This year, sweet potatoes grown on a farm in southeast Georgia made their way to public school cafeterias in metro Atlanta and elsewhere.
Likewise, row crops such as strawberries, bell peppers, apples — even broccoli and zucchini — will be, or have been, served to students of several Georgia school districts. The lunch entrees are all part of farm-to-school programs, efforts to provide local, healthy produce to combat an increasingly obese sector of the community.
This month, the Gwinnett County school district’s 2-year-old farm-to-school initiative received a “USDA Best Practices Award,” given by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Georgia Department of Education. Gwinnett students have been served watermelon, bell peppers, apples and broccoli so far this school term. Yes, broccoli. Some dishes: broccoli rice and cheese casserole, broccoli and chicken teriyaki rice bowl, and honey-glazed broccoli.
Nationally, the farm-to-school initiative started more than a decade ago, but the movement is slowly gaining traction in Georgia, where agriculture is a $65 billion industry. At least nine public school systems have some type of farm-to-school program, be it the community gardens that serve Decatur city schools or the vendor-supplied products purchased for Gwinnett lunchrooms.
“The national school lunch program was founded in 1946, so any time you try to change something that is institutional it’s difficult,” said Erin Croom, the farm-to-school coordinator for Georgia Organics, a nonprofit that encourages the use of sustainable foods.
“People are afraid it might cost more or require more work,” she said. “The good thing is that the farm-to-school program started over a decade ago, so in Georgia we can take a lot of the best practices and research and apply them.”
One would think the program would be a win-win for all involved. Students not only are encouraged to eat better, but they also learn about produce. And farmers get to sell their crops.
“It is something that makes good common sense, and we are excited about the program,” said Richard Stock, general manager of sales and marketing for Plantation Sweets, a 3,500-acre farm in Tattnail County that grows Vidalia onions, sweet potatoes, watermelons and sweet corn. “Freight and oil prices increase the cost of what a customer pays for produce. Using local vendors, you can control some of that cost.”
But do the kids buy into healthy eating? Are they lining up for squash and zucchini?
In May, the Decatur farm-to-school program taste-tested kale that had been grown and harvested by the students. It was such a hit, the veggie was offered as a full serving in school lunches, according to an article in the Decatur-Avondale Estates Patch.
“We are getting evidence that school-meal participation goes up when a farm-to-school program is implemented,” Croom told me. “Their school meals have dramatically risen in terms of what they have been able to serve. Kids are wanting the meals more.”
See? Pizza is not the only things kids want. It’s just easy to serve it to them.
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