WFFC in the News (and related items)

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/portal/server.pt?open=17&objID=20309&parentname=CommunityPage&parentid=4&mode=2&in_hi_userid=2&cached=true

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
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
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