November '06

Thanksgiving came earlier in November than usual – giving me plenty of time to reflect on giving thanks. I can’t let this topic pass without thanking the normal cast: CISA staffers for writing articles and reviewing content, everyone who has contributed a story over the past year, the amazing people whose work we write about, and of course, you, the reader. But this is also a time for going beyond traditional thank-yous: it is a time to ponder more deeply the things for which we are grateful and a time to share our thanks widely.

I am thankful for living in a region where there is so much phenomenal and inspiring work happening on the farm to school front. Just last month we published a news blurb about farm product school fundraisers and realized that we already have several great local fundraising projects in our own backyard. In this month’s Community article, “Not Your Average Candy Sale: School Fundraising and Farm Products,” Claire Morenon writes about one of those projects: Hillside Pizza.

And I am thankful for the many people that are interested in building farm to school momentum! In the Cafeteria article, “Getting the Lay of the Land: Surveys of Local Farmers and Food Service Directors,” Claire reviews findings from CISA’s survey of local food service directors, which found that over half of them are interested in expanding or starting to buy local.

And finally, I am thankful to the many partners with whom we work on farm to school issues. Seeds of Solidarity, Fertile Ground, and the Mass Farm to School Project have all been the subject of recent articles. Mass Ag in the Classroom and VT Food Education Everyday also have been great allies from whom I have learned much. Our curriculum series, “Educating for Change” has focused on local resources for educators of all stripes, and this month, I review a VT FEED Farmer’s Guide full of resources and activities for farm to school programs.

Don't forget to check out the local announcements and news sections and remember past issues are archived on our website www.buylocalfood.com. As always, I invite you to share your own farm to school story ideas, event announcements, or articles.

Grow well,

Kelly Coleman

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(Community)

Everyone has had some experience with product fundraisers at schools, either selling candy door-to-door as a child, as a parent pusing products from your kids' school at work, or being solicited by all the kids on the block. Nationwide, school fundraising has become a multi-billion dollar business, with non-profit groups earning about 1.7 billion dollars annually through the sales of a wide variety of products. 83% of those non-profit organizations are schools, and each year 91% of schools nationwide conduct a fundraiser through which they sell some sort of product.

There is a lot of money in fundraisers, but not only for the schools conducting them. There are companies that contract with national magazines and brand-name candy producers to provide products to schools at wholesale prices, along with other services such as record-keeping and ordering systems. These fundraising companies make a lot of money off of school fundraisers, usually keeping around 55% of the proceeds, which amounts to approximately $2.1 billion annually. And, of course, the candy companies, national magazines, and wrapping paper producers all reap large profits from these fundraisers as well.

As childhood obesity rates soar, the traditional candy-and-cookies fundraisers have come under fire from concerned parents and public health advocates. And as farmland continues to be sold to developers and small local businesses struggle, the fact that most of the profits from this huge industry go to large far away corporations is problematic. Across the country, efforts are being made to counteract both of those flaws by linking schools with local farms for fundraisers. Working with farmers to sell local products provides farmers with another much-needed sales opportunity, keeps all the proceeds from the fundraiser in the community, and ensures that the school will be offering a product that is distinctive and often more health-conscious.

In Michigan, a Central Lake Elementary School parent named Pepper Bromelmeier has spearheaded a campaign to get local farm products into school fundraisers. Because of her efforts, the fourth-graders at Central Lake are selling their neighbors jam, maple syrup, apples, milk and frozen chickens, all from local farms. The connection with local farms has also been incorporated into the school curriculum, including natural science lessons during a field trip to the farm, math skills developed through calculating profit margins, and communication skills honed through thank-you letters to the farmers and pitch letters to potential customers.

In Western Massachusetts, there is are local alternatives already in place. Hillside Pizza was born five years ago when Craig White, who is also the Food Service Director at the Bement School, and his business partner Robert Lindner hit upon the idea of making pizzas with primarily organic, local ingredients that community organizations and school groups could sell as an alternative to candy and wrapping paper fund-raisers. Hillside Pizza was one of the first members of the Western Mass Food Processing Center, a community kitchen run by the Franklin County Community Development Corporation. During the growing season, toppings come from Hillside Pizza’s own organic garden.

