Happy National Farm to School Month! Every October, the USDA Farm to School team is overwhelmed with stories of how farm to school programs are affecting kids, producers, and communities. Having now made 221 grants to school districts and other entities across the country to pursue projects that bring more local foods into schools and teach kids about where their foods comes from, we experience a steady stream of encouraging stories throughout the year. Stories about local farmers proudly supplying grains for a district’s whole grain baked goods; stories about school food service staff dressing up like fruits and vegetables to encourage healthy eating; stories about kids growing beets in the school garden and then devouring them when they show up in the cafeteria. During Farm to School Month, these anecdotes proliferate–on social media, on blogs, and via news stories. They inspire us, amuse us, and sometimes even make us tear up, but they don’t unequivocally prove that these programs work. For that, we rely on studies and surveys, on journal articles and evaluation results.
While farm to school is a relatively nascent area of research, a few recent studies have caught our attention.
Last year, researchers in Wisconsin published an article in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior assessing the effectiveness of farm to school programs in their state in increasing students’ fruit and vegetable intake. They found that students grades three through five participating in farm to school activities had better attitudes towards and greater willingness to try fruits and vegetables. These students also demonstrated greater knowledge related to nutrition and agriculture.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: USDA Blog
