Farm to School Program

WE WANT HEALTHY LOCAL FOOD FOR LANE COUNTY KIDS!

The Willamette Farm and Food Coalition is actively educating Land County kids about where their food comes from and working to incorporate locally grown produce into the meals served in our schools.

Goals of the Farm to School Program

• To improve student nutrition by serving fresh, locally grown produce in school cafeterias.
• To increase children’s interest in and knowledge of where their food comes from, via farm tours and school gardens.
• To influence children’s dietary habits by exposing them to a wide variety of fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables.
• To support local farms and food processors.

LOCAL FOOD IN SCHOOL LUNCHES
We are working to bring locally grown products to our school cafeterias. Each month an Oregon grown fruit or vegetable is highlighted in the cafeteria and in the classroom and served weekly in all Eugene 4J and Springfield District cafeterias as part of a Harvest of the Month Program. We are also working with food service staff in the Crow Applegate Lorane District to procure vegetables grown on a nearby farm and with Bethel School District Food Services to procure produce from Lane County Farms.

We are also actively involved in the Oregon Farm to School and School Garden Network working to make policy and infrastructure changes at the statewide level.

Information for Farmers:
There is an opportunity to get the food that you grow into the mouths of school children in Lane County! It’s not easy or hugely profitable, but it can be a new market for your crops and help connect kids with the source of their food.

Here is document to help you get started, if you are interested. Click here.

MODEL FARM TO SCHOOL PROGRAM

The Willamette Farm and Food Coalition’s Farm to School Program recently received a Victory Against Hunger Award by the Congressional Hunger Center, Victory Wholesale Group, and National Farm to School Network, celebrating outstanding efforts in fighting hunger through promoting or creating innovative farm to school programs.

We’ve implemented an educational program in the Eugene 4J, Springfield and Crow Applegate Lorane Districts. The program includes:

• farm field trips
• school garden sessions
• nutrition lessons
• tasting tables
• end of season “harvest day”

Garden Sessions
Students help to plant, tend and harvest vegetables. These activities are implemented in collaboration with The School Garden Project of Lane County.

Garden-based Nutrition Education
Lessons focus on the nutritional value of fresh fruits and vegetables. These activities are implemented in collaboration with staff from Oregon State University’s Nutrition Education program.

Farm Field Trips
Students visit local farms and have the opportunity to taste fresh produce in the field and help with a farm task.

Tasting Tables
During lunch time in the cafeteria students visit our special Tasting Table offering fresh locally grown vegetables from the farm they visited.

Harvest Day
At the end of the season we celebrate with a harvest day. Students harvest from their school garden, open a box of vegetables from the farms they visited and prepare and eat a meal together.

Farming Practices and Protecting our Drinking Water
With funding from Eugene Water and Electric Board Partners in Education program, we are also offering educational activities including watershed education and water quality testing to help students make the connection between agricultural practices and protection of our drinking water.

Farm to School is made possible by the generous support of the Bankoff Blanchet Family Foundation, Cow Creek Umpqua Indian Foundation, Spirit Mountain Community Fund, Trust Management Services, Oregon Community Foundation, Bill Heally Foundation, Hidden Valley Love Your Veggies, Eugene Water and Electric Board, Northwest Health Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and the Oregon Potato Commission.

Additional support for Farm to School comes from our business partners: Café Mam, Capella Market, Glory Bee Foods, Hummingbird Wholesale, Pacific Continental Bank, and Springfield Creamery.

Photo Exhibit to Benefit Farm to School Program! Sweet Things is the title of the upcoming exhibit by local artist Nana Lapham, opening 5:30pm on Friday, May 1st at the David Minor Theater and Gallery, located at 180 E. 5th Ave in Eugene, Oregon. The paintings will be on display through the month of May. The David Minor Theater is generously donating all commissions to the Willamette Farm & Food Coalition to fund the Farm to School program. David Minor Theatre www.davidminortheater.com

If you are interested in learning more about the Farm to School Program or getting involved as a volunteer - please contact Megan Kemple, Farm to School Program Coordinator at 541-341-1216. 

MAKE A CONTRIBUTION!

Become a donating member of the Willamette Farm and Food Coalition.  Make your check payable to: WFFC, and write Farm to School on the memo line

Mail to:

WFFC
P.O. Box 41672
Eugene, Or 97404

WFFC is a 501c(3) organization and we will send you a receipt for tax purposes.

FARM TO SCHOOL RESOURCE LINKS:

National Farm to School Program
Community Food Security Coalition
Center for Ecoliteracy
School Garden Project of Lane County