Farm to School Academy
Our Farm to School Academy offers innovative solutions for increasing children’s consumption of fresh, locally-grown food. We guide school nutrition professionals and administrators through a customized process designed to bring more local and school garden-grown produce into their school for meals, snacks and parties.
With the Farm to School Academy, participating schools can engage their entire community to build excitement for local food. To find out if your school or district qualifies, contact Lacy Stephens.
With the Farm to School Academy, participating schools can engage their entire community to build excitement for local food. To find out if your school or district qualifies, contact Lacy Stephens.
- Students sample fresh local foods prepared in new ways and gain a better understanding of where their food comes from and can take recipes home for parents to try.
- Teachers can use the Grow a Garden Classroom curriculum to connect academic lessons to the garden. The free toolkit includes tips and ideas for success at every step, from getting buy-in, funding and volunteer support for a garden, to how to design, plant and maintain it and tie it in with classroom lessons, which are also provided in the guide.
- School food service staff hone culinary skills and learn about our regional food system so they can increase the variety of fresh foods they serve and be strong advocates for sustainable farm to school program. They also have access to the Garden to Cafeteria Safe Sourcing Protocol to make sure garden-grown produce is safely handled and processed in a way that it can be easily used by cooks in the cafeteria.
- District administrators and food service directors can connect to share ideas and advice based on their experience with the program and also learn best practices for procuring locally grown foods and planning menus according to seasonal availability.
Farm to School Academy is proud to be a Core Partner of the National Farm to School Network for the state of Kansas.
