Part II. Section 2. VERMONT FEED - FOOD EDUCATION EVERY DAY

The FEED project began in 1999 when three non-profit educational organizations -- the Northeast Organic Farming Association, of Vermont, Shelburne Farms and Food Works -- began to address what is now being called "America's Quiet Crisis." Its team of nutrition educators, teachers, gardeners, and farmers created a hands-on food, farm, and nutrition initiative called, Food Education Every Day.  

 

. FEED approaches school cafeterias through the Three C's: connecting Curriculum with surrounding Communities and school Cafeterias. The three C's are critical to shifting school food to local, healthy, high-quality meals. 

 

. FEED works closely with the Vermont Department of Education and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture to facilitate discussions about the inclusion of local products in the federal commodities offered to Vermont schools. FEED was instrumental in helping to pass legislation for farm-to-school programs. 

 

. FEED sets up ongoing workshops to work with educators and food-service staff on ways of using Vermont-grown produce and Vermont food products in school lunches, while educating students and their families about nutrition.  The idea is to create connections between food, what's taught in the classroom, and what goes on in the community.

 

. One of the necessary ingredients in the FEED program is the collaboration that takes place between parent volunteers, teachers, cafeteria workers, school nurses, nutritionists, and state health/ agriculture/education officials.  

 

. Grant money pays for training of food service managers to learn about nutrition and how to prepare local foods.  Many cooks are used to opening cans of vegetables or soup when making lunch. It's quite a switch to learn how to use fresh, local tomatoes, garlic, onions, peppers, and basil to make soup.

 

The grants also provide money for school-to-farm visits, books, community presentations and garden supplies, as well as support for programs on local farm life and history, and school gardens.  

Now in its sixth year and tenth school, Vermont FEED is busy working in many rural communities.

 

What Has Been Learned Through FEED - Keys to Success:

 

. Food Service workers and teachers can give students taste tests for different kinds of foods. Students can pass out food samples at snack time or lunch. It works best when students are involved in preparing the food and staffing the tasting table. Students can be the strongest advocates of the program. 

 

. Fresh fruits and vegetables are offered to schools through the USDA Food Commodity system. These foods could also be tested as they appear school lunches.

 

. Schools could mix the more expensive whole foods and fresh foods with commodity foods. For example, a brown rice pilaf with seasonal produce like zucchini and carrots could be combined with commodity rice and raisins.

 

. Schools could purchase produce "seconds," which means produce that has a blemish, from local vegetable farmers at reduced prices. And they could purchase lots of zucchini in season, grate it and freeze it for a winter of muffins and cakes.   

 

. Schools could purchase a regular weekly or monthly share of vegetables from a local CSA (community supported agriculture) farm. Because schools would sign up for that service in advance, the farmer could afford to sell the produce at a lower price in some cases. Also, in some cases, local food co-ops give discounts to schools when food is bought in large quantities.

 

. If local produce is purchased in season, when the prices are more competitive, it would not usually be cost prohibitive. Vermont food distributors have also made a commitment to provide local produce to schools whenever possible.

 

Source: 

Information about FEED and farm-to-school programs came from a comprehensive 35-page booklet entitled Impact Assessment of Vermont Farm2School Program (April 2006) - Prepared for the Vermont FEED Partnership, Richmond, Vermont. The booklet was put together by John Ryan of Developmental Cycles of Amherst, Massachusetts, who used a variety of sources including interviews with state and federal officials overseeing aspects of the school food programs, school food administrators, wholesale food distributors, farmers, and food service managers.

 

Ryan also drew upon information provided by the Vermont Department of Education, the Vermont Department of Children and Families, the 2002 U.S. Census and a review of farm-to-school programs elsewhere in the U.S.  Much of the focus is on Vermont FEED and the impact of efforts to increase the level of Vermont farm involvement in the school food system.  

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Part II. of the report by Ryan focused on the key challenges to increasing Vermont food purchases and local farm-to-school partnerships, including:  the distribution network, food preparation time, equipment and skill training, student preferences, product availability and price comparability.

