Overcoming the Barriers

The Farm to School Program can

help overcome some of the
barriers.

Produce grown in school gardens can

be served in school lunches, offsetting
high costs, or prepared and sold,
providing funds for other necessary
budgets.
School gardens can be up kept in part
by students as well, on a rotating
schedule; thus increasing not only
awareness, but also physical activity
and responsibility.
State grant programs can assist with
costs of storage or equipment, or the
training of food service staff.
Higher costs due to labor or increased
time can be offset by PTO fundraisers.
Local distribution networks may be
formed to help transport foods from
local farms to schools. This also builds
what could be a synergistic
relationship.
Technical assistance from nonprofit
organizations can train food service
staff, and perhaps aid in availability
and transportation of local food as well.

Increasing Student
Vegetable
Consumption through
Farm to School
Educating and investing in the
health of Americas youth,
while supporting local ranchers
and farmers

INSE
Prepared by Christina Taalla
ASU Dietetics Student

Farm to School programs reduce

Vegetable Requirements:
USDA Food and Nutrition
Service

truck fuel consumption, improve

the viability of the local farming
economy, and increase vegetable

Recent changes to the National School Lunch

Program include vegetable subgroupings
Dark Green (Spinach, Broccoli, Leafy Lettuce,
Kale, Turnip Greens)
Red/Orange (Butternut squash, carrots,
peppers, pumpkin, sweet potatoes)
Beans/Peas (Legumes fava beans, garbanzo
beans, lentils, pinto beans)
Starchy (Corn, green peas, potatoes, water
chestnuts, taro)
Other (Artichoke, bean sprouts, beets,
mushrooms, onions, parsley)

consumption among children.

-Amber Herman, Bill Emerson National Hunger
Fellow

Local Producers
Are a means of providing fresh vegetables from
many of these sub-groups
Local agriculture + Schools = Partnership in
childrens nutrition education and ensuring
availability and consumption of more
vegetables

As well as specific servings of each to be met

each week.
There is no specific maximum on fruits, milk
and vegetables, encouraging many schools to
offer child size salad bars as a means of
encouraging increased veggie intake.
Various preparation methods are available,
such as fresh, frozen and canned products.
However, the most beneficial source is fresh, as
raw vegetables have a higher nutritional
content.

Many Schools dont know how to

serve subgroups
USDAs team nutrition site and Healthy
Meals Resource System feature free
recipes, which are already scaled for
school quantity.
Recipe for Healthy Kids developed from a
competition challenging professional and
non-professionals alike to develop kidapproved recipes. Recipes are available in
both school and home friendly serving!

Barriers facing Local

Distribution

FRESH produce is limited to certain times of

year and may not be available year round

PRODUCTION Local distributors do not

produce as much as larger corporations.

Depending on the size of the school district, a
local distributor may not produce enough to
provide.
DISTRIBUTION many small local farmers have

no middle man for transportation. The mileage

between farms and cities may be vast and can
complicate deliveries.
FOOD SAFETY transforming a just-picked

produce with dirt still clinging to the roots to the

school foodservice universe of regulations
STAFFING local farmers may operate on a

small employee scale, where there is less staff

to deal with finances and distribution issues.
This can increase time required to order
COST Food service directors work on a tight

budget, where produce that costs only a few

cents more may not fit
FARMER LIMITATIONS Farmers may be few in

number, limited in production capabilities and

may not be dependable
FOODSERVICE STAFF receiving fresh

Farm to School
Connects these local farmers and schools, and
focuses on a multiple-level intervention by including
in and out of classroom education, and developing
cafeteria, garden and farm venues

Growth and Preservation of School Gardens

Serves fresh local products in cafeteria meals
Provides a means of education through food

and agricultural related field trips

Farmers participate in education curriculum, but

visiting school classrooms

Provides curricular resources to teachers for

units on food and nutrition

Includes professional development for foodservice staff
In Arizona, 13 schools and 3 school districts are
currently participating in the FTS program.
However, many barriers do exist

vegetables may mean more prep time to chop,

cut or mix fresh vegetables. Skill level is also an
important consideration if recipes are being
prepared from scratch