Farm to School Program - Details

Growing Washington has formed a budding coalition of local farmers that are interested in participating inthe comprehensive Farming a Community project. Connecting local elementaryschools with local produce is where this project started. All participants in the Farm to School Program were absolutely thrilled with our first year efforts and it has only gotten better since then! Kids have enjoyed tons of fresh produce and field trips to farms. Teachers have enjoyed better behavior. Parents love it, too, and as citizens of our community expressed sincere interest in seeing our efforts expanded to assisted living centers, local restaurants, and even homes. Now entering the program’s third year, we continue to achieve our goals of:

1. Increasing marketing opportunities for small farms
2. Supporting local farmers and the economy
3. Educating students about local farming and food systems
4. Improving the quality of foods served in cafeterias
5. Improving school-community relationships
6. Increasing food safety

Marketing and Advocating Local Farms
Growing Washington is creating farm biographies, marketing materials, a comprehensive guide to and catalog to local produce, and is actually going out in the community searching for new businesses, organizations and individuals to support our coalition of farms through the purchase of farm products.

Coordination and Administration of Project
Growing Washington is focused on charitable work rather than profit and, because of this, we are capable of ensuring a fair exchange between farmers and schools and can also ensure the growth and sustainability of the Farming a Community project. Multiple farmers, businesses, organizations, and school districts are excited to work on the Farming a Community Project, but only those in the non-profit sector are capable of actually coordinating the project. For example, it is not in the interest of any one farm to pick up the produce and then transport the food to local schools. And food is almost always delivered to schools; rarely do schools pick up their orders. However, it is in the interest of a non-profit organization concerned with the preservation of local agriculture, community building, advocacy, and public health to coordinate the project, provide transportation and bring farmers and the community together.

Why this project is exciting:

1. It is truly representative of a community coalition. Growing Washington is cooperatively engaging in relentless promotion and preservation of family farms. Farmers benefit from new markets, guaranteed sales, easy transactions, representation and marketing within the community, and most importantly, have another reason to continue farming. The community benefits from healthier food in its schools, access to fresh, healthy produce, and a sense of pride that goes along with buying quality products in a fair and economically competitive exchange.

2. Instead of simply throwing money at a problem, Growing Washington is actively engaging the community, seeking out new markets for local farms, and creating a system of collection and distribution that is both efficient and sustainable. Farmers are abl e to stay on the farm and do what they do best. Growing Washington, in return, is coordinating, administering, and implementing a project that would be too arduous for any one farmer to do alone. Essentially, the supply of locally grown produce already exists, and the demand for locally grown produce already exists; what our project does is bring the cycle full circle, bridging gaps in our community through charitable motives. We arrange a fair selling price for a farmer while ensuring a competitive buying price for the consumer. Our distribution network and coalition of farmers connects the two together

3. It is already proven to work! Our Farm to Cafeteria project has, thus far, gone fabulously. All school districts have been pleased with the services and produce, teachers have reported profound changes in the behavior of their children, farmers have made a fair income, a coalition of initial supplying farmers has been assembled, and Growing Washington has successfully arranged for pickup and drop-off of produce, advocated for farms in the community, and helped school districts write grants for additional funding for Farm to Cafeteria projects. Most importantly, everyone-farmers, schools, students, citizens, and community groups-wants to see the coalition continue to, well, grow.