San Joaquin Valley Report
As an introduction to the Farm-to-School program in Merced County, CAFF served up a farmers' market salad bar for approximately 1,200 people at Bellevue School at the end of September. The salad bar was part of a free meal served to families at the school, which CAFF is targeting for its Farm-to-School project. In this very low-income area, 97 percent of the student population qualify for government subsidized, free and reduced-price meals."This is a population of students that would be really benefit from having fresh, nutritious produce in their school meals," said Gwen Huff, San Joaquin Valley Coordinator for CAFF.
"We saw this as a tremendous opportunity to publicize the Farm-to-School effort," she said. "The dinner has been done for several years, but this is the first time CAFF was involved and the first time a high quality salad was served. It reflects the objectives of Farm-to-School because all the produce was locally grown and freshly prepared. We also had a display featuring the farmers who grew the food."
Although local, fresh produce has not yet made it into the Bellevue school lunch program, the kickoff salad bar generated tremendous interest and enthusiasm with school board members and school district officials.
CAFF is currently bringing together all the necessary and interested parties to make the Farm-to-School connection a reality at Bellevue. This would include the school food service director, local farmers, food service workers and others.
As CAFF and Bellevue build their Farm-to-School project, the school will focus on inclusion of local and fresh produce into school meals, an after school garden club, cooking and nutrition classes, and field trips to local farms.
If you would like more information on the Farm-to-School project in Merced County, contact Gwen Huff at (559) 268-2696.
