Creating successful Farm to School Programs in Florida: A County-wide Feasibility Study of Direct, Local Procurement

Creating successful Farm to School Programs in Florida: A County-wide Feasibility Study of Direct, Local Procurement

Summary

Analysis of data from the National Farm to School Census has indicated that F2S interest and present activity is expanding in most counties in Florida, particularly in regards to local procurement.  An analysis of the Sarasota County school food purchase report data revealed valuable information for the type, weight, price, and origin of food product purchases made by each school within the district whereas forecasting local food purchases indicated a steady, general increase.  Nevertheless, significant challenges are still present that inhibit schools and producers from engaging in mutually beneficial procurement activity and further investigation is necessary.

Objectives/Performance Targets

Objective 1

Describe current F2S food systems in Florida, and identify opportunities for expanding procurement within the state.

Objective 2

Collect, organize, analyze, and interpret data for volume and cost of production, distribution, processing and food reimbursement for selected fresh commodities produced in or surrounding Sarasota County in the State of Florida.

Objective 3

Determine if a F2S supply chain operating within Sarasota County Florida meets the market, operational, technical and economic needs of school food authorities (SFAs) and producers by conducting a feasibility analysis.   

Accomplishments/Milestones

To date, analysis of a number of secondary data sets has been completed.  Data sets include: 1) 2013 National Farm to School Census for Florida, 2) Purchase Report data by Sarasota County schools regarding the type, weight, price, and origin of food product purchases, 3) Florida Department of Revenue Tax Roll Data, 4) Food Meal Purchases and reimbursement totals.

Data from the 2013 USDA Farm to School Census was analyzed.  This data was collected at the district, or county level and evaluated as such.  Information pertaining to the activity that occurred during the 2011-2012 academic year was requested from schools all over the United States, however only F2S activity in Florida is assessed in this section as only it pertains to the Objective 1 in this research.  Additionally, planned F2S activity at the county level was also collected by the USDA and the results of those findings for the State of Florida will be included for analysis in the final report.  A total of 65 counties from the State of Florida participated in census with data for Putnam and Taylor counties not reported.  A total of 3,360 schools with 2,467,350 students enrolled were reported in the census statewide.

In regards to procurement, like many other states, F2S activity in Florida centers on sourcing fresh fruits and vegetables.  Within Florida, fruits and vegetables were the most commonly purchased local foods with 31 and 30 school districts respectively reporting having sourced these products during the 2011-2012 year.  This is unsurprising since fruits and vegetables are most often the first focus of procurement for school districts and, given Florida’s propensity to produce a wide range of specialty crops.  Additionally, many counties indicated that they were sourcing local milk (15 counties).  Other dairy products, baked goods, eggs, herbs, other foods and grains/flour were also being sourced, but to a much lesser extent.

An analysis of the Purchase Report data by the Sarasota County school district revealed a wide range of useful data.  This includes descriptive statistics and rank regarding the total market value and total weight of all food products purchased, regardless of origin, as well as a detailed list of local food products (local being defined as products produced within Florida).  This data provided insights into variability amongst schools in the district and to develop a model project future fresh food purchases by the county.

For the 2014-2015 academic school year, the total weight of all products purchased to date is 699,032.42 lbs.  Oranges were ranked 1st in terms of weight purchased, totaling 79,245.00 lbs.  Sliced apples, tangerines, junior bananas, red potatoes, red grapes, grapefruit, watermelon, Idaho potatoes, whole carrots, chopped romaine, broccoli florets, strawberries, tomatoes, and cucumbers also rank in the top 15 in terms of weight accounting for 75.9% or 531,127.00 lbs. of total weight purchased. A total of 271,471.75 lbs. of Florida grown fruits and vegetables were purchased by Sarasota County School District from July 7th, 2014 to May 20th, 2015, with the top 15 product accounting for 260,079.50, or 95.8% of total weight.  Oranges represent the largest amount of product purchased in terms of volume measured by weight for all Florida produced products during the year with 59,940.00 lbs. purchased followed by tangerines (52,965.00 lbs.), red potatoes (28,200.00 lbs.), grapefruit (20,194.00 lbs.) and strawberries (19,809.00 lbs.).

The total market value, and therefore the total cost to the Sarasota County School District for all fresh fruit and vegetable products purchased regardless of origin, was $849,817.00 and represents an increase in expenditures of 12.8% from the previous year. The top 15 products account for $653,307.25, or 77.0% of the total expenses thus far for the county.  Sliced apples ranked first in terms of market value, accounting for $142,982.00 in expenditures or approximately 17.0% of total cost. Broccoli florets which ranked 2nd and whole carrots which ranked 3rd were also significant sources of expenses with $73,795.50 (9.0%) and $51,797.50 (6.0%) spent respectively.  Red grapes ranked 4th totaling $49,137.75 while total oranges originating from Florida and California ranked 5th and total $48,103.25.  Strawberries, chopped romaine, tangerines, junior bananas, spring mix lettuce, green beans, grapefruit, red potatoes, tomatoes, and whole apples (all varieties) round out the top 15.  A total of 36 different Florida grown fruit and vegetable products were purchased from July 7th, 2014 to May 20th, 2015, with the market value of all products produced in Florida during that time period totaling $269,378.75.  As such, Florida grown products represent 31.7% of the total market value of all food spent thus far by the Sarasota County School District.  Of all Florida grown fruits and vegetable products purchased, strawberries are the largest in terms of market value with $44,896.25 spent.  Oranges ranked 2nd with $33,978.00 spent, followed by tangerines, spring mix lettuce, and green beans to round out the top 5 with $33,902.75, $30,851.25, and $19,976.50 respectively.  The top 15 products purchased represent 92.2% of all Florida grown produce.

