California’s Farm to School Program
Improving Access to Fresh Food in Public Education
by Lisa Ludwigsen
There is good news to report for California’s school children and their families. Yes, that’s right, good news which extends to regional farms and even the future of local agriculture.
Imagine the resources and creativity it takes to feed 6 million students, kindergarten through grade 12, two meals each day. Those meals need to be nutritious, tasty, and prepared on a very tight budget, every day for nine months. It requires a sophisticated system of suppliers, cooks, administrators, and other staff managed by district food service directors at the state and federal levels. California’s school meal program is big business.
The federal school meal program dates to 1946, when it became clear that malnourished children did not grow up to be strong, productive workers. Today, many of the raw ingredients used to prepare school meals originate on large, centrally located farms, heavily subsidized by the federal government and shipped long distances. It is a food system with a heavy slant toward commodity food like dairy, corn, soy, and wheat. Families pay for meals if they can afford to, or they can qualify for free or reduced meals. It is by no means a perfect process, but it has been in place for decades.
Ironically, COVID helped bring about a seismic shift in how we source and serve school food. During the long shutdowns, schools were allowed to provide free meals to all students, regardless of family income, often through drive-thru parking lot pick-up. Families were no longer required to fill out paperwork or prove financial need. School administrators no longer had to navigate the complicated system of verifying financial eligibility, nor did they need to pursue late or delinquent accounts that sometimes ended up denying food to hungry students. Not surprisingly, engagement from families skyrocketed.
Following through with that success, in 2022, California became the first state to make universal free meals permanent for all students. Eight other states have followed. Not only can California’s school kids now eat two meals free of charge, regardless of financial need, but the food they are eating may very well be sourced from a nearby farm or dairy.
The Office of Farm to Fork, a new branch within the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), is overseeing a $100 million allocation to assist school districts in sourcing organic, climate-smart, and local ingredients through the California Farm to School Incubator Grant Program. It also provides training and infrastructure for on-site meal preparation. This is great news for small local farms that typically get short shrift in getting accepted into large distribution networks, and it is great news for California’s students who can eat fresh, healthy, unprocessed food to fuel their minds and bodies.
“California’s Farm to School program has incredible potential to contribute to the sustainability of our local farmers and producers,” said Haerah Baird, project manager of the MendoLake Food Hub, which is working on the distribution end of the equation. “More money will stay in our counties, investing money into farms and the local food system, instead of paying corporate entities.”
Sourcing from local organic farms also offers schools expanded options for plant-based and culturally relevant meals, which can support long-term positive health and climate impacts. It has even been suggested that free school meals should be considered equally important as textbooks or computers to academic success.
Pamela Lee, North Coast regional lead for Farm to School, shared her thoughts on the nascent program’s potential, “I am excited that school nutrition departments and farmers are being recognized for the important roles they play within our communities.” She added, “I’m also excited that children are being taught, through hands-on experience, the importance of eating locally grown foods.”
Beyond schools and students, local economies also benefit. Lee explained, “Schools and farms are being supported to form new relationships that will bolster local economies, lower greenhouse gases, and improve the health and well-being of our communities.”
Lots of questions arise about the challenges of retooling a massive system that has been in place for many years. Can small farms ramp up production to meet the demand? How does the food get distributed to schools or school districts? What happens in urban areas without nearby farms?
Working out all the details is the job of regional teams that are now creating and rolling out the program. Meerae Park, producer engagement specialist for the North Coast Region, shared, “A major challenge has been the wide geography of the North Coast.” Park adds, “For farms, I believe a major challenge is finding a balance between competitive pricing, volume, and profitability.” Food hubs, like the MendoLake Food Hub, are an important resource. They aggregate and distribute regional food, and will play a key role in getting food from small farms to schools, especially in rural areas.
Park also points out that “schools are challenged with labor– for both administrative duties and scratch cooking.” Pamela Lee adds that additional challenges include aging school kitchen facilities, school procurement regulations, and staffing shortages, all of which the additional infrastructure will help develop.
Nick Anicich, Farm to School program manager, is looking forward to the future, saying, “In five years, we hope Farm to School programs will be embedded in every school district across the state.”
The pandemic revealed many of our strengths and weaknesses, especially when it comes to our food systems. One of the most valuable lessons was that we can’t always rely on freeways and trucks to deliver food that magically appears on our grocery shelves, or in our school meals. The Farm to School program offers a way to create a more sustainable regional food system, while also helping to establish lifelong healthy eating habits for our young people.
If you would like find out more about the Farm to School program, sign up for the Farm to School Network newsletter on the CDFA California Farm to School Program webpage:
cafarmtofork.cdfa.ca.gov/CaFarmtoSchoolProgram.htm
You can also get involved with your local school district and connect with the regional staff member in your community.
Lisa Ludwigsen is a writer and marketer working with food, farms, and family small businesses. She has worked in organic agriculture, natural foods, and environmental education for over 20 years.