 

There were a number of farm-to-school recommendations, including:

increasing state commodity efforts to highlight the availability of Vermont apples through DoD program. This would also apply to Vermont-grown carrots, potatoes, winter squash and onions, encouraging Vermont's legislative delegation to lobby for a doubling of Vermont's allocation from the DoD Fresh Program.     

 

FEED has a working relationship with the Vermont Agency of Agriculture in getting fresh local products into the schools through the federal Food Commodity Program. The Vermont Agency of Agriculture calls on FEED to answer questions and FEED works with the agency on systemic school-food issues.

 

All of the FEED partners are part of Ag in the Classroom. AITC doesn't work in school cafeterias or provide services.  It is basically a clearinghouse of information and resources for teachers about agricultural education.  It networks and brings together the various Ag Ed resources and shares them with its members. 

 

Agriculture In The Classroom (AITC) 

AITC is a partnership of many Ag educational organizations including the three FEED partners (NOFA, Food Works and Shelburne Farms), the Vermont Agency of Agriculture and the University of Vermont.

 

* For a compilation of state school food program reports from across the nation, federal policies, other resources, and evaluation tools, check out www.farmtoschool.org. 

 

H456 - The Vermont Farm-to-School Bill

The intent of the act was to provide aid and incentives to local school districts, state agencies, and farmers to:

. serve food to Vermont students and adults that is fresh and as nutritious as possible;

. maximize use of fresh locally grown, produced, and processed foods;

. educate students about healthy eating habits through nutrition education, including hands-on techniques to make connections between farming and the food the students consume;

. increase the size and stability of farmers' direct sales;

. increase school meal preparation by increasing the selection of foods available.

 

Those playing the major roles included Vermont FEED Program, Vermont Department of Education, Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food-Service Personnel, Local School Districts and Vermont Food Venture Center. 

 

In 2006, $240,000 was appropriated, with $125,000 going for mini-grants, such as food-processing equipment like industrial bread mixers and vegetable shredders. In addition to the mini-grants, $25,000 helped train food service staff, teachers and farmers. The workshops were open to anyone who could attend and covered subjects such as how to prepare local food in school kitchens and how to get farmers involved in farm-to-school programs.

 

An assessment of H 456 was completed in January 2006 and presented to the legislature in order to secure more funding in 2007.  At this time. Farm-To-School funding was made permanent with an appropriation of $85,000. The amount will vary each year depending on the availability of state funds.

 

All of the $85,000 in 2007 went for mini-grants. A school or a school district can apply for up to $15,000 in mini-grants. They can also request a lesser amount.  This is a competitive grant process. A school may request more training for their food staff; they may hire someone to develop closer ties with local farmers and how to bring more local food into the schools.

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Vermont FEED (Food Education Every Day), played a pivotal role in  implementing H 456.  FEED consists of three educational groups: the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont, Food Works and Shelburne Farms.  Some schools contracted with Vermont FEED as a fee-for-service provider to train the food workers in how to use local produce, prepare food from scratch, and develop taste tests with students.  The training fee is $250 a day.  This can be prohibitive for some schools even though the rate the schools pay FEED is low as they make up the difference by writing grants.  The long-term goal of FEED is to empower schools to take more control of their food systems.      

 

* Check out the Farm2School initiative publication in Vermont.  You may receive a copy by going on the web at www.VTFEED.org or calling (802)-434-4122.  

Part II. Section 3. OTHER SUCCESSFUL URBAN AND RURAL FARM-TO-SCHOOL MODELS

Two Brattleboro Urban Models: The Healthy Snack Initiative and

Feed Your Head

Instead of eating sugary treats and oily chips during morning snack time, students in the Brattleboro area are making their own snacks using fresh vegetables and fruits, whole grains and dairy products.  As the students chop, mix and cook the snacks, they learn what goes into the foods and how to identity what's healthy.  They also learn good social skills in the process.  

The Healthy Snack Initiative is a collaboration between the Brattleboro Food Co-op and local school administrators and teachers. Before the initiative, a typical snack consisted of two bags of Cheetos and a fruit rollup.  The "sugar rush" that came from these snacks was obvious to Kate Bailey, the educator and outreach coordinator for the Brattleboro Co-op.  In reference to the healthy snacks, Baily says, "The kids learn good manners, such as sharing and getting seconds, and they learn how to work together.  The children enjoy serving each other and being the  `snack helper'- "for the day." 

