Send Your Vegetables To School !

School lunches are usually nothing to write home about but what if the food was fresher and more nutritious? The goal of the farm-to-school initiative is to introduce local fruits and vegetables into Jefferson County schools. 

Bringing fresher food into the school cafeterias and supporting the local agricultural economy are two building blocks of this program. Many Jefferson County school districts food services directors are actively seeking to purchase fruits and vegetables from local farmers to serve for breakfasts and lunches. The food service managers have outlined exactly what foods are desired and in what quantity.

Local products are fresher and should thus be more appealing to students. With the alarming trends towards increasing obesity among school aged children, nutrition education and dietary improvements are needed.

Right now there are farm-to-school programs running in other NY counties that have real success stories to show for their initial efforts. In St. Lawrence County, the main kitchen at SUNY-Potsdam purchased produce from area farmers throughout the late summer and fall.

Another goal of the program is to connect students to the source of their food. Although this is a rural county, many children are not familiar with farm activities or how food is grown. It would be great to have farmers come visit the classroom and share some stories and information, and, ideally, have the kids take a field trip to a farm.

For more information please contact Rosalind Cook at Cornell Cooperative Extension, 788-8450 ext. 268 or rlc53@cornell.edu