Celebrating Vermont Farm to School at Hunt Middle School
Burlington, VT – Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and his wife Marcelle attended the Healthy City Youth Farm Spring Kickoff on Friday, May 20, at Hunt Middle School to celebrate the accomplishments of Farm to School work in Vermont and its impact on student food choice.
Leahy secured a $476,000 grant to Shelburne Farms in 2009 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for Vermont FEED (Food Education Every Day), a statewide Farm to School partnership project of three Vermont nonprofit organizations: Shelburne Farms, Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont and Food Works at Two Rivers Center. It was the nation’s first CDC grant for Farm to School.
Broadly speaking, Farm to School connects K-12 students and local farms with the goal of serving healthy meals in school cafeterias, supporting local agriculture, improving nutrition and advancing student achievement. An estimated 200 of Vermont’s 320 elementary schools are engaged in Farm to School programming. Rooted in the local community, these programs are as rich and diverse as the people and resources in each of their regions.
Senator and Mrs. Leahy ate a lunch with students in the Hunt cafeteria on Friday sampling American Flatbread made in Vermont, a full fruit and vegetable bar, and homemade soup. “We in Vermont have so many sources for local food,” said Senator Patrick Leahy, “It would be a shame to not provide our students with fresh, local food.” Afterwards Senator and Mrs. Leahy joined eighth grade students outside at the half-acre Healthy City Youth Farm for its Spring Kickoff.
Principal Marcie Lewis welcomed students and guests who in addition to Senator and Mrs. Leahy included, Superintendent of Schools Jeanne Collins, Vermont Deputy Secretary of Health Tracy Dolan, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture JoLinda LaClair, and many others.
Jenn McGowan, Program Director for Friends of Burlington Gardens introduced the Youth Farm festivities that the entire Hunt student body – 380 students –took part throughout the day including making bike-powered smoothies with Vermont ingredients; a bucket brigade to enrich the farm’s 40 raised beds with black compost; and taste tests highlighting local spinach that might just end up on the lunch line, if students approve.
“Tastes tests are great,” said 8th grade student Fatima Hussein, “because it lets us try new vegetables and figure out what we like. I found out I like carrots and cabbage.”
Last year at this time, students and teachers throughout Vermont, including Hunt, were surveyed about their food preferences. This was part of a CDC-funded evaluation of Farm to School in Vermont in which data was collected from 632 students and 43 teachers from 12 Vermont schools (rural, suburban and urban). PEER Associates, an independent education evaluation firm, worked with the University of Vermont and Farm to School practitioners across the state to analyze the data and better understand the impact of Farm to School, specifically on student consumption of fruits and vegetables. One thing is crystal clear: Vermont students eat more fruits and vegetables than children in most other states.
VT FEED Director Abbie Nelson thanked Senator Leahy for his leadership, vision and support of Farm to School in Vermont. The state has one of the fastest growing Farm to School networks in the country. From Brattleboro to Lowell, Saint Albans to Hartland; school across Vermont receive policy level support in the form of planning and implementation grants administered by the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets. These grants support food service directors to source and cook produce from nearby farms, but they also provide teachers with professional development to interweave farm and food nutrition into curricula at all grade levels.
Thousands of Vermont students like those at Hunt are tending school gardens, cooking and taste-testing new recipes in their classrooms, and helping out on field trips at nearby farms. All of this is adding up to a change in school food culture that encourages enjoyment of healthy, fresh, local food.
This past year, the VT FEED partners collaborated with Farm to School practitioners and regional leaders throughout Vermont on the CDC-funded project to better understand and foster a healthy school food system.