 

The second model is called "Feed Your Head." It provides free in-class projects in grades K-8 on topics such as: healthy snacks, good carbs/bad carbs, sugar, and local farms and food. The Brattleboro Co-op also provides discounts on fresh produce to schools and to individual classroom teachers who want to provide more healthy snacks and establish a salad bar.

 

Rural Models

In Alburgh, Jennifer Mitchell, the school's kitchen manager set up taste tests as part of FEED. She tried different grains: (brown rice, millet, and barley); fresh vegetables (including green and purple cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower); fresh fruits; various kinds of beans. Based on student responses, she featured some of the foods in school lunches. Ever hear of millet and vegetable salad?

 

In Ferrisburgh, the elementary school developed a closed-loop food system. The cafeteria buys local produce from area farmers, the food scraps are composted, and then the compost is added to the school garden for growing food for the cafeteria.  They grew tomatoes in the school garden, which Kathy Alexander, the food service director, processed and froze to add to pasta sauce.

 

In the small town of Greensboro in the Northeast Kingdom, the Lakeview Union School has a raised-bed school garden and is planning on building a root cellar. Linda Aiken, the school principal, told me that funds for the root cellar will come from Vermont Farm-to-School Program. She said the school needs a place to store root crops and other vegetables. The custodian is a key player. He built grow-lab structures for each one of the classrooms and is now involved with the root-cellar project as are teachers, parents and the food staff. The goal is to build the structure over the summer of 2008.

 

The Westminster Central School has a snack program in two multi-age K-4 classrooms, where children prepare healthy foods, as well as grow some of their own food in a large garden with the help of a neighboring organic vegetable farmer. Teacher Irene Canaris developed the program and has successfully integrated it into the classroom curriculum for the past 15 years. One classroom has a fully equipped kitchen. Many children expanded their diets to include healthy items they would not otherwise have tried. 

Part II. Section 4. VERMONT HUNGER STATISTICS, INFORMATION AND PROGRAMS

2003-2005 US Census - 3-year Average:  

. 15 percent of Vermont children are overweight or obese.  

. About 90 percent of public schools in Vermont offer federal breakfast and lunch programs, but many families don't participate because they don't know they're eligible for the program.   

. In 2006, 29,000 children received free or reduced-cost meals in Vermont schools, according to Robert Dostis of the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger.  When you include their younger siblings, who are not in school, that comes to 42,000 children who are eligible for federally subsidized summer meals. Only about 5,000 of those children have access to a summer program, because few communities offer one or because their parents are unable to get them to the program.    

For more information, contact the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger at dkeeney@vtnohunger.org.  

Most states have similar programs. 

Other Sets of Statistic on Hunger in Vermont, 2005 

. Vermont's food shelf caseload grew by 23 percent between 2003 and 2005.  The caseload averages 10,379 households per month, but the volume exceeds that because 76 percent of the food shelves serve some households more than once a month.

. The average number of prepared meals served monthly by community kitchens grew by 6 percent, largely due to the creation of six new meal sites.

. 54 percent of food shelves that were active in 2003 have larger caseloads today. A 28 percent increase in the number of families with minor children using food shelves contributed to the caseload growth. These families now represent 51 percent of the food shelf caseload.

 

. Over half of the households dependent on food shelves are families with children. An average of 11,437 children are fed from food shelves each month, a 21 percent increase over two years. Different families use the food shelves each month, so the total number of children whose families risk or experience food shortages is probably significantly greater. 

      

. 8,400 households visited Vermont's emergency food shelves each month on average during 2002. One quarter of these people were the elderly. For all populations, this was an increase of 16 percent over 2001.  

. In 1990, Vermont had 70 emergency food shelves. In 2005, that number was 134. In 1990, there were 14 community kitchens. That increased to 31 in 2005.  

. Community Kitchens are serving an average of 22,716 prepared meals a month. 8 percent are going to children, and 23 percent are being served to people over the age of 65.   