Since its inception, Hillside Pizza has expanded, with their pizzas now available at ten regional retail outlets. In the next month or so, Craig and Bob will be opening their first restaurant in South Deerfield. However, fundraising was their original focus and remains their primary method of selling pizzas, providing 75% of their business. In this model, school and community groups sell “Take and Bake” pizzas and “Scoop and Bake” cookies to friends, family, and neighbors and then place their order with Hillside Pizza. The pizzas are made after the orders are placed and then delivered by the fundraising group to their customers. Depending on the number of pizzas sold, the group earns between $3.00 and $4.00 per pizza. Over $74,000 has been raised by local schools and non-profit organizations through Hillside Pizza.

Hillside Pizza is only one example of a local alternative to standard school fundraising. North Hadley Sugar Shack at Boisvert Farm also works with schools to sell maple products purchased directly from the farmer. There are many ways in which schools around the country have partnered with local farms to raise money, including weekly mixed boxes of vegetable and fruit delivered to schools in Chicago and an orchard in New Brunswick which lets school groups pick apples at a discount and then sell them for a profit. Berkshire Grown, a non-profit based in Great Barrington, MA, has just launched an initiative to work with schools to sell local products. In Western Massachusetts, there are hundreds of farmers and local business owners like Bob and Craig with a commitment to sustainable, local business practices who are looking for a new sales outlet. When your community school plans its next fundraiser, think local!

To find local farm products visit www.buylocalfood.com or give CISA a call to brainstorm fundraising ideas for your school: Kelly or Claire at 413-665-7100.
Special thanks to the Great Lakes Bulletin News Service for inspiring us with their article about Central Lake fundraisers.

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(Cafeteria)

Getting the Lay of the Land:
Surveys of Local Farmers and Food Service Directors

By Claire Morenon, Program Assistant, CISA

The main goal of CISA’s farm to school work is to support new and increased sales of local foods to regional cafeterias. Institutions like hospitals, colleges, and public schools, can serve as a large local market for farmers in Western Massachusetts, while increasing consumers’ access to local food and providing healthful, fresh, delicious ingredients for the meals they serve. When farmers sell their products to local institutions, that money circulates within the community, and the farm-to-cafeteria connection builds awareness and community support for local agriculture.

CISA partnered with the Massachusetts Farm to School Project to conduct a state-wide survey of food service directors, cafeteria managers, and food purchasers at public and private schools, colleges and hospitals. The purpose of this survey was to find out which institutions are buying locally and which are not, to learn lessons from institutions that have successfully incorporated local foods into their dining programs, and to help us understand real and perceived barriers to local buying from the demand-side perspective. We also conducted a survey of local farmers to find out which farms have already entered the farm-to-institution market and which farms are interested in doing so, and to get a sense of farmers’ needs and concerns when building relationships with institutional customers. These surveys were designed to help us better understand some of the hurdles in building relationships between institutions and farms and where CISA’s help could be most useful.

Seventy-three farmers responded to the survey that was mailed out in late 2005. The farmers surveyed were all members of CISA, based in Franklin, Hampshire or Hampden counties, and represented a diverse group of growers and producers. The results revealed that farmers who already sell to institutions, while a small percentage of all farmers, overwhelmingly found those relationships to be profitable. A total of 60% percent of farmers who responded to our survey are interested in entering or increasing sales to institutions.

Thirty food service directors and cafeteria managers in the same region were polled in a phone survey this fall. 66% percent currently buy locally grown food for their cafeterias. Some of these managers who buy no or extremely little local produce indicated that they are not interested in local buying, while most purchasers who do currently buy local produce expressed an interest in expanding their local buying habits.
Some of the major issues and concerns in building relationships between farmers and institutions are:

1) Match-making: The time and effort it takes to find a good match between an institution’s needs and a given farm’s product volume and range, price list, and delivery options can be considerable. This was the barrier mentioned most frequently by farmers and was a clear concern for food service buyers who didn’t have time to seek out farmers and implement new systems to accommodate direct sales.

2) Price: Even for existing farm to cafeteria relationships price is an important consideration, especially as farmer’s price needs change with the season and in response to input costs. While nearly all of the farmers who sell to institutions say that this market is profitable, price remained one of their biggest concerns. At the same time institutions who buy local food found local prices to be comparable to if not cheaper than other sources. However, institutions not yet engaged in this market thought that local produce was too expensive and cited this as their second biggest concern.

3) Delivery: For food service directors, delivery was their biggest concern, with small institutions uncertain about meeting minimum order requirements, and large institutions concerned about getting the daily deliveries that they needed. Farmers on the other hand, seem to recognize the need for delivery and all but 9% of the farmers who are interested in this market would be willing to offer some sort of delivery, but many have not done the leg work to determine how often or how far they could profitably deliver.

