Building a Model Farm to School Program using Community Partnerships

•The University of Arkansas identified 5 growers (4 produce, 1 beef farmer) interested in growing for the Summer Lunch Program for the Owl Creek School (elementary) in the Fayetteville Public School District.

•UA, FPS and the growers developed a list of produce that could be grown, discussed production plans, and developed a delivery schedule.

•Growers made weekly deliveries from June 4 to Aug 13, 2012.

•Local foods were incorporated into the lunches of 300-400 meals/day from June 1 – Aug 20, 2012 reaching approximately 500 different students.

•This grant laid the groundwork for institutionalizing the F2S program at FPS. Protocols and agreements were developed to maintain a standardized level of produce quality, delivery protocols, payment system, and food safety on the farm checklist.

•Apple Seeds, Inc., delivered a nutrition education program where 109 students participated in educational and activity field trips to two local F2S farms and the farmers market, and 60 students participated in garden club. Students learned various aspects of farm life and local fresh produce production. They also were taught how to make healthy snacks from local produce and were provided with take home recipes to help them recreate that snack at home with their families.

•Feed Fayetteville organized weekly 'Lunch buddies' for eating lunch with students and talking about local produce and healthy eating habits.

•NPR affiliate KUAF launched a series of stories on our Farm to School program on the radio magazine ‘Ozarks at Large’.

•A workshop for area child nutrition directors was organized in January 2013 to share project results and lend support for increasing F2S programs in NWA.

•The following lists of ‘Observations’ and ‘Lessons Learned’ were identified when participating organizations were surveyed for strengths and challenges to FPS’s Farm to School program.

What worked well
•Excellent community partnerships among UA, FPS, Apple Seeds, Feed Fayetteville, Food Corp members and the Boys and Girls Club
•Good relationships developed among the producers, FPS, and the UA
•Excellent outreach and media coverage (KUAF stories, Facebook promotion)
•Increased visibility of locally-grown foods
•Building a foundation for expanded F2S opportunities for 2013

Lessons learned
•Educational field trips to grower’s farm and farmers’ market provided excellent hands-on opportunities for kids to engage in local foods.
•Since this was a summer program, it would have been beneficial to prime the students on local foods the first week, to create further engagement throughout the seasons.
•Lunch buddies were organized so that food and farming enthusiasts could eat lunch with kids and talk to them. This activity was well received but feedback from lunch buddies requested guidelines to make the interaction as effective as possible.
•Signage and posters in the lunch area about local foods were helpful especially if there was no regular classroom education on local foods.
•Willing cafeteria staff was critical to success.
•The flexible summer lunch menu allowed the cafeteria staff to add local produce to each meal without the constraints of a set menu.
•Each organization needed one go-to “contact person.”
•Guidelines for all organizations involved would have been helpful for media protocols, standard project narrative/blurb for shared use among program partners, photo credits protocols, inclusion of project partner logos on all outreach materials.