Georgia Organics Hosts First DeKalb County "Farm to School" Meeting

Georgia Organics hosted the first DeKalb Farm to School information and input meeting Wednesday night. It was well-attended, and among those in the audience were parents from various local schools, teachers, members of the DeKalb County nutrition staff, the county Health Department, a representative from the Lieutenant Governor's office, Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Gary Black, farmers, CDC representatives, and representatives from 4H and FFA (Future Farmers of America).  Farm Burger, a Decatur restaurant focusing on local, seasonal foods, provided snacks during the meeting.

The meeting was held at  and the stated objective was "to explore opportunities and challenges for a DeKalb County School System Farm to School program and to begin to create a unified, comprehensive vision for growing the movement."

Erin Croom from Georgia Organics led the meeting.  The goal, she said, was answering "'What is Farm to School?' and figuring out what might work for DeKalb County."

Gary Black, Georgia's Commissioner of Agriculture, spoke first.  He is a big believer in Farm to School (he wore his "black-eyed pea" tie to the meeting), because it has a positive impact on schools.  He said he would like to see farms "partner with schools to improve nutrition."  In addition, he "would love to be able to launch a 'Feed My School for a Week' initiative," answering the question "What does it take?  How many students, meals, tater tots is that?"  Commissioner Black went on to joke that, "We don't grow tater tots in Georgia, but potato farmers are lobbying hard for that to be a vegetable."

In addition, Commissioner Black mentioned that he would love to find a date in the future when Georgia could try to find a way to feed students for a week from their own districts or counties.  He stated that while there would be a lot of red tape to get through in order to do this, that it would be an "opportunity to teach way more than nutrition to students.  It could teach hard core science ... respect for life ... discipline," he said.

Mr. Black closed his portion of the program by saying that he was willing to help out with working through the red tape, and the he'd be working on getting local food producers regulated so they can provide food for schools.  Currently all food served in DeKalb County School cafeterias comes directly from either the USDA or Sysco.

Erin Croom spoke next, explaining more about the Farm to School program.  Georgia Organics started its program 4 yars ago, and they are working on fostering relationships with the Departments of Agriculture and Education.  The objectives of the Farm to School program are:

- Serving healthy meals in school cafeterias

- Improving student nutrition

- Providing health and nutrition education opportunities that will last a lifetime

- Supporting local small farmers

"Georgia is #6 in vegetable production in the country, but we're #2 in obesity.  Where is all the produce going?" Ms. Croom asked.  There's a "huge opportunity here economically and a huge opportunity nutritionally," she said.

Across the country, schools are beginning to bring fresh, local produce into cafeterias, and they're seeing cafeteria sales go up.  Some examples of places that have started these programs are California, Vermont, Baltimore City Schools, North Florida, North Carolina, and New Orleans.  Locally, the City Schools of Decatur, Atlanta Public Schools, Cobb, and Gwinnett Counties have all begun programs.  All of these have incorporated at least one local produce product per month, coordinating through the local distributors (asking, for example, "if you're bringing us broccoli, can it be fresh Georgia grown broccoli?").  They then market it heavily.  Programs have been successful, with many expanding to three times a month or even once a week.

Because there is so much regulation and legislation involved in the school lunch program, it's not as easy as convincing your principal and school nutrition staffs to buy locally, serve fresh ingredients, etc.  Much work will still need to be done before DeKalb's Farm to School project can become that reality.  But, there are some things that can be done right now.

Fernbank Elementary has begun the intitiative.  Involved parents have worked and aquired grants and funding for an elaborate school garden which the students actively participate in, and it's not just the science classes that are involved.  All of the plants, for example, are labeled in both English and Spanish, courtesy of the Spanish classes.  Just before Thanksgiving, several types of greens and radishes were harvested from the garden, and Fernbank's 700 students were able to taste the fruits (or vegetables) of their labor during their Health & PE classes. 

Another program this school has started is the "vegetable of the month program."  Working with the cafeteria staff, the parents involved look over the lunch room menus for the month and find a vegetable that will be served a few times, and they market it heavily.  A large bulletin board is posted on the hall leading to the cafeteria with a photo of the principal giving two thumbs up.  This month's headline said "Mr. Marshall says 'I love broccoli.'"  A day is designated to be broccoli day (or apple day, or lettuce day, depending on the month), and students are encouraged to choose that vegetable when buying lunch, or to bring some from home if they bring a packed lunch.  Students who participate in the tasting are rewarded with a hand stamp.

Representative Stephanie Benfield (House District 85) says this is a "bipartisan issue, cutting across all political affiliations."  She said that the Farm to School initiative "has a lot of support in the Georgia legislature." 

Representative Benfield spoke of House Bill 367, which advocates for state agencies and institutions (including schools) to purchase Georgia-grown food, to provide for the operation of school gardens and farms, to provide for a farm to school program to provide both educational opportunities as well as, when appropriate, to offer food to students through the meal and snack programs.  The bill did not pass into law, but she believes it's because "the legislature wants to work more with the Commissioner of Agriculture, the Governor's office, etc., first."  She indicated that the failure of the bill did not indicate a failure of the idea.

Brian Knight, representing Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle, spoke briefly in support of Farm to School and supporting the local economy.

The meeting wrapped up with participants breaking into small groups to discuss the benefits, opportunities, and challenges of a DeKalb County Farm to School program.  Afterwards, those in attendance were invited to visit Fernbank's school garden and ask questions.

The overall theme of the evening seemed to be that while there are definitely many obstacles to overcome and much work to be done, small steps can be taken now that have the potential to make a big impact.