Farm to school: It's in the bill

  

                                        Image courtesy of www.seedstock.com

Have you ever heard of the Farm to School Act of 2015? The Healthy, Hungry-Free Kids Act of 2010? How about the Farm Bill? All of these legislative acts were new news to me. And maybe they are to you as well, but if you have school age children, the first two acts may be affecting your family. And you may not have known it, but the Farm Bill affects all of us here in the United States. 

So what is the Farm to School Act? Well, it began as part of the Healthy, Hungry Kids Act of 2010 which is actually a large chunk of funding that comes from the Farm Bill. The Farm to School Act is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a government program that assists schools with not only bringing local foods into their meal programs, but also fosters nutrition education. The purpose of the Farm to School Act is to “[build] on the positive momentum of farm fresh food in school meals, school gardens and farm to school education across the curriculum, such as cooking classes, taste tests, hands-on science classes and farm field trips" (Sustainable Agriculture).  It has been so successful that the aim for the 2015 act is to expand its reach.

When the initial Farm to School initiative was passed in 2010 there was five times more interest than there was funding. The 2015 bill seeks for three times the additional funding in order to support more local farmers and schools. Many of the farmers this program assists are either new or struggling farmers. So not only does the act help improve the lives of the rising generation, but also assists the local economy of farmers. 

                                                 Image courtesy of USDA

You may be wondering how many US children this act affects? Well, the numbers are quite daunting actually. During the 2012-13 school year there were 30.7 million kids that ate meals on a regular basis provided by their school. Twenty-one and a half million of these students either got their meals free or at a reduced rate (FRAC). That means that the most nutritious and maybe the only meal those 21.5 million kids are getting is coming from the government. It’s not just important to be getting these kids healthy meals, but it is essential to their future well-being. 

I knew that our schools were providing meals for low-income students and I also knew that there have been vast changes in the nutritional value of these meals, however, I had no idea that there had, and continue to be efforts made to connect local farmers to local schools. I applaud this effort and hope it continues to be successful in improving our kids nutrition as well as sustaining our local farming communities. 

  "RELEASE: FARM TO SCHOOL ACT OF 2015, CONNECTING STUDENTS TO LOCAL FOOD AND FARMS, INTRODUCED IN CONGRESS." Sustainable Agriculture. National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, 25 Feb. 2015. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.

  "National School Lunch Program." FRAC. Food Research and Action Center, 2015. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.