Bringing Local Food to Local Institutions

A Resource Guide for Farm-to-School and Farm-to-Institution Programs

Abstract

The Farm-to-School salad bar at Malcolm X Middle School in Berkeley, CA, proves that the fresh taste of locally-purchased food appeals to kids of all ages.

This publication provides farmers, school administrators, and institutional food-service planners with contact information and descriptions of existing programs that have made these connections between local farmers and local school lunchrooms, college dining halls, or cafeterias in other institutions. To help communities initiate similar programs, this publication includes resource lists of:

• Publications on how to initiate and manage farm-to-school and farm-to-institution programs.

• Sources of funding and technical assistance from government and non-government programs.

• Provisions within the 2002 Farm Bill supporting implementation of farm-to-school and other community food programs.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Benefits and Constraints of Farm-to-School or Institution Programs
• Program Coordination
  • Table 1: Funding and Assistance Programs
• Program Implementation Steps
  • Table 2: 2002 Farm Bill Provisions with Impact on Development of Farm-to-School Programs
• Successful Programs
  • Table 3: United States Department of Agriculture Programs
• Acknowledgements
• References
• Table 4: Farm-to-School and Farm-to-Institution Publications
• Table 5: Local Food Security Publications
• Table 6: Farm-to-School and Farm-to-Institution Programs

Introduction

Small-scale farmers are often unable to sell their produce and processed meats directly to local markets such as grocery stores, schools, hospitals, prisons, and other institutional dining facilities. Food production and processing are very centralized in America, with most of our food grown and distributed by large-scale or corporate farms—some located in other nations.

Consumers overall are disconnected from one of the most important components for their own health and happiness—the food they eat. Rarely do they have contact with or personal knowledge about the farms and farmers who grow their food. As a result, most consumers have very limited control over the quality and safety of their food.

When small-scale farmers are able to sell their products to local stores and institutions, they gain new and reliable markets, consumers gain access to what is often higher-quality, more healthful food, and more food dollars are invested in the local economy.

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Benefits and Constraints of Farm-to-School or Institution Programs

Benefits

As mentioned above, selling to schools, colleges, hospitals, prisons, or other institutions provides smaller-scale farmers with a dependable market.

A good way to get students interested in eating vegetables and fruit is having them grow produce in school gardens.

Potential Constraints

While schools and institutions a generation ago relied heavily on local products for meal planning and preparation, the majority of today's institutions use food obtained through national food distributors. Much of this food is processed and prepared by food service companies, thus eliminating the need for schools and institutions to have cooking staff or kitchen facilities. Simultaneously, the huge growth in the fast foods industry has affected food preferences of both children and adults. As a result, students and other institutional customers often reject, rather than embrace, the introduction of fresh salads, fruit plates, or other dishes prepared from local produce. (1)

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Program Coordination

To be successful, farm-to-school programs must have a good buying, selling, and distribution system. Food service buyers want to make their food purchases using a one-stop shopping approach that allows them to order, receive, and pay for produce in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Farmers want a dependable buyer who pays them a reasonable price, while not requiring them to absorb excess processing or distribution expenses.

Distribution Systems
Kelli Sanger with the Washington State Department of Agriculture Small Farm and Direct Marketing Program summarized distribution approaches that existing farm-to-school and farm-to-institution programs have used successfully (3):

• A farmers' cooperative acts as a distributor and broker. Individual farmers belong to a cooperative that collects their produce, then processes and distributes it to schools and/or institutions.
  Examples: New North Florida Cooperative of Small Farmers and University of Wisconsin campus diner service program

• A non-profit organization acts as distributor and broker. A community-based nonprofit organization serves as a liaison between growers and institutional buyers. The organization receives food orders from institutions and coordinates with the cooperating farmers to fill and deliver the order.
  Example: All-Iowa Meals project with Iowa State University

• A local wholesaler acts as distributor and broker. A local food wholesaler picks up, processes, and delivers produce to schools and/or institutions.
  Example: America Fresh Distribution System

