Farm to School Workshop for Growers

The Farm to School movement is not only gaining popularity in Michigan, programs are cropping up all over the country. It provides an excellent opportunity for farmers to diversify their business and a way for school food service directors to connect with area farms. School lunches have become a lot more promising with the Farm to School movement, much better than the cheese pizza and tater tot lunches we had when I was in school. With a Farm to School program in place, students have access to healthy fresh foods like kale chips, broccoli raisin salad and pumpkin nut bread.

On January 22 I had the pleasure of attending the highly informative Workshop for Growers: How to Sell Produce Direct to Schools, sponsored by the Food System Economic Partnership. FSEP works collaboratively to bring together school officials, food service directors, contracted food service providers, parents, distributors, processors, and producers to establish creative mutually beneficial relationships that result in locally produced and processed food being consumed by students in our schools.

Hosted by Michaelle Rehmann, FSEP’s Farm to School Program Director, and Colleen Matts, the Farm to School Outreach Specialist with the C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems at Michigan State University, the workshop was held in Detroit Michigan and drew 37 attendees; half of them local growers. Michaelle and Colleen have a pleasant, interactive presentation style and there was ample time for questions and comments from the participants. Informative guest speakers included Jeanne Hausler, Agricultural Tourism & Outreach Manager, Michigan Department of Agriculture and Colleen Bess, Michigan Department of Agriculture.

Topics included:
School Lunch Funding and How it Affects Produce Purchasing
The Advantage of Local Produce
How to Add Value to Your Produce
Food Safety and the Role it plays in School Lunch
Marketing Your Farm to the School

If you live in the Southeast Michigan area, the workshop is being offered again on Tuesday, February 24 from 1:00 to 4:00 pm at the Monroe County MSU Extension office at 963 S. Raisinville Road, Monroe, MI. If you are interested in learning how sell produce to the schools in your community, I highly recommend you attend the workshop. The workshop is free but space is limited, so RSVP by Friday, February 20th. Please contact Michaelle Rehmann at (734) 222.3817 or by e-mail at:

rehmannm@ewashtenaw.org.

If you live in another area or cannot attend the workshop, you are in luck! The presentation, workshop materials and Farm to School toolkit are available for download on the FSEP website:

Presentation:
http://fsepmichigan.org/programs_projects/schools/Grower_Workshop_Presentation
Workshop Materials:
http://fsepmichigan.org/programs_projects/schools/Grower_Workshop_Materials
Tool Kit:
http://fsepmichigan.org/programs_projects/schools/Tool%20Kit