Ventura Salad Bar Project Succeeding With Schools And With Local Farmers

By Jim Churchill, CAFF's South Coast Regional Coordinator

Long-time readers of this publication know that CAFF has been involved with Ventura Unified School District for going on three years in a project to introduce fresh locally grown produce into the school lunch program. The produce is served at what we call the Farm-to-School Salad Bar, which is in turn part of a larger program called the Healthy Schools Project. The Healthy Schools Project folds the salad bar into a program with in-class demonstrations of fresh fruits and vegetables, nutrition curriculum, school gardens (which also have curriculum ties), farmer visits to the classroom, and farm tours.

The program is still small, but it is growing. After a part of one school year and most of a second school year working with just one school, Juanamaria Elementary, we expanded to two additional schools, E.P. Foster and Montalvo. In the fall of this, our third school year, we added Mound School and are about to add Loma Vista. With Tobacco Settlement funds granted the district by the County Health Department, we hired Marilyn Godfrey as Healthy Schools Project Coordinator to coordinate the in-class and garden activities; and Tammy Nelson as salad bar coordinator to work on menu planning and staff development.

Salad Bar lunches are now being served as the school lunch on Tuesdays, rather than as an alternative to the standard lunch. Theme bar lunches, which are essentially the salad bar with a special item such as a baked potato or pasta, are served on Thursdays. Locally sourced produce served this year at the salad bar has included carrots, cherry tomatoes, oranges, apples, peaches, lemons, limes and cantaloupe. We’re anticipating the arrival of fuyu persimmons, kiwis, and of course tangerines.

As a result, farmer income has increased from about $200 a month for most of last year to about $1200 a month. From the local market building perspective, this still isn’t going to make any farmer rich, but bear in mind that so far we’re only working with five schools in one district for two days a week. I maintain that the potential for significant market development is present in this program.

At the same time, preliminary work by Tammy Nelson indicates that the food cost (not including prep time) for the salad bar meal is about 60¢ less than the food cost for the comparable regular school lunch. And that’s paying prices set by the growers.

My job for the coming year is to develop an availability list of produce and producers by season, and to work on distribution. I wel-come hearing from any grower who would like to participate in selling to the district.

For more information, contact Jim Churchill at 805/646-4212 or jrchurchill@earthlink.net.