Educators study state farm to school program

Farm to School is a program that Sen. Francis Thompson has promoted at the state level.  

The implementation of the Farm to School can include one or more aspects. The first is to procure local foods and to promote serving them to students. The second is the need to educate our students relating to food, nutrition, agriculture, etc. The third aspect is to establish school gardens that provide hands-on activities.

The program is designed to involve students and the child’s parent or guardian at the school level in gardening and related activities.  By learning through hands on activities, our children will benefit by being able to make healthy nutritious choices that will impact their future. 

The Farm to School program is designed to unite the student, the parent/guardian, the farmer, the school, and the community.  It is the goal of the program to bring local products and food sources into the educational system.  

For the work that Thompson has done on the Farm to School Program, he was presented an award at the Farm to School Conference.

The Farm to School one day conference was recently held in Baton Rouge.  Several hundred participants from different work areas were present to find out how Farm to School (F2S) can benefit their work places. 

As food service supervisor for Richland Parish I was present along with Beverly Gresham, food service field manager.  

I was very happy to see several local business operators.  Hunter Fife and Dewayne Hendry from ConAgra Foods Lamb Weston were present representing one of the largest local businesses whose products are used as a meal component for the school lunch program. 

 Sweet potato fries and sweet potato casseroles are frequent items on our parish menu.  ConAgra has been gracious enough to donate fries to our program on numerous occasions.  The donated sweet potatoes serve as a required meal component meeting the red/orange vegetable requirements.  I have certainly appreciated their generosity to our school system and wish to thank them.  Also present was Dan Robertson who operates Robertson’s Produce in Monroe.  Robertson’s Produce supplies our schools with the fresh vegetables and fruit that we menu and serve our students. Dan is an avid supporter of green houses at the local school level.  He has been responsible for helping to establish green houses in surrounding school districts.

I found the meeting very informative and plan on continuing to support a very worthy program. Farm to School purchases provide a nutritious food source for consumption and supports an economic opportunity to buy from a local producer. 

Gracie Hosea is food service supervisor for the Richland Parish School Board.