Most of the money that goes to the food shelves comes from donated funds from the local community. Thousands of pounds of vegetables and fruits are also donated from local farmers. Other food comes from the supermarkets. Vermonters are providing nearly $8.9 million in food services each year to food shelves and community kitchens. This is based on data from a 2003 survey, which counted only certain food services.  It did not account for federal meal programs or donations from Vermont merchants. 

In addition, the Vermont Foodbank of Barre sends several million pounds of food to local food shelves throughout the state each year. In 2004, the Foodbank sent about 4,250 tons of food to local agencies, an increase of 30 percent over 2003. Food shelves have the wholesale cost for this food.   

Despite the increase, the demand is growing. According to Deborah Flateman, the former Vermont Foodbank director,  "We're seeing more people who are actually working who are in need of assistance." Flateman said an estimated 140,000 people used the charitable food distribution system at some point during the year.  Vermont has a population of around 623,000.   

Source of Stats: 

Report from a 2005 survey of Vermont Food Shelves and Community Kitchens: Vermont Department for Children and Families

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* It is estimated that the cost of obesity is $141 million in health problems a year in Vermont. 

Vermont Food Commodity Program - Vermont's commodity food program is coordinated by the Department for Children and Families in Waterbury, where the federal food commodities are processed and distributed. The central warehouse is located at LuckyDay in Plainfield.  Commercial food distributors pick-up and transport the commodity foods to the schools as well as individuals that provide this service to single and groups of schools, as well as child care centers.  

Another federal commodity program provides fresh produce to the schools through the USDA and the Department of Defense (DoD). Forty-two schools participate. In some states, local produce is used but very little local produce is purchased other than apples now and then in Vermont. The cost of those items is subtracted from the school's total commodity entitlement ? . In the future, it might be more difficult to procure local fresh fruits and vegetables under DoD as there will be just one central federal food coordinator instead of the current system of regional coordinators.  Bureaucracy rolls on.  

In 2001-2002, Vermont spent over $79,000 of their DoD funds for apples, potatoes, peeled baby carrots, oranges, lettuce, and kiwi.  In 2006, that figure was closer to $95,000.  The amount of Vermont products purchased was minuscule.  Schools receive about 10 to 15 percent of their food on average in federal food commodities. Local produce and food products come out of school budgets. 

  

Source: 

Some of the above information came from Vern Grubinger, Overview Of School Food In Vermont, a report for the University of Vermont Extension and the Center for Sustainable Agriculture, September 2004.   

 

* Please note - Food Pantries and Food Kitchens are managed by community members and churches, not by the USDA.  

Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger

www.vtnohunger.org (802) 865-0255  email: vtcech@vthunger.org

The Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger is a non-profit member supported organization working to eliminate hunger in Vermont. Founded on the belief that no child should ever go hungry, VTCECH is committed to protecting children from the risk and experience of hunger. The agency helps communities initiate or expand school breakfast, lunch, and summer meal programs; offers classes to teach low-income parents to plan, shop for, and prep for nutritious meals with a limited budget; trains people who are working on the front lines to feed the hungry. VTCECH'S education and advocacy work addresses hunger on local, state and national levels.  

         

The Campaign has a number of projects that address the hunger issue, including the following: 

. Assisting schools in establishing school breakfast programs 

  650 more students participated in breakfast programs in 2006 in  previous years. 

. Expanding access and participation in the Food Stamp Program - There was a 5 percent increase in the program in 2006. 

. Helping community groups provide nutritious meals to low-income children in the summer when school is not in session. 

  

. Ensuring that infants and young children receive the nutrition they need to grow and develop when they are enrolled in early child care - whether they are in child care centers or home-based child care facilities. 4,500 children participated in the Child Care Food Program.

. Improving food security for parents, young adults and youth by providing classes that teach the skills necessary to make nutritious food choices, as well as providing instruction in meal planning, budgeting, shopping and cooking. This program is called Cooking For Life.  In 2006, there were 58 six-week classes with 633 low-income participants in 42 locations statewide.  

Side Notes: 

Some people play the blame game with poor families rather than helping them make responsible food choices like the Cooking For Life program.