April 2, 2004

Although the lack of healthy food served in schools today is as bad as a 100-year drought, there's a low thunder gathering in the distance, the welcome sound of the farm-to-school movement.  That's the initiative that introduces fresh, wholesome produce to school lunch programs.

By combining good eating with nutrition classes, farm visits and school gardens, farm-to-school programs are bucking trends like childhood obesity and the fast-food chain takeover of school cafeterias.  By hooking up with regional growers to buy local, they're also taking on the nation's farm crisis.

On the one hand, the farm-to-school agenda seems like a no-brainer; on the other, the forces it's up against appear insurmountable.  Madison's farm-to-school program, though, is proving that progress is being made.  Wisconsin Homegrown Lunch, started in 2001, is a joint effort of the UW's Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems and the REAP Food Group.  (Note: This writer serves on REAP's board of directors.)  It hit the ground running in 2002 in 20 elementary schools, with classroom presentations that had kids tasting heirloom tomatoes and learning about local agriculture from "farmer-educators."  These activities became part of the regular curriculum at three pilot elementary school--Lincoln, Shorewood, and Chavez.  In 2003 the project began working with the district's food service operation to purchase local and organic products.

More recently, Wisconsin Homegrown Lunch has added extracurricular meals that educate families about local, seasonal foods.  The menus at three harvest dinners held this winter featured fun foods like veggie noodle salad, sun-colored squash soup, and parsnip--carrot cake.  At the same meals, organizers announced more project expansion, including an outdoor classroom at Chavez and the Market Basket Program, a low-cost weekly deliver of farm products, hosted by Lincoln School.

One of the most encouraging things so  far, says Wisconsin Homegrown Lunch Coordinator, Sara Tedeschi, is "the incredible collaboration among local groups."  Volunteers from MATC's culinary arts department, the Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition, parents, and teachers are just some who have pitched in.  Tedeschi says she often gets calls from parents, principals and food service directors who want to start their own programs.  "There's definitely an interest bubbling up in Wisconsin."  The state's "Buy Local" campaign has even lent assistance in the form of Alice in Dairyland, who was the guest speaker at Shorewood's harvest meal.

Support is surging elsewhere, too.  Marion Kalb, director of the National Farm to School Program (a project of the nonprofit organization Community Food Security Coalition), says there are more than 400 programs operating nationwide.  "I would very conservatively expect another 200 in the next three years," she adds.  Child nutrition legislation is making its way through Congress and farm-to-school programs are getting attention in the mainstream press.  The New Your Times Magazine, for instance published a piece in March about Alice Waters' Edible Schoolyard program in Berkeley ("Food Fighter," by Peggy Orenstein.)

Perhaps the best sign of farm-to-school success, however, comes from kids themselves.  Says Doug Wubbin, a local grower who is Lincoln's farmer-educator:  "People think kids won't eat vegetables, but (in the classroom) I can see them just chomping down on those golden beets and daikon radishes.  They love it."