Grants to focus on agriculture and nutrition education while providing fresh, local foods in school cafeterias

Topeka, Kan.  – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that the Kansas Department of Agriculture will receive a grant of $100,000 to implement a local food and agriculture education program.  The award was one of 71 projects spanning 42 states that support the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) efforts to connect school cafeterias with local farmers and ranchers through its Farm to School program.

Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Dale Rodman recognized the significance of the grant to Kansas agriculture education programs. “Teaching children about where their food comes from and how it is produced is a challenging, yet exciting opportunity,” Rodman said.  “These funds will allow us to continue to pursue our agriculture education programs and enhance our efforts moving forward.  We are eager to help connect the next generation of food producers in our agriculture education programs and engage them in the challenge of providing healthy local food to our schools.”

The Kansas Department of Agriculture will select eight school districts with existing agriculture education programs to help develop food procurement pathways to increase the amount of local food served through school meal programs.  Each of the selected schools will receive a sub-grant of $12,500 to establish or expand upon a school garden program or other food production system.  It will result in a minimum of two locally produced food items being served in the school cafeteria per month.  The grants will also require the creation of a farm to school educational kit for K‐12 students and the schools to host one community Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) training workshop, a requirement to provide food to schools must be GAP certified. Preference will be given to schools with a significant rate of free and reduced lunch recipients.

Agricultural education programs in elementary, secondary and post-secondary schools continue to be a vital link to agriculture, the state’s largest industry.  It is important to continue to educate Kansans of all ages about the importance of agriculture to Kansas, raise awareness of modern food production processes as well as provide innovative agriculture education and experiential learning opportunities.

USDA recently released the results of the first-ever Farm to School Census, which showed that in the 2011-2012 school year, school districts purchased and served over $350 million in local food, with more than half of participating schools planning to purchase more local foods in the future.  Information on the Kansas data can be found at http://www.fns.usda.gov/farmtoschool/census/#/state/ks

For more information on the national Farm to School program, please visit www.fns.usda.gov/farmtoschool.  For information on the program in Kansas, visit www.agriculture.ks.gov or contact Beth Riffel at 785.307.4966 or email MEDIA@kda.ks.gov.

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