Farm-to-School Pilot Project
Melons Carry Seeds of Change

— Wylie Harris

On August 25, truckloads of watermelons traveled 70-odd miles between Bob Ramming's farm outside Hinton and the school cafeterias in Edmond.

Though the melons were of a seedless variety, they were in fact carrying seeds of a different sort— seeds that when planted could transform the way Oklahoma feeds itself. And the consequences of that change may reach much farther than the miles between farm and school.

The melons are part of Oklahoma's new farm-to-school pilot project: this fall, for several weeks, four school districts-Edmond, Broken Arrow, Tahlequah, and Shawnee— served Oklahoma-grown watermelons for lunch.

The project has twin goals, both aimed at getting more Oklahoma-grown food on the cafeteria trays of Oklahoma school kids. On the one hand, it encourages farmers to sell their fresh produce to schools; on the other, it encourages schools to fill part or all of their fresh fruit and vegetable needs by buying from farmers within the state.

When everything works, both parties benefit. Ramming, the first farmer to participate in the pilot project, signed on because of the opportunity it offered him to expand his business.

Bob Ramming

As for the schools, he says, "It just makes sense." Produce bought closer to home is fresher, with lower shipping costs, and lower prices in-season.

Shelly McClain and Rita Bingham, who oversee food service operations for Edmond Independent School District, confirmed that the Oklahoma melons are price-competitive. And with the Department of Defense handling the procurement and billing (see p. 3) through its Fresh Produce/Farm-to-School Program, there's less red tape for the district to handle.

"It's a breeze," said Bingham.

The most important winners, naturally, are the kids. The melons are fresh, nutritious— and tasty. Without taking an eye off her flock, a teacher at Edmond's Cheyenne Middle School paused to say, "The kids love the watermelon. They wanted to go back for more."

Last year, watermelon appeared on the cafeteria's menu every other week. This fall, with the farm-to-school project's weekly deliveries, it's somewhere in the mix every day during the 4- to 5-week season.

The farm-to-school pilot project had its beginnings in late 2002, when the Oklahoma Food Policy Council surveyed interest in buying Oklahoma-grown food among institutional food service providers

The response was strong and favorable. Provided that local sources with sufficient quantities at competitive prices could be found, over two-thirds of the responding institutions agreed that they would purchase from those sources. Of those that had already purchased locally, over 80% said that they would do so again.

This year's pilot project grew out of that response. The school districts participating received no extra money to pay for the Oklahoma melons, but used commodity funds already received by each district. The final order for the pilot project overall was for 721 cases, or about 46,000 pounds, of seedless watermelons.

Back on the farm, Bob Ramming is quick to dispel any notion that that kind of volume might absorb most, or even much, of the watermelons produced from his 300 acres. "It's just a drop in the bucket," he says. Likewise, a single scoop of fresh watermelon on a cafeteria tray does not an Oklahoma-grown meal make.

But both Ramming and the food service staff at Edmond recognize - and look forward to - the potential of an expanded farm-to-school program. Watermelons are by no means the only possibility. Bingham is enthusiastic about adding other items - tomatoes, lettuce, apples - to the farm-to-school menu in coming years.

The Food Policy Council survey found interest in still more items including cucumbers, onions, eggs, potatoes, strawberries, ground beef, and dairy products.

With such potential, a statewide farm-to-school program could do much to revitalize Oklahoma's struggling rural communities. Food policy council chairperson Jim Horne hopes the project can expand in future years to more schools, and include more farmers and produce items.

Meanwhile, the project can help children understand the connections between their own health and where and how their food is grown.

The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture's Ag in the Classroom program is working hard to make sure that they do. The program has a curriculum of 166 lessons, based on agriculture but covering all subject areas.

It also has special watermelon lessons developed for the Farm-to-school project. One, called "Melon Meiosis," teaches basic genetics by explaining how seedless watermelons are produced. Others focus on vocabulary, geometry, botany, geography, and math. The lessons also cover nutrition, a critical topic in light of the country's growing child obesity crisis.

At Cheyenne Middle School the kids savoring the watermelon melon had a wild range of guesses at how far the food on their trays had traveled to get there. One said two hundred miles; another, two thousand.

The second guess is closer. According to a study by Iowa's Leopold Center, the typical piece of food in the U.S. travels 1,500 miles from farm to table. Coming from closer by, the Oklahoma melons emit less pollution in transport, and are more secure than sources on the other side of the continent— or the world.

Thriving farm communities, a cleaner environment, a more secure food supply, and a healthier and more food-savvy population together sound like a pretty tall order for a truckload of watermelons. But the more local Oklahoma's food system becomes, the more it will realize all those benefits. The farm-to-school pilot project is a strong first step on the long road toward such a system.

To find out more about farm-to-school go to http://www.kerrcenter.com/ ofpc/farmtoschool_faq.htm or call Anita Poole at the Kerr Center, 918.647.9123

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