• Farmers' markets serve as the central location where schools pick up farm products. Schools or institutions purchase produce at a local farmers' market. To ensure that institutional buyers get the type and quantity of produce they desire, orders are placed in advance with specific vendors. A coordinator is required to order, pick up, and deliver produce from the market to the schools.
  Example: Santa Monica-Malibu School District and the Occidental College Center for Food and Justice

• State government acts as the distributor of state commodities and produce. The State Department of Agriculture works with the U.S. Department of Defense produce procurement program to identify and contract with farmers. These agencies coordinate the purchase and distribution of produce for the program.
  Example: North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

• Fresh Produce Program: The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) acts as a procurement agency for produce used in school lunch programs. It purchases food from farmers and then serves as vendor to the schools. The DOD does not deliver produce to schools.
  Examples: North Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Washington State are working with the U.S. Department of Defense in coordination with the USDA's Small Farms/School Meals Initiative. California and Illinois also have pilot programs underway.

• Food service companies as intermediaries in farm-to-campus programs. Private food service companies that contract with colleges and universities to procure, process, and deliver food to cafeterias procure some of their meat and produce from local farmers rather than through institutional brokers.
  Examples: Aramark at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania, Burlington Food Services at Middlebury College in Vermont, Bon Appetit at Evergreen State College in Washington.

Farmer Agreements with Schools or Institutions
Farmers who propose to sell food products to schools or institutions need to carefully analyze what they can offer, when they can provide it, and the quantity that they can deliver. If they are approaching a school or institution that has not previously made purchases from farmers, producers also need to conduct some basic market research to determine what products the school wants or needs.

In addition, producers need to convince the institution of the benefits of buying from local farmers. (2) Smaller-scale farmers may need to form cooperative agreements with other farmers in the area or work through existing distribution networks, such as the U.S. Department of Defense procurement agency, to provide schools and institutions with the necessary volume of farm products on a continuing basis. (4) Often, farmers can form initial agreements with schools and institutions by agreeing to provide products that serve a particular niche, such as foods favored by various cultural groups or products that are hard to obtain through the usual institutional food service companies. (4)

Several face-to-face meetings between the farmer and the institutional buyer may be necessary before an agreement can be signed. Institutional buyers will probably need to visit the farm or cooperative site to inspect the fields and washing and cooling facilities. The farmer may encourage a visit from institutional chefs, who generally are trained to appreciate food quality and freshness.

Once the farm-institution link is established, some institutions hold an annual training for their food service staff at a participating farm. During these trainings, staff can see, taste, and prepare the produce freshly harvested from the field. They can also meet participating farmers to learn about growing and harvesting produce and suggest additional varieties for the farmer to grow.

Farmers wanting to establish and maintain marketing agreements with schools or institutions should be particularly sensitive to the need to deliver their products in a timely manner that is consistent with food preparation schedules. Their products also need to be stored in a manner that retains product freshness until the contracted delivery time. Farmers may also need to change their production schedules and the manner in which they process and package their products to meet the needs of the food service provider. (4)

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Program Implementation Steps

Stanford Food Service Director, Nadem Saddiqui, inspects organic strawberries at ALBA, the Agricultural Land Based Training Association.

The initial phase of program implementation is typically time consuming, involves several face-to-face meetings, and may require the purchase of processing, storage, or distribution equipment. This program development step usually requires the work of a program coordinator or facilitator. Examples of initiators of farm-to-school or farm-to-institution agreements include:

• A government organization
  Example: Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) working with the New North Florida Cooperative Program

• An interested college student
  Examples: Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania and the University of Wisconsin

• A faculty member in the School of Hospitality
  Examples: Pennsylvania College of Technology and Cornell University

• A non-profit organization
  Example: Practical Farmers of Iowa selling farm products to Iowa State University and Grinnell College

• An interested food service director
  Examples: High School District 211 in NW Cook County, Illinois, and Williams College in Massachussetts.

Farm-to-institution coordinators educate food service buyers and consumers about the benefits of using locally produced food. They also serve as meeting coordinators and manage the negotiation, inspection, and distribution processes required to develop and maintain farm-to-school or farm-to-institutions contracts. They may also be responsible for seeking outside financial assistance to cover management and equipment costs.

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Every effort should be made to make purchasing local foods easy for institutional staff.

