Farm-to-School Possibilities, Practicalities, and Policy

1. Farm-to-SchoolPossibilities, Practicalities, and Policy Jennifer Wilkins Division of Nutritional Sciences Cornell University SARE’s 20th Anniversary New American Farm Conference Advancing the Frontier of Sustainable Agriculture March 25-27, 2008 | Kansas City, MO

2. Presentation Overview • What is Farm to Cafeteria? • Who Benefits? • Why and Why now? • Challenges • Policy Opportunities

3. What is Farm to School? • “the ability to connect schools with local and regional farmers to benefit both..” • A portion of the food served in school meals is purchased directly from local farmers • Schools become a new market • New relationships between food service, farmers, distributors, processors • Integration between food service, classroom education, school gardens, student farms Vallianatos, Gottlieb, and Haase. 2004.

4. What is Farm to School? • Immediate focus: Health, Nutrition, and Diet • Importance of FTS extends to a wide range of other issues: • Farm Viability - small, mid-size family farms • Farmland preservation • Urban sprawl • A Food Systems Approach counter to • “Food from anywhere any time” • Highly processed • Concentration, Consolidation, Specialization

5. Farm to School: Goal • Increase amount of food schools procure from local, regional farms • Can take a variety of forms: • Salad bars • Seasonal variety • Value-added • Fruits and vegetable snacks • Can involve: classroom education, school gardens, farm field trips, farmer visits

6. Who Benefits? • Farmers • Increased sales to nearby schools • New markets • Students and Staff • Access to fresh local fruits & vegetables • Schools: Healthier environment • Improve diets, Lower chronic disease risk • Improved academic performance • Communities: Economically, socially, culturally

7. Why Farm to Cafeteria? Why Now?

8. Child Health Crisis “As we look to the future and where childhood obesity will be in 20 years…it is every bit as threatening to us as the terrorist threat we face today. It is the threat from within.” US Surgeon General Richard Carmona TIME/ABC Obesity Summit June 2004

9. Childhood Obesity • Prevalence of overweight • children aged 2–5 increased from 5.0% to 13.9% • children aged 6 to 11 more than doubled: 7% in 1980 to 19% in 2004 • adolescents aged 12 to 19 more than tripled: 5% to >17% • Overweight youth are more likely to become overweight or obese adults • at greater risk for adult health problems National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (CDC) Healthy Youth Health Topics: Childhood Overweight. http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/overweight/index.htm

10. Obesity Among U.S. Adults 1990 1998 2006 Obesity: BMI 30, or about 30 lbs. overweight for 5’4” person No Data <10% 10%–14% 15%–19% 20%–24% 25%–29% ≥30% DHHS Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. U.S. Obesity Trends 1985–2006http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/trend/maps/

12. Hefty National Price Tag • Health care expenditures related to obesity: $98 billion to $117 billion annually • Taxpayers paying an increasingly large share through Medicare and Medicaid • Prediction: children of this generation may be the first to be less healthy and have a shorter life span than their parents Institute of Medicine Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance Sept. 2004.

13. U.S. Diet: Room for Improvement • < 25% of US adults consume 5+ servings of fruits and vegetables per day1 • Only 2% of children eat a healthy diet2 • < 15% of elementary school-age children eat five+ servings of fruits and vegetables a day3 • 3 out of 4 high school students do not eat 5+ servings of fruits and vegetables3 • Diet factor in leading causes of death4 1 Cserdula et al. AJPH, June 2004, 94(6): 10141018, 2 Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. Children’s Diets in the Mid-1990s. 2001.NCHS/USDHHS. 4Grunbaum, et al. 2002. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance – U.S., 2001 4CDC/USDHHS Profiling Leading Causes of Death in the U.S. Chronic Diseases. Nov 30, 2005.

