2004 Essay Contest:
Why Schools Should Serve Locally-Grown Foods

2nd Place — Erin Shores 12th Grade/Kiowa, OK

From Farm to School

Picture this: You walk into a room and smell the aroma of over-baked rolls, fresh fruit and vegetables, and freshly cooked meat. All give off such a wonderful aroma that your stomach growls and your mouth begins to water. The last place you would expect to smell this food is in a school cafeteria. Unfortunately, school lunches have deteriorated over the years. Instead of homemade food, today’s school students are served food that has been frozen, prepackaged, or canned. Farm-to-school programs could help change this problem in Oklahoma. In fact, these programs are beneficial for several reasons: they help improve children’s health, they educate students, and they are helpful to local farmers. These reasons have been proven true because of the success of farm-to-school programs in other states.

Let’s face it. The food served in today’s school cafeterias is not the best. The prepackaged frozen food that the youth eat in Oklahoma schools may give them the required servings of the basic food groups, but rarely is this food healthy. Most of the food served is fried or has grease dripping from it. The fruits and vegetables served to students come from cans, are usually flavorless, and appear to have been "dead" for quite sometime. Most students will not eat what they call "the gross, unrecognizable cafeteria food" and will instead spend their money in the school’s vending machines. These vending machines are not filled with healthy, nutritious alternative food; instead, they are full of name-brand candy and pop. The state of food in cafeterias and these vending machines may help answer the question why so many of Oklahoma’s youth are obese. Farm-to-school programs can help solve obesity. "Clinical nutritionist and Pennsylvania Extension specialist Lynn James cited studies linking fresh fruits and vegetables to lower incidences of obesity" (Sullivan). Farm-to-school programs can help bring fresh fruits and vegetables to Oklahoma students. Also, students are much more likely to eat fresh food because its flavor is so much better than the flavor of the canned and prepackaged food they are served now. Some people may argue that farm-to-school projects cannot be successful year round because of the growing seasons in Oklahoma. Some solutions may be "menus that take into account the seasonality of fruits and vegetables, and using shelf-stable and minimally processed produce such as onions and potatoes" (Sullivan).

Farm-to-school programs are also designed to educate today’s youth. "Farm-to-school programs typically integrate food services with instructional school gardens, school recycling programs, farm visits, and curriculum development to create a holistic, experientially-based learning environment" (University of California). These activities would have a major impact on Oklahoma students. They would also be informed of the benefits of eating more healthy food and less junk food from the vending machines. The benefits of these programs are vast; they set the stage for children’s eating habits as they grow older, helping to decrease the percentage of obesity in adults over time. These lessons are definitely worth teaching Oklahoma students, and would be of great benefit to our state.

In today’s day and time, small farmers are almost extinct when compared to how many there were fifty years ago. Old McDonald is no more: Large farms are taking over our land. "In recent years, small-and medium-sized family farmers have been increasingly forced out of business due to a declining share of the food dollar" (University of California). Simply put, there are fewer markets for small farmers than before. Therefore, farm-to-school programs may help to solve this problem. These programs give farmers extra income and help local economies. Farm-to-school programs also teach people and youth to respect small farmers in their area. Buying local food may be a little more expensive, but farm-to-school programs help "[education] future farmer’s market customers. The more a person appreciates how something tastes, rather than what it coss, these eaters will be future farmer’s market customers and supporting local farmers" (Sullivan). Farm-to-school programs will not only help small farmers now but will also help them in the future.

Farm-to-school programs are not new. The programs have met with great success in other states. The programs have had success not only in warm states like California and Florida but also in colder states like New York. Of course, there are barriers. "School food service personnel are under tremendous pressure to purchase the lowest-cost, most convenient food. Many schools no longer have kitchen facilities" (Healthy Schools). These barriers will have to be overcome, but the benefits of farm-to-school programs make overcoming the barriers worth the effort. The long-term benefits of the programs make the problems that are faced now seem small. Oklahoma schools should definitely try to put the farm-to-school programs into action.
Picture this: You walk into a room and smell the aroma of oven-baked rolls, fresh fruits and vegetables, and freshly cooked meat. Your stomach begins to growl and your mouth begins to water. The aroma couldn’t possibly be coming from a school cafeteria, right? Wrong! Farm-to-school programs could make this fantasy possible. Remember the benefits: farm-to-school programs help maintain the health of students, educate students about farming and healthy living, and help small farmers gain more income and appreciation. We also know that farm-to-school programs are successful because of thriving programs conducted in other states. Oklahoma students, schools, and small farmers would all greatly benefit from farm-to-school programs. Oklahoma should definitely work to start these programs in our schools.

Works Cited

Healthy Schools Campaign. "Healthier Schools, Happier Farmers: Getting Crops to Schools."
2004. Online. Internet. 19 Feb. 2004. Available
http://www.healthyschoolscampaign.org/farm-to-school.htm.

Sullivan, Dan. "Expanding Farm-to-School Programs Create Opportunities for Farmers...
And Children." THE NEW FARM. 2003. Online. Internet. 19 Feb. 2004. Available http://www.newfarm.org/depts/talking_shop/1203/farm-to-school.shtml.

University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program.
"Farm-to-School Programs." 2002. Online. Internet. 19 Feb. 2004. Available
http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/cdpp/farmtoschool.