What is Farm to School?

• Farm to School is a national program funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) designed to increase the amount and variety of fresh, local foods served to students in school cafeterias and educate children, families, and the community about agriculture, nutrition, and growing, preparing, and preserving local produce.

Why have a Farm to School program at LCSD?

• It increases student access to, and consumption of, local, fresh, healthy foods
• It supports our local agricultural community (did you know that Niagara County is one of the top 100 counties in the country for agriculture?!)
• It focuses on nutrition education for children and families
• It educates families and community members on growing, preparing, and preserving local foods
• It is environmentally friendly since local sourcing reduces our carbon footprint

What type of activities can I expect from Farm to School?

• Harvest of the Month - each month the Food Service Department, directed by Tom Heagerty (who is dedicated to making F2S happen) will prepare a new recipe (or recipes) featuring that month's featured local food(s) to be served during lunch
• New York Thursdays - at least 4 times this year you can expect to see a complete meal option made entirely from New York State produced foods, New York State tacos anyone?
• Taste Test Tuesdays - students will get the opportunity to try a new menu item made from local foods, and vote on whether to add it to the lunch menu.
• Kid's Cook Kits - this is a twist on the already successful Kids Cook Monday events we have held at Anna Merritt and Roy B. Kelley in the past. We will be expanding to include all four elementary schools and Emmet Belknap this year thanks to Farm to School. Initially. we were really worried about how to continue this family event due to the coronavirus, but our awesome F2S Coordinator from Cornell Cooperative Extension, Mollie McDonough, had a plan! We are currently working on providing this event through a take home boxed meal kit including all ingredients, a recipe card, and a link to a video where you can watch Mollie teach you how to prepare it from home...genius!

Also, Chef's Challenge events, virtual and in-person agricultural field trips, Tower Gardens for each school (grow a salad in the classroom!), Agriculture in the Classroom, and so much more! We are even looking into the feasibility of having school gardens. Grassroots Gardens of Western New York has already been out to our schools to conduct site visits and do soil sampling.