14. High Intake of high-calorie,low-nutrient Foods • HANES1: • Soft Drinks: #1 energy contributor (7.1%) • Top 10 Foods: Soft drinks, cakes, hamburgers, pizza, etc. (32.4%) • Soda intake: 576 12-oz servings (53 gallons) per year 2 1Block, G. J Food Comp Analysis. 2004 2 Center for Science in the Public Interest. 2005. Liquid Candy.

15. Healthy Foods Cost More Graph source: Food without Thought: How U.S. Farm Policy Contributes to Obesity IATP, 2006

16. Junk Food: A Real Deal • Calorie-dense foods – composed of refined grains, added sugars, or fats – • “represented some of the lowest-cost options and provided dietary energy at minimal cost.” • “Poverty and food insecurity are associated with lower food expenditures, low fruit and vegetable consumption, and [otherwise] lower-quality diets.” Drewnowski, A. and Specter, SE. AJCN, 79(1):6-16. 2004.

17. Why Farm to School? • Focus on fruits, vegetables, whole foods and ingredients • FTS projects see: • Decrease in Vending sales of calorie dense low-nutrient options • School gardens offer physical activity • Greater acceptance of wide variety of fruits and vegetables • Establish healthful eating habits

18. Role of Schools in Child Health • Schools have significant influencing power • Lifelong habits and preferences • Feeding programs in place • Link to parents and community • Increasing evidence that both nutrition and activity linked to achievement • Children consume a wider variety of foods through school mealsa aWolfe. Child Nutritional Health and the Elementary School Environment

19. Viability of Family Farms • 1.2 million acres of farmland are lost every year ~2 acres a minute • Farmers > 65 outnumber those < 35 >2:1 • Number of farmers making a reasonable living and stay on farm declining • Farm prices chronically low – market controlled by agribusinesses and retail food industry • Farmer’s share of food dollar: • >30% (1980) to 19% (2002)

20. What if we followed the Dietary Guidelines? Source: USDA, Economic Research Service. 2This is the total acreage adjustment needed to meet both the whole-grain and the total-grain recommendations. 3Not applicable—dairy is not measured in terms of crop acreage. 4This analysis did not cover meat, added fats and oils, and caloric sweeteners.

21. Schools: Potentially Huge Market for Farmers • 25.4 Million school lunches/day • Public School Districts: 14,559 (94,112 K-12 public schools) • All K-12 schools: 133,362 (includes charter, catholic, private) • Elementary: 95,201 • Secondary: 38,161 • Total K-12 enrollment: 51,610,806 • Elementary: 36,168,631 • Secondary: 13,989,239 • Combined: 1,452,937

22. National School Lunch Program Reimbursement (Federal reimbursement for snacks: free .60, reduced .30, paid .05. Note: programs operating in areas where at least 50% of kids are eligible for F or RP meals, can serve all snacks free and be reimbursed.)

23. Value of Federal Reimbursements - NY • Schools Participating in National Breakfast Program: 5,160 • Value: $110,937,922 • Schools Participating in National Lunch Program: 5,966 • Value: $456,243,991 • Nationally: Billions $$$

24. Peak Oil • The point at which we have extracted half of all oil that has ever existed in the world • the half that was: • the easiest to get • the most economically obtained • highest quality • cheapest to refine Kunstler, The Long Emergency, 2005

25. Peak Oil and Food “The crisis in agriculture will be one of the defining conditions…. We will simply have to grow more of our food locally. The crisis will present itself when industrial farming , dependent on massive oil and gas ‘inputs’ at gigantic scales of operation, can no longer be carried on economically.” Kunstler, The Long Emergency, 2005

26. Food Miles Distance food travels from where it is grown or raised to where it is ultimately purchased by the consumer or end-user. Global Market ~1500 miles Local Market ~50 miles R. Pirog, A. Benjamin, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Ames, IA, 2003.