We learned a lot about the needs of farmers in wholesale and about the needs of people working food service through this survey. To build on the interest in farm to cafeteria sales, food service managers and farmers need assistance and support in connecting to each other. CISA plans to address this need by providing educational material and one-on-one support to farmers and food service managers to help them build sustainable and successful relationships.

If you, your school or your farm is interested in pursuing farm to institution relationships, give Kelly or Claire at CISA a call: 413-665-7100.

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(Curriculum)

Educating for Change:

VT FEED's New Farmer's Guide

By Kelly Coleman

Continuing our “Educating for Change” series on curriculum resources for schools, parents, teachers, and other educators, I focus on one of two new guides by Vermont Food Education Everyday (VT FEED), scheduled to be released in early 2007. These two guides offer way, way more than curriculum ideas. Also included are thoughts on preparing farms for community visits, suggestions on working with schools and school cafeterias, and advice on media outreach.

In “A Farmer’s Guide to Bringing Food to Schools and Communities to Farms,” there are a whopping 47 educational farm activities for kids of all ages. What is remarkable about this compilation of activities is that most of them came directly from farmers themselves, and many of them, VT FEED notes, were hand written. The activities are compiled into the following categories: 1) general farm, 2) soils, compost, and land, 3) garden and greenhouse, 4) dairy, 5) poultry, 6) maple sugaring and tree, and 7) bee and insect activities.

Each activity description includes information on grade appropriateness, materials needed, activity summary and procedure, and extension ideas to expand the activity. Some of my favorite activities listed include:

• Product Relay (Grades 2-6). In this activity kids have to sort a pile of products, including milk containers, wood products, leather products, plastic, etc. into either a “from a cow” bin or a “not from a cow” bin.

• Smelly Plant Scents Match (All Ages). This game has students match scents with actual plants. Students (or the farm) can pick plant leaves and conceal them in a container covered in cotton balls. Then student groups must match the smelly containers with the plant.

• There’s No Such Thing as a Free Lunch (Grades 5-10). Students use a farm tour and butter making activity to explore the uses of energy on the farm.

Although this guide was designed for use by farmers, I think it can also be useful for teachers or parents who initiate farm field trips. Often, farms aren’t fully set up for visitors and coming with pre-prepared activities can help create an inspiring and educational visit.

This guide will be publicly available in early 2007. Keep your eye on this e-newsletter, as we will announce when and where you can get your own copy. In the meantime, check out VT FEED on the web.

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Events

Saturday, February 10, 2007 in Ludlow, MA
Growing Minds Through Massachusetts Agriculture
Join Mass Ag in the Classroom for the 6th annual statewide conference for educators at the Baird Middle School in Ludlow, MA. Each workshop features hands-on activities, connections to the Curriculum Frameworks and identifies the grade level targeted. Ten PDP's are available with a related classroom activity. For more details visit www.aginclassroom.org.

Friday, March 16- Monday, March 19th, 2007 in Baltimore
Farm to Cafeteria & Food Policy Conference
From Cafeterias to Capitol Hill: Growing Healthy Kids, Farms and Communities. More information will be available soon at www.foodsecurity.org.

Announcements

Award
SeaWorld/Busch Gardens/Fujifilm Environmental Excellence Awards
The 2007 SeaWorld/Busch Gardens/Fujifilm Environmental Excellence Awards will recognize the outstanding efforts of students, teachers, and community groups across the United States who are working at the grassroots level to protect and preserve the environment. Deadline November 30, 2006. Visit the program's web site for complete application information and examples of previous award winners.

Announcement
Massachusetts Farm-to-School Cookbook in the works
Amy Cotler, of the culinary education and consulting business Fresh & Company, has received a grant to help boost statewide farm to school sales through the online and print publication of a Farm-to-School Cookbook. The book will include recipes, preparation tips, farm-purveyor contact information and several farm-to-school classroom lessons and will be tested in targeted cafeterias — both with school food service directors for ease of use, and with school children for a “thumbs up or thumbs down” on general appeal and flavor. Ms. Cotler welcomes other regional food directors and farmers who are interested the project to contact her at amy@freshcotler.com or 413-232-7174.

