Celebrating National Farm to School Month

Do your kids eat their vegetables? Do they know where they come from and how to prepare them? If the answer is yes, then you may have Tompkins County’s Farm to School (TCFTS) program to thank. Since 2018, this program, run by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County (CCE-Tompkins), has been working in cooperation with many local school districts to increase student consumption and awareness of produce grown in New York state.

“Individual Tompkins County schools have a long history of supporting their local farms, and we’ve been able to build on that existing strength to work together,” TCFTS Coordinator Baz Perry said in a recent press release. “Since we started TCFTS, we have asked all the area foodservice directors to dedicate additional time and creative energy to the task of increasing local purchases to improve the quality and diversity of kids’ lunches in Tompkins County. We are so grateful for their initiative and confident their efforts will continue to grow, benefiting the students and the local food system.”

As parents know, getting kids to try a new food is often about how it is presented. TCFTS provides resources and training to school staff to assist them in developing recipes that will both appeal to youngsters and feature seasonally abundant local produce. These tasty and nutritious “Harvest of the Month” and “NY Thursdays” dishes are then served in participating school cafeterias.

For example, the October lunch menu at Trumansburg Central School includes butternut squash curry with kale and coconut milk as well as an apple cranberry kale salad. School Nutrition Specialist Rosemarie Hanson adapted these recipes utilizing Tuscan kale from Stick and Stone Farm, butternut squash from Silver Queen Farm and New York state apples.

While Hanson has found that her students in Trumansburg are usually receptive to foods they haven’t eaten before, she admits that it “works best with lots of promotion and taste testing.” Fortunately, TCFTS can help schools with that too. In fact, CCE-Tompkins is currently searching for a part time Farm to School education coordinator who will provide program and administrative support for the educational initiatives of the Farm to School Program.

“We are excited to announce that for the next two years, we will be adding more educational opportunities alongside these menu items, through a generous grant from the Park Foundation,” Perry said. “With their support, our staff will train and schedule enthusiastic young adults to host taste tests in cafeterias, hands-on education in school gardens and culinary experiences in classrooms that reinforce plant science, nutrition and the cultural history of food while touching, smelling and tasting whole foods. These efforts will increase acceptance of new menu items, building an appreciation for good food that children will carry throughout their lives.”

For more information or to apply for the position, visit the job listing page.

Hanson said that the time and effort her staff puts into recipe development and fresh food preparation is well worth it. She believes that connecting students to local food in their community is good for families, good for farmers and ultimately good for the foodservice program.

“With so many farmers in our district, I think it is important that we make that food available to everyone,” Hanson said. “The quality of the food is better, and it drives increased participation. The Farm to School program is beneficial on many levels. For me, one of the best parts of this program is working with other directors in the area and learning from them.”

The Farm to School program is part of New York’s No Kid Hungry initiative, which provides an incentive for schools to use more local products. Districts that purchase at least 30% of their ingredients from New York farms will receive a 25-cents-per-meal reimbursement, a significant increase over current reimbursement rates. Thus far, Ithaca and Trumansburg have been able to meet that criterion.

“We get a lot of products from the Headwater Food Hub, a central New York food aggregate,” Hanson said. “It provides a wider sales area for small farms like Stick and Stone, while at the same time, allowing us to get products grown in other areas of the state. The Upstate Abundance variety of potatoes for example — they are these tiny, really flavorful potatoes grown in the Adirondacks.”

TCFTS provides schools with resources and support to help them reach the 30% procurement benchmark, primarily by utilizing a coordinated buying strategy using geographic preference bids. TCFTS also works with farmers and distributors, teaching them how to sell to schools and other institutions by providing the food safety measures, delivery options and business services needed for proper compliance.

“We are always looking for farms to buy products from,” Perry said. “In addition to the geographic preference bids, which can be a daunting process for small producers, schools are also allowed to do micro-purchasing directly from local farms.”

To find out more or to get information on the January-June 2022 bid cycle, visit the CCE website (ccetompkins.org/food/farm-to-school/geographic-preference-bids).

National School Lunch Week

Last week was also National School Lunch Week. Thanks to pandemic waivers, school meals are free for all students this school year, so it’s a great time to give school lunch a try. With more participation, schools receive more funding, which can then be put to use by improving program quality.

“Our foodservice teams meet extremely rigorous standards to ensure that balanced nutrients are included in every meal,” Perry said. “They do so on extremely limited budgets, in hot kitchens and loud cafeterias, during shifts that start early and require a quick pace. Our thanks need to be doubled this year as employees continue to go above and beyond during this time of disruption and constant adaptation.”

Like many other employers, the county’s school cafeterias are experiencing a labor shortage.

“Being short-staffed means that directors are washing dishes and running registers when they need to attend to orders and menu planning for future weeks,” Perry said. “It can mean the difference between kids getting excellent service from adults that feel respected and ready to serve lunch with a smile or short-staffed teams needing to cut time-intensive fresh items from the menu to get through their busy day.”

How can you help? Here are some tips from the Farm to School website:

– Use respectful communication to let your school board know that school food quality matters to you and that you support efforts like Farm to School and others that seek to increase the quality of ingredients.

– Ask them to raise wages for foodservice workers. This will help attract good foodservice team members and show them we value their work.

– Consider participating in school lunch if your child currently brings lunch from home. Review your district menu and opt for school lunch on those days when the menu appeals to you as the caregiver. This year, all school lunches are free for every student, so it’s a great time to try it out and encourage your child to taste new foods.

– Send a thank-you note to your foodservice team.

– Complete a Farm to School volunteer form at ccetompkins.org/farm-to-school to help deliver fresh items, assist in learning opportunities or complete simple administrative support.