FISHERS, N.Y. – Let the bidding begin!
A new ruling by the USDA will for the first time allow local schools to specify "New York-grown" when placing bids for apples for school lunch programs.
"Kids now have the opportunity to have fresh, crunchy, local New York apples in their school lunches instead of apples that are 3,000-miles old," said Jim Allen, president of the New York Apple Association.
"Because their apples will be fresh and local, instead of from a faraway state or continent, kids will enjoy them more and hopefully eat more too," Allen said.
"Many of our farmers have kids in the local school systems but have been unable to get those schools to buy their apples," Allen said. "This has frustrated our growers for years, especially when their school taxes end up buying apples from competitors."
Last month, the USDA came out with the final ruling pertaining to the 2008 Farm Bill which allows schools to put a geographical preference specification on school bids and in their purchasing procedures.
The rule allows food service officials to preference "New York-grown" or grown within a certain number of miles away from their school in their bid descriptions. Bid specs can also be allowed to preference "Eastern Grown" or "Northeast."
In addition, the new rules allow schools to offer a premium on local apples to attract bids.
Until the 2008 Farm Bill, schools could not, by law, include geographic criteria in a bid specification for fresh food orders. And until recently there were no clear guideline on how to actually implement the Geographic Preference provision of the Farm Bill. So, typically winning bids would come from states or continents that have huge surpluses of sub-par apples that would be "unloaded" onto the school lunch market.
Some schools have gotten around those restrictions by putting out bids for apple varieties that are typically grown in New York such as McIntosh and Empire.
Still, allowing schools the flexibility to specifically seek bids from local farmers, who pay local school taxes and have their own kids enrolled in those schools, will benefit kids, parents and educators alike.
"We encourage school food service managers to take advantage of this change in the law and buy our fresh, local apples for the enjoyment and good health of their students," Allen said.
About the New York Apple Association:
Based in Fishers, N.Y., the NYAA is the nonprofit agricultural trade association representing the commercial apple growers in New York. It supports profitable growing and marketing of New York apples through increasing demand for apples and apple products; representing the industry at state and federal levels and serving as the primary information source on New York apple related matters.
Source: New York Apple Association