Grant
Community Garden Groups Invited to Apply for Fiskars “Orange Thumb” Grant Program
Fiskars Garden & Outdoor Living is now accepting applications for its 2006 Project Orange Thumb grants program. The company created Project Orange Thumb to support community garden groups in the U.S. with tools and materials. Project Orange Thumb recipients will receive grants of up to $1,500 in Fiskars Garden Tools (retail value), and up to $800 in gardening-related materials such as plants, seeds, mulch, etc. Recipients will also receive Project Orange Thumb t-shirts for garden members/volunteers.
Gardens and/or gardening projects geared toward community involvement, neighborhood beautification, sustainable agriculture, and/or horticultural education are eligible. Community garden groups, as well as schools, youth groups, community centers, camps, clubs, treatment facilities, etc. are encouraged to apply. Only group applications will be considered; single individuals are not eligible. The program is open to any community garden in the fifty states and the District of Columbia. Deadline is February 17, 2006.
Visit the Fiskars Web site for complete program guidelines and application instructions.

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Vegetables Keep Brains Sharp
A new study has been published in this week's issue of the journal Neurology that points towards the ability of vegetables, especially dark leafy greens, to keep the brain young and active. The study followed nearly 2,000 Chicago residents over six years and involved regular memory and cognitive tests. It was found that people who ate two or more servings of vegetables daily had about 40% less mental decline than did their counterparts who ate one or no servings of vegetables daily.

BMI no Longer Best Measure?
New research indicates that measuring waist size may be a more accurate predictor of obesity-related health concerns than the commonly-used Body Mass Index or BMI. Waist circumference is a “vital sign” that can be readily identified and doctors should respond quickly to implement prevention measures, said Dr. Stephen Cook of the University of Rochester School of Medicine, writing in the November 2006 issue of the journal Pediatrics.

Childhood Obesity has Exploded in the Last Six Years
A new analysis of government statistics reveals the U.S. childhood obesity rate is increasing much faster than previously thought. According to data collected from 22,000 children (age 2-19), obesity rates have increased by more than 65 per cent in just the past six years. Abdominal fat in children has nearly doubled since 1999. The largest relative increase in the prevalence of abdominal obesity occurred among 2-5 year old boys (84%) and 18-19 year-old girls (126%). Researchers say excessive plaque build-up in the arteries of children can be reversed through a healthier diet and regular exercise. Click here for more details.

News

Snack Producers to Work With Clinton’s Alliance for a Healthier Generation
Former President Bill Clinton has convinced five major snack food manufacturers to agree to cut the fat, sugar, and sodium content of the products they sell to schools. Clinton’s Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a project started last year in conjunction with the American Heart Association, follows up on a similar agreement with soda makers five months ago. The agreement with Dannon, Kraft Foods, Mars, PepsiCo, and the Campbell Soup Company could ultimately help address the obesity problem by increasing sales of healthier chips, candy, yogurt, chips, and soups. Critics such as the School Nutrition Association (SNA) and the Center for Science in the Public Interest have stated the opinion that voluntary guidelines will not be effective. The Alliance’s website is: www.healthiergeneration.org.

Food industry to strengthen advertising guidelines
Ten major food manufacturers announced on November 14, 2006 that they would revise the commercial messages they aim at children age 12 and under to de-emphasize sugary and fatty foods and stress more healthy foods and exercise. The companies, including Kraft Foods, Coca-Cola, General Mills, and Campbell Soup, said they will abide by new guidelines devised by the Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU), an industry-created watchdog, in limiting the content of media and Internet advertising. However, food and beverage company executives could not cite any specific changes they were making at a news conference announcing the CARU changes, leaving critics skeptical. “The only changes from the status quo in these guidelines occur at the fringes,” said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, D.C. “It’s pretty pathetic. If a ‘healthy lifestyle message’ means that Ronald McDonald is pedaling a bike while peddling junk food, that message still does more harm than good.”

NPR Story on School “Scratch Kitchen”
A November 23rd NPR story focused on the efforts of the Abernathy Elementary School in Portland, Oregon, to bring local food and an interest in agriculture into the school children through a school garden and the school lunch program. A recent lesson about carrots included health and nutritional information, and history and geography lesson on the history of the carrot, a carrot harvest in the school garden, and carrot soup made from scratch for lunch in the cafeteria. The Abernathy school chef makes everything from scratch and buys as much as possible locally. For the full story, click here.

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Funding for CISA’s 2006 Farm-to-School program is provided by CISA’s community and farm members and by a grant from the Lawson Valentine Foundation.

Pictures in header are used with permission from The Food Project, CISA's Local Hero Campaign, and parents.