WFFC in the News

Grants for Eugene schools to buy local food, February 2013
The Eugene 4J and Bethel School Districts were recently awarded grants totaling $55,453 from the Oregon Department of Education to purchase Oregon grown foods. The grant program is the result of House Bill 2800—the Farm to School & School Garden Bill—passed by the Oregon State Legislature with unanimous support in 2011. 

WFFC awarded USDA Farm to School Grant, February 2013
The Willamette Farm and Food Coalition recently received a grant for $92,244 from the USDA to provide its comprehensive Farm to School Program in four school districts in the Eugene 4J, Bethel, Springfield and Oakridge school districts with a special focus in six elementary schools in 2013.  A portion of the award will be paid to the School Garden Project of Lane County to provide garden sessions in these schools.  (Bethel School District: Fairfield and Clear Lake; Eugene School District 4J: River Road/El Camino del Rio and César Chávez; Springfield School District: Guy Lee; and Oakridge School District: Oakridge Elementary).

WFFC's Farm to School program in the news
WFFC's Farm to School program was covered in the media recently with a focus on a state and federal grant which will allow the program to expand and continue our success in incorporating locally grown food into school meals.

Register Guard
Local Food on Menu, Feburary 19, 2013

KLCC
Farm to School Program Expanding to Reach More Lane County Schools, February 13, 2013

KMTR
Farm to School, February 12, 2013

KEZI
Eugene School Celebrates Grant Award, February 15,2013

Local Food Insecurity, Letter to the Editor (10/11/12, Eugene Weekly)
Students participate in lessons on where food comes from, farm field trips, cooking with food from the farm, school garden sessions, nutrition lessons and farm to school tasting tables.
Read more, scroll to 3rd letter . . .

October is national Farm to School Month (10/11/12, Eugene Weekly)
October is national Farm to School Month and the Willamette Farm and Food Coalition is hosting "tasting table" events at select local schools to encourage healthy eating and local agriculture.
Read the full story . . .

A Healthy Tasting Table for Students (10/9/12, KEZI)
There is a push to serve more local produce at school cafeterias and last year, the Oregon legislature approved $200,000 for a pilot program. It's enough to fund produce at about two to three school districts and help supplement farm to school programs.
Read the full story . . .

School lunches: Thoughts and tips from a school chef, a farm to school program director, a dietitian, a vegan blogger and a sixth-grader (10/7/12, The Oregonian)
Farm to School and school garden programs are great ways to engage kids in fun, hands-on activities that help educate them about where their food comes from and how it's grown while inspiring them to make healthy food choices.
Read the full story . . .

Farm to School Educates Local Students (9/24/12, KEZI)
The Farm to School program, in its sixth year, shows local students the benefits of farm produce. Its goal is to connect students to the source of their food. "We work with the schools that have the highest percentage of poverty in the community, so we can provide them with supplemental produce, help them get excited about eating fruits and vegetables," said Megan Kemple, Farm to School Program Director.
Read the full story . . .

WFFC's Farm to School program highlighted on KLCC's Food for Thought (3/4/12, KLCC)
WFFC’s Farm to School Program’s success supporting schools in incorporating more locally grown food into their school meals was highlighted on KLCC’s Food For Thought on March 4, 2012.  The audio archive is no longer available.   

WFFC’s Farm to School Program was highlighted in Take Root Magazine (Winter 2012)
Read the article . . .  (on pages 8-9)

Farm to School in Oregon (10/27/11, The Oregonian)
An overview of Farm to School in Oregon, including quotes from Willamette Farm and Food Coalition's Farm to School Program coordinator, Megan Kemple.
Read the full story . . .

Senator Wyden Teaches Kids About Local Food (10/26/11, KEZI)
Senator Wyden visits Eugene's Clearlake Elementary in support of Farm to School. The clip also features Willamette Farm and Food Coalition's Farm to School Program coordinator, Megan Kemple. Watch the video . . .

WFFC assists with 100-Mile Meal
WFFC assisted the Hilton in sourcing ingredients for a 100-Mile Meal as part of Travel Lane County's annual Visitor Industry Celebration on June 14. It was a big hit. TLC President Kari Westlund says the bar has been set, there will be no going back to ho-hum convention food after this! At right WFFC Executive Director Lynne Fessenden and Chef Sky Huffman from the Hilton sourcing local.