Specific steps used to implement a successful farm-to-school or farm-to-institution program will differ from one situation to the next. The common theme in all these steps is building a trusting relationaship between buyers and sellers, which increases the sustainability of the program. To build this trust, it also helps to start small (i.e., one school or one cafeteria, or even one type of food/produce, such as a salad bar), then build on successes.

Often the first step in developing a farm-to-school or farm-to-institution program involves the formation of a food advisory committee. For a farm-to-school program this committee would probably include farmers, food purchasers for the school, kitchen personnel, school board members, and representatives from any coordinating organization. Based on the experience of existing farm-to-school programs, this committee guides new program development by (2, 4, 6):

• Examining logistical and management concerns such as:

  • type of food consumed by school children

  • cooking and storage facilities available at schools

  • food preparation skills of food service personnel

  • access to processing facilities (and cost)

  • amount of produce that schools can use and when

  • type and amount of produce that farmers can provide and when

  • processes for food quality and food safety oversight

  • selling prices for produce

  • pick-up and distribution systems that are available and their cost

  • billing and payment systems

  • regulations affecting food handling and marketing practices
    

• Addressing issues identified in the feasibility study. In most cases this can involve developing a pick-up, processing, and delivery system, as well as a business office to coordinate orders, billing, and payment. The economic sustainability of the program is important to keep in mind. In their initial years, many of these programs require external funding, but that will last only a short time. Many programs enlist volunteers, drawing on parental or student interest, but unless the volunteers' time is well coordinated, their interest will wane. Program development should include processes to "institutionalize" contractual agreements between farmers and food service operations.

• Identifying or establishing a coordinator position or coordination structure to facilitate communication and business management.

• Identifying and coordinating with available funding or coordination structures such as U.S. Department of Defense procurement programs and local processing and distribution facilities.

• Assisting schools or institutions to identify and obtain federal, state, or local exemptions to standard competitive bidding requirements when purchasing from local or minority-owned businesses.

• Assisting producers to increase the diversity of their products and extend their growing season.

• Ensuring that the program maintains professionalism, accountability, and strict adherence to food safety and quality standards.

• Helping integrate appreciation for food production into the curriculum by developing farm visits or other food-system-related activities for school children.

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Successful Programs

Farmers and food service directors wanting to establish local farm-to-school or farm-to-institution programs can learn from the experience of established programs. Schools and institutions are becoming increasingly receptive to these programs, as are the food services with which they contract. Funding and government support for these programs is also becoming increasingly available. The 2002 Farm Bill provides funds for selected schools in four pilot states (Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, and Ohio) to offer fresh and dried fruits and vegetables to children at no charge. (7) Based on a 1994 agreement between the United States Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Defense, national school lunch programs can use the DOD procurement and distribution system, referred to as DOD Fresh, to obtain fresh fruits and vegetables.

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Institutional markets like this Stanford, CA, salad bar are great for small farmers.

Local and state organizations are also working to change policies to favor procurement of locally produced foods. In New York State, NY Farms! is urging the state legislature to ease the bidding requirements for contracts with school lunch programs to allow school food service directors to use more locally produced foods. The Community Food Security Coalition works with local organizations to develop farm-to-school programs, while the Center for Food and Justice in the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College works to promote policies that make schools healthier places to learn.

The farm-to-school and farm-to-institution programs described in the following resource list cover a broad range of marketing interactions, food products, and types of community involvement. For example:

• Farmers in north Florida formed a cooperative to process and distribute collard greens and other crops to local schools. This cooperative has expanded its operations to work with 15 school districts in three states, while also increasing its product line and packaging capabilities. (8)

• Cafeterias at colleges and universities associated with the University of Wisconsin system purchase up to one-third of their ingredients from local and organic farmers. (10)

• Schools in upstate New York (11), and in Minnesota (12), provide markets for local farmers, while seeking to influence children's food preferences, by involving youth with food in many ways, including growing, harvesting, preparing, taste-testing, learning about it, and touring farms and farmers' markets.