27. Food Miles Local Global Apple 61 miles 1726 miles Spinach 36 miles 1800 miles

28. Challenges • Dependence on Commodities • Competitive Foods • Vending sales • Cut costs: labor • Off-site Management

29. School Food Service Realities • Food service is financially independent • General fund cannot be used for school meals program • The higher the rate of free and reduced lunches the greater the budget • From 10% - 20% of food costs may be subsidized by use of Commodity Foods

30. Dollars and Cents:What does Lunch Money pay for? • Full-price lunch: $1.75 Elementary, $1.90 High School ($2.15 with reimbursements) • Free lunch: School receives $2.55 (Fed & State) • Half goes to labor and benefits • 60¢ goes to the “center of the plate” (protein) • 20¢ for milk • Leaves ~ 50¢ for bread, fruit, and vegetable • But also need: 5¢ left for repairs, cleaning supplies, utensils, trays, straws, etc.

31. More Challenges • Harvest calendar vs. school year • Packing, grading, handling, and processing requirements • Payment usually 30 - 90 days after delivery • Deliveries can be frequent, consistency expected • Distribution • Potentially very large sales volume • Low Profit Margins

32. Policy: School Level Strategies • Menus and Recipes • Power and control is at the food service level • Food Skills • Increase standard for training and education • Wellness Policies • Include local food language • Infrastructure • Kitchen facilities, equipment, cafeteria environment, space for gardens • Procurement and Distribution • Specifications - local, regionally sourced, production method, seasonal products

33. State & Federal Level Policy • State policies • Farm to School support • Increase State reimbursement rates • School infrastructure - kitchen facilities • National • Nutrition standards • Production standards for food served in schools • Federal Reimbursement • Expand fruit and vegetable snack program • Restrictions on geographic preference

34. Example: New York Farm to School Law 2002 • “To facilitate and promote the purchase of NYS farm products by schools, universities and other educational institutions.” • Ag and Markets and Education departments should work with each other • Sharing information– products, volume, packaging, prices, seasonality, recipes, menus • Coordination, Cooperation & Communication • Formalized Harvest for New York Kids Week

35. Example: 2004 Law Allowing Direct Purchases • General Municipal Law: Permitting Direct Purchases by Schools of Local Farm Products Without Competitive Bids (2004) • Amendment of existing law • Little known, confusing, cumbersome process • Response to: school districts, farm groups, academia and food businesses • Goal: make it easier for schools and farmers to do business

36. But… All amendments come under question because of uncertainty over Farm Bill language and USDA regulations which prohibit stating geographic preference. The farm to school program across the U.S. could benefit from a change in the federal language.

37. Procurement Strategies • Can’t specify on geography • Can specify on: • Quality • Freshness - time from harvest to school delivery • Variety • Through specifications, may increase use of NY grown foods: “Empire” apples.

38. The “5 cent” bill • Title: An Act to amend the education law, in relation to establishing the fresh fruit and vegetable program • Promote increased consumption of fresh fruits and vegetable • Maximize procurement of NYS grown product • Mechanism: an addition 5 cents per meal served for the purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables.

39. “The 5 cent Bill” • The department shall establish a fresh fruit and vegetable program providing payments for the purchase of fresh or minimally processed fruits and vegetables. • Such fruits and vegetables, to the maximum extent practicable and in accordance with federal and state statutes and rules and regulations, shall be grown and produced in New York state.

40. “The 5 cent Bill” • “The program would promote increased consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables by students and maximize the procurement of New York State grown produce. These offerings are particularly important to children's health given the alarming rate of childhood obesity in our society. The program would promote healthy food choices.”

41. Related Policy Approaches • Land trust purchases • Habitat protection • Subsidy reform • Urban Growth boundaries • Purchase/Transfer Development Rights • Property Tax relief • Compensation to Farmers • Agriculture Districts • Incentivizing Food Assistance Benefits

42. Importance of School Food “…the school meal is at the forefront of the debate about the health of our young people … a prism through which we can examine some of the larger questions that face us today.” ~ Kevin Morgan, Cardiff University, Wales

43. Thank You.