Rep. Friend’s 1089 would require the Indiana Department of Education to develop a program that connects local farms with schools “to provide children with locally produced fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy products, and other nutritious, locally produced foods for school breakfast, lunch, and snack programs.”
The plan is required to include:
#Promotion of farm to school programs and ways to encourage schools to purchase food produced in Indiana and to provide nutritional and agricultural education, including farm visits, cooking demonstrations, and composting and gardening at schools.
#Identification of impediments to providing locally produced foods in school programs and methods to reduce or eliminate those impediments.
#Promotion of communication between local farmers and schools and of sales of food from local farmers to schools.
#Training and technical assistance for school food service personnel and managers, farmers, and food distributors and processors concerning farm to school programs and food safety and procurement.
#Promotion of farm to school programs through a public education campaign. The fiscal impact of each component of the farm to school plan, if any.
With regard to components having a fiscal impact that can’t be funded in other ways, the Department is directed to ask the General Assembly for an appropriation for fiscal years 2013 and 2014.
I certainly don’t mind the notion of kids getting fresh produce, and it sounds like a good deal for local farmers which is also good. I wonder if there are any problems with federal law preempting this kind of thing under the Commerce Clause or in exchange for participating in food stamp programs or something.
First to state that I have been involved with various phases of agriculture all my life. This is likely one of those “feel good” things but there can a major potential for problems. Currently virtually everything the school would purchase as to foodstuff would come through a vendor processing procedure including inspections, various quality control points, etc…. But will these same issues be adequately addressed with local purchases and who in the school will be qualified to be able to inspect production sites and all product/produce before utilization. Yes, I know all production sites are not currently inspected but through the processing procedure there are a variety of checks. There are always cases of issues arising where quality and safety issues were either inadequately handled or simply a concern was not caught so believe the food distribution system needs to have reasonable procedures for seeking to insure safety. As said, have major concerns and will it prove to be economically feasible for the school system and be able to address several other issues such as consistent nutriential standards, etc….
My mother came across this blog somewhere, and said “you need to write this guy.”
So here it goes. My name is Eric. I’m a native Hoosier.
I engineered successful Farm to School campaigns for the Detroit Public Schools and the Chicago Public Schools, in addition to about 20 smaller school districts mostly in Michigan.
Currently, I am working in Palm Beach County, Florida where Farm to School is about to begin. Florida, being one of the top states in the nation, has agriculture running parallel with the school year, which is an ideal situation. Florida also 5 of the top 11 largest school districts in the nation, and the ties that bind Farm to School have not even begun down here yet.
While I’m quite excited to be a part of an excellent team who pulling this altogether, I need to point out that every state is different in how they purchase local foods. There’s a lot of budget concerns that go along with this, in addition to food safety concerns.
While everyone is supportive of local farms, we have to remember that feeding kids is not about “a feel good idea” first, rather it’s about getting the job done accurately, cost effectively, and safely. Once you have all these pieces of the puzzle in place, any Farm to School program can find success!
All best to you!
The problem would be getting the students to accept such a program. this morning a girl comes to my class carrying two sodas and three bags of chips, she proceeds to ask me permission to go get her “free” breakfast. I teach at a high school where all qualify for “free breakfast and lunch”. now my problem if i do not allow her to go she will just leave my room and bring back the principal who will be MAD at me!! Been there done that!! So I first ask her why she needs more food? her answer is this stuff is for later! So I allow her to go and she comes back with the breakfast of the day which is a pop tart. So healthy local grown food RIGHT!!!