The total market of local food products as a percent of their total fresh food expenditures purchased by each school was calculated so that schools of varying sizes could be compared.  Schools were separated based on those that had a greater number of students from low-income families (Title I schools) and compared to non-Title I schools to determine if there were differences between the two groups.  The rationale in separating the two groups is that children attending Title I schools are more likely to come from low-income families who may have difficulty accessing healthy, fresh food products such as fruits and vegetables.  Means of these two groups were 29.6% and 34.1% for Title I and non-Title I respectively.  Using a Wilcoxon Rank-Sum Test, it was determined there are statistically significant differences in these two groups of schools which suggests that potential barriers to successful local procurement exist for Title I schools relative to non-Title I schools within the same district.  This should not necessarily be surprising given school districts’ limited financial resources and that Title I schools often procure fresh food products from many government support agencies which may dilute these ratios, however future research should place greater focus on Title I schools to identify specific needs that will benefit these schools so they can more easily access local, fresh food products.

Obtaining data on production from the U.S. Census of Agriculture was met with limited success.  In some counties in Southwest Florida have so few producers that to maintain their anonymity, records on their production are not maintained.  Instead, tax roll data from the Florida Department of Revenue was collected.  While there are numerous agriculture land use categories to analysis, the most interesting regarding F2S are for fruit and vegetable production, or specialty crops.  In regards to specialty crops, citrus and orchard account for the largest land use category.  This should not be surprising considering Florida’s rich history in orange, grapefruit and other forms of citrus production.  Polk County ranks 1st in the amount of acreage for citrus and orchard in the region followed by DeSoto, Hardee, Manatee, and Charlotte with 105,148.06, 89,400.17, 79,718.74, 28,776.49, and 25,683.39 acres respectively.  Lee, Hillsborough, Pasco, and Sarasota counties totaled 15,812.52, 10,933.33, 8,424.87, and 1,082.18 acres respectively.  Hillsborough County ranks 1st in terms of total acreage devoted to cropland with 36,398.71 acres.  Cropland in Manatee, Polk, Lee, and Pasco counties accounted for 31,164.19, 13,178.01, 11,583.28, and 11,463.94 acres respectively.  Charlotte, Hardee, and DeSoto counties reported 10,421.16, 7,987.14, and 5,561.70 acres of cropland.

A needs assessment in the form of a producer survey was created and is currently being administered to producers in the Southwest Florida region via in-person interviews.  A total of 13 interviews have taken place in Sarasota, Manatee, Hardee, and Hillsborough counties and will continue in the coming months.  These interviews are essential to identifying challenges that producers face as they attempt to supply schools with fresh fruits and vegetables.   The data will be compiled, coded and analyzed for statistical significance with a model that attempts to explain factors that contribute to producer’s willingness to supply schools with fresh fruits and vegetables. 

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

The significance of this research is expected to extend and benefit many different individuals.  This includes, but not limited to, farmers and producers, SFA’s, educators, parents and most certainly children.  One significant outcome of this research is to improve efficiency of the school food system of the State of Florida in terms of procuring locally sourced food products. By integrating these players within the supply chain, there will be a strengthening of community partnerships, a reduction of the carbon footprint of the school food system and an increase in social welfare in the State of Florida.  The significance of this research could have policy implications as well at the state, regional and/or local levels.

This research is also expected to contribute to greater sustainability.  Direct, local procurement via F2S distribution channels promotes economic sustainability by providing producers with alternative marketing channels for their products and by minimizing price uncertainty with forward contracts.  Direct, local procurement will reduce fuel requirements that contribute to carbon and greenhouse emissions as well as the associated transportation costs.  The research conducted in this project will contribute to environmental sustainability by identifying factors that make direct, local procurement a viable marketing channel option for producers in Sarasota County, Florida.  By participating, producers minimize the distance their product travels in the distribution environment, reducing carbon and greenhouse gas emissions that are a result of transportation.  Through other F2S activities on school campuses, children learn where their food comes from and how it is produced, becoming consumers of local food themselves.  Their consumption habits directly benefit producers and local businesses in the community, further strengthening and nurturing those relationships.  Additionally, due to F2S procurement activity, there is an increase in community awareness and interest in purchasing local foods.  As a result of increased activity and demand for local foods, jobs in the region are created to support that industry.

The research in this project seeks to explore existing partnerships and networks in Florida as it related to direct, local procurement of fresh fruits and vegetables.  By identifying challenges to successful local procurement and integrating these players within the distribution channel, there will be a strengthening of community partnerships, a reduction of the carbon emissions, and an increase in social welfare in the State of Florida.

Collaborators: