“There are good things happening in this city,” said Detroit Mayor David Bing on the third morning of the National Farm to Cafeteria Conference held in Detroit, a city quickly becoming a leader in the urban and school garden movement.
Yet, that same statement could have come from countless other mayors, school administrators and community leaders in cities and states across the country. The farm to school movement is blossoming nationwide, and the nearly 700 attendees at the National Farm to Cafeteria Conference know it.
Hosted by the Farm to School Network and organized by the Community Food Security Coalition, the conference was supported by a wide range of corporations, foundations, agencies and non-profits. With the majority of school lunches failing to provide the most basic nutritional needs to children, there has never been a better opportunity than now to change young American’s relationship with food.
Conference participants were reminded of the impact one school garden can have for a child who has never seen a head of broccoli or a seed grow into a plant. Farm to school programs reconnect communities, support local economies and improve the health of our children. Bottom line: a healthy and locally-sourced school lunch can benefit a student’s ability to learn as much as it benefits a local farmer’s pocketbook.
For more information on food and nutrition policy, check out the Spectrum Food and Nutrition Report.
Conference highlights:
1. USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan’s delivered an inspirational presentation on the current status of food policy and what the USDA is doing to help. Merrigan outlined several USDA programs including:
· Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food
· USDA farm to school team
· Healthy Food Financing Initiative
· USDA Cafeteria Project (the USDA is remodeling their cafeteria to better model sustainable, local, healthy and organic food principles)
2. The Healthy School Campaign’s Cooking Up Change competition invited high school and college students to participate in a national cooking competition. Student teams created healthy, locally-sourced meals that met nutritional and taste guidelines. Conference participants met the students, tasted their meals and congratulated the national winners. The Cooking Up Change competition is an excellent example of engaging youth that could be replicated in schools across the country.
3. The premier of two documentaries, including the award-winning Grown in Detroit, a heart-wrenching and inspirational film about the Ferguson Academy for Young Women, a high school for pregnant and parenting teens, where students are learning the economic and nutritious benefits of urban gardening. After watching the film, conference participants had the opportunity to meet the filmmaker, principal and students.
Tags: Conference, detroit, Food, food policy, nutrition, school lunch
Thanks for the call out! It was a great conference and we had so much fun working with the students. They were the real stars.
Thanks Mark – keep up the good work at Healthy Schools and let me know of any upcoming events or big news!
Great post, glad you were there to send out the info. about the gardening at the schools. As a vegie gardener the task of growing what you eat does make you appreciate the food all that much more, great way to get kids to eat thier vegetables. T