Produced by School Food Focus, this is a great template to share with parents and school staff to get them up to speed on school food regulations, and how the school food dollar is spent (and stretched!) each day.
Finding and Procuring Local Food
Guide for Using Local Food in Schools This guide was developed by Vermont FEED, and includes a step-by-step process for starting local purchasing in your school, success stories about farm to cafeteria relationships and seasonal recipes and menu ideas. While this guide was created for Vermont schoolsit still has lots of very relevant material.
Guide for Successful Taste Tests. This guide will help you organize taste tests of new foods with children, and how it can provide valuable information for school meals.
USDA’s Geographic Preferences Frequently Asked Questions. With Geographic Preference rules in place, purchasing local produce is easier than ever if you stay within the guidelines.
National Farm to School Network Geographic Preference information. Click here for the document.
Georgia Organics Local Food Guide. The Local Food Guide is a great tool to find small, family farms, famers markets and restaurants that serve local food in your county.
2010 Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Directory. From apples to zucchini, this Georgia Department of Agriculture Guide helps you find farmers in Georgia that have what you want.
Preparing Local Food in the Cafeteria. This short video documents the City Schools of Decatur school nutrition staff learning knife skills, creating some simple meals using fresh, local ingredients and enjoying a delicious meal together.
Sample Recipes. See this guide for 45 easy-to-follow recipes developed by the Massachusetts Farm to School program. Serving sizes for 50 and 100, and nutritional analysis included for each.
Food Safety Tips
As school nutrition directors and staff know, food safety is paramount. Local food can be as safe or safer than food that travels hundreds of miles from farm to plate. Check out these resources to learn about safety requirements, concerns, and questions you should ask local farmers prior to purchase.
Food Safety Checklist for Purchasing Local Food. An excellent list of safety concerns to pay attention to, questions to ask of your local producers, and safety requirements to follow.
Information on GAP (Good Agricultural Practices). Click here for the document.
Food safety at school. See these resources for handling fresh produce once it arrives at your school or kitchen. Provides detailed advice on how to receive, wash, store, and prepare fresh produce in schools in accordance with nation-wide safety procedures.
Receiving Farm to School Produce with a central warehouse. This is an example of how one Colorado district receives and processes fresh, local food. It is a step-by-step process for receiving fresh fruits and vegetables at a central warehouse, including a checklist for assessing food safety upon delivery.