JAMESTOWN – Jamestown Public Schools’ Food Services Department is participating in a “Farm to School” Program where districts purchase fresh fruits and vegetables directly from local farms using child nutrition funds. JPS Food Service workers
recently processed corn on the cob from Abers Acres in Kennedy to freeze for use in the school menus during the winter months. JPS also purchases free-range chicken eggs from Green Grass Farm in Ashville.
Other local farms that have shown interest in being in the Farm to School Program include: Hamlet Farms, Busti Cider Mill, Roots & Wings Farm, Erdle Farm, The Lembke Farm, Earth Song Farm, The Vanstrom Dairy and Toboggan Hill Farm.
Across the country, “Farm to School” is increasingly recognized as an effective and integrated approach to addressing several issues simultaneously: child and adolescent health, diet, school meal quality, food & agriculture system awareness and
understanding, local agricultural market viability, and food and agriculture system entrepreneurship.
Objectives of Farm to School include:
- Providing healthy, nutritious meals in school cafeterias
- Improving students’ nutrition and food literacy
- Presenting engaging health and nutrition education and;
- Supporting local farms
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