WFFC's Farm to School program highlighted on KLCC's Food for Thought (6/19/11, KLCC)
Willamette Farm and Food Coalition's Farm to School Program and the School Garden Project of Lane County were highlighted on KLCC's Food for Thought. The interview is at the end of the show, lasting for about 10 minutes. Listen to the interview . . .

Oregon Farm to School Act Could Bring More Local Food to Eugene Schools (4/18/11, Eugene Daily News)
As farms continue to pump out locally produced and processed goods and school children continue to wolf down cafeteria lunches, it’s a curious conundrum that more food doesn’t pass directly from local producers into the school systems. In Lane County, the Willamette Farm and Food Coalition and other local organizations have been addressing this issue for the past several years.
Read the full story . . .

Mill owner has got the grist of it; Local wheat now processed at a local flour milling facility (4/17/11, The Register-Guard)
Sometime in the coming week a Lane Country resident will bite into a slice of bread or a pizza crust made from the first flour to be grown and then ground in a commercial grist mill here since before the Great Depression.
Read the full story . . .

Oregon farmers could process own chickens, other poultry under bill passed by House (3/3/11, The Oregonian)
House Bill 2872A, approved 58-2, would create an exemption for farmers, allowing them to butcher and process fewer than 1,000 of their own chickens, turkeys, ducks and other poultry without an inspection. The birds must be raised on the farm and sold directly to customers, either on-site, through meat-buying clubs or at farmers markets. Read the full story . . . http://mobile.oregonlive.com/advorg/db_/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=LB3Z3q9D&full=true#display

Lane Locavores to the Rescue (1/30/11, The Register-Guard)
Read the Register Guard story in response to the recently released Lane County Local Food Market Analysis . . . http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/business/25821207-41/produce-county-local-lane-emerald.csp

Lane County Local Food Market Analysis
Read either the Executive Summary or the entire document . . . http://www.eugene-or.gov/archive.aspx?amid=&type=&adid=93

Schools urged to freshen up lunch; serving fresh, locally grown food in cafeterias is the hope of advocates.
The Register Guard, August 25, 2010. Click here to read the article.

WFFC’s Farm to School Program highlighted in the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s Magazine Ag Quarterly, Summer, 2010
Michelle Markesteyn Ratcliffe interviews Farm to School Program Coordinator Megan Kemple. Click here to read the feature.

WFFC’s Farm to School Program on KLCC, June 7, 2010
KLCC recently ran a story on school lunch and hunger in Oregon as part of a special issue series on food and agriculture. The feature included coverage of WFFC’s Farm to School Program and students from Clear Lake Elementary on a field trip to Lost Creek Farm. Click here to read or listen to the feature.

WFFC’s Farm to School program honored by USDA visit, May 26, 2010
WFFC’s Farm to School Programs in the Eugene 4J and Bethel School Districts were selected for a visit by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm to School Team in May 2010. Nearly 300 school districts nationwide requested a visit from the team and fifteen (15) districts in nine (9) areas were selected for a visit. The Farm to School Team was established as part of the Department's Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Initiative to create new economic opportunities by better connecting consumers with local producers.

The goal of the USDA team was to learn, in detail, about our farm to school initiatives and efforts, including the successes and challenges. This information will be used to provide guidance, technical assistance and best practices to schools and farmers who are interested in farm to school.

Four staff from the USDA's Farm to School Team were in Eugene for three days, meeting with Bethel for a day and a half and Eugene 4J school district for a day and a half. They interviewed Megan Kemple WFFC's Farm to School Program Coordinator, the nutrition services directors and managers, and three local farmers.

They got a good sense of our program's successes and barriers and what the federal government can do to support us. We were told that the Obama administration is very supportive of farm to school efforts and has established this 9 person farm to school team to move farm to school efforts forward. It was very validating to have such interest coming from the USDA and to give direct input to the federal government about what is working and what isn't working. You can read more about the Farm to School team and the goals of the visits at: http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/F2S/f2stacticalteam.htm