• High schools in Pennsylvania have established School Market Programs where, by creating and operating farmers' markets, students learn about nutrition, food marketing, and the role of food in their community. (13)

• Professors and students at the University of Northern Iowa helped establish marketing links between local farmers and a county hospital. The hospital now buys almost 25% of its food locally. (14)

These programs also demonstrate how farm-to-school or farm-to-college programs can help promote more sustainable lifestyles on campuses, in schools, and within the community. For example:

• Bates College, Bowdoin College, Bastyr University, Middlebury College, Slippery Rock University, and Tufts University all have composting programs in conjunction with their farm-to-college programs.

• Some schools' food services have adopted "green" mission statements to guide all their activities, not just food purchases. For example, Northland College is adopting more sustainable practices in its dining services, including switching to more environmentally safe cleaning supplies, installing and using energy and water-saving devices, increasing recycling and reuse efforts, and working with renewable energy sources.

• The Oberlin College Food Service purchases foods from local producers who support the rights of farm workers.

Fresh fruits and vegetables at Malcolm X Middle School in Berkeley, CA, leave patrons smiling.

People interested in establishing farm-to-school or farm-to-institution marketing arrangements can also share their experiences at several regional and national conferences.

In 2002, the Community Food Security Coalition sponsored the first national conference on Farm to Cafeteria: Healthy Farms, Healthy Students. The enthusiastic response to this conference no doubt ensures that other conferences and workshops will focus on this subject in the future.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their thanks to NCAT Technical Specialists Nancy Matheson and Julia Sampson for their insightful review of this document. Marion Kalb, the Farm to School Coordinator for the Community Food Security Coalition, provided invaluable assistance through her review of and many additions to the programs list.

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References

1. Stern, Robert. 2002. Community Food Security Coalition listserve. November 1.

2. Gregoire, Mary, Catherine A. Strohbehn, and Jim Huss. 2000. Local Food Connections from Farms to Schools. Iowa State University. University Extension, Ames, IA. 4 p.

3. Sanger, Kelli. 2001. Creative ways to sell and distribute locally produced foods to school and university cafeterias: Examples of selling and distributing food from across the nation. Washington State Department of Agriculture, Olympia, WA. 19 p.

4. Tropp, Debra, and Surajudeen Olowolayemo. 2000. How Local Farmers and School Food Service Buyers are Building Alliances. USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, Washington, D.C. 30 p. www.ams.usda.gov/tmd/mta/FarmToSchoolMarketing.pdf (PDF / 1686 K)

5. Visher, David. 1996. Selling Directly to Local Schools. Small Farms Center, University of California, Davis, CA. 2 p. www.sfc.ucdavis.edu/pubs/SFNews/archive/96032.htm

6. Valen, Gary. 2001. Local Food Project. A How-to Manual. Humane Society of the United States, Washington, D.C. 41 p.

7. USDA to Select Schools for Fruit and Vegetable Pilot. American School Food Service Association. asfsa.org Web page.

8. Holmes, Glyen, Vonda Richardson, and Dan Schofer. 2002. Taking it to the next level: Success of small Floida vegetable co-op leads to a network of similar cooperatives. Rural Cooperatives. September/October. p. 18-23, 37. www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/pub/sep02/sep02.pdf (PDF / 2.4 M)

9. Mascarenhas, Michelle, and Robert Gottlieb. 2000. The Farmers' Market Salad Bar: Assessing the First Three Years of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Program. Community Food Security Coalition, Los Angeles, CA. 24 p.

10. The College Food Project. Institutional Food Purchasing. Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems. University of Wisconsin. Web page. www.cias.wisc.edu/collegefood.php

11. Neff, Glenda. 2002. Community Food Security Coalition list serve. November 1.

12. Koester, Ulrich. 1999. Giving Children a Role in Sustainable Agriculture. Midwest Food Connection, Minneapolis, MN. 28 p.

13. The Food Trust. Building Strong Communities Through Healthy Foods. Web page. www.thefoodtrust.org/php/programs/index.php

14. Strohbehn, Catherine A., and Mary Gregoire. 2002. Local Food Connections: Food Service Considerations. Iowa State University. University Extension. Ames, IA. 4 p. www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM1853C.pdf (PDF / 116 K)

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Bringing Local Food to Local Institutions
Barbara C. Bellows, Rex Dufour, and Janet Bachmann
NCAT Agriculture Specialists
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