The nationwide movement of farm to school is taking root in communities across Georgia. Schools are connecting with local farms to serve healthy meals in school cafeterias, offering food and gardening education, and improving students’ health.
What is farm to school?
It’s when:
- a school nutrition director planning school menus based on the seasons.
- a vegetable farmer hosting a students on a farm field trip.
- a fourth grader trying her very first cherry tomato in a school garden.
- a math teacher whose students practice fractions using measuring spoons and recipes.
What is Farm to School? Farm to School is YOU.
Kids learn something very important when they grow a tomato themselves, or they eat one for lunch that was grown by a farmer they’ve met: They learn where food comes from. In our current out-of-sight food system, it’s easy to believe that food comes from the store. Caring for a plant for weeks, waiting to eat the literal fruits of their labors, students learn that producing food is hard work. And a field trip to a farm or a taste test served by a farmer shows students there is a face behind their food, and there is land in their community that helps sustain them.