Oklahoma Farm-to-School Initiative Wins State and National Honors

—Maura McDermott

Kerr Center staff who worked long hours on farm-to-school. l-r: Doug Walton, Maura McDermott (with Champion of Children's Health Award), Dr. Jim Horne and Anita Poole.

The Farm-to-School Initiative of the Kerr Center and the Oklahoma Food Policy Council received the 2007 “Champion of Children’s Health” award Oct. 8 at an awards banquet in Oklahoma City.

The center and the council were honored for their five year effort to establish a statewide farm-to-school program that would positively impact children’s health.

The popular program has brought Oklahoma-grown watermelons and honeydew melons into 35 school districts and almost 400 schools across the state. The goal of farm-to-school is to “grow healthy kids and a healthy rural economy.”

The Oklahoma Food Policy Council is a joint project of the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry (ODAFF) and the Kerr Center. The twenty seven council members and ad hoc members represent a cross section of Oklahomans.

Kerr Center president and council chairman Dr. Jim Horne and ODAFF secretary Terry Peach accepted the award.
Dr. Horne thanked the council’s members and supporters for their work and pointed out   the potential benefits of the program for Oklahoma farmers. Secretary Peach voiced the hope that the program can be established in every Oklahoma school.
“We’re just getting started,” he said.

Farm-to-school programs get kids excited about eating healthy foods by serving high quality fresh fruits and vegetables in lunchrooms. Educational activities that teach kids about food, nutrition, and farming are coordinated with deliveries of the locally grown produce.

The children’s health award is one of eleven “Champions of Health” Awards given annually in various categories to individuals or groups “working to make a difference in the health of their communities.”

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma State Department of Health, the Oklahoma Hospital Association, the Oklahoma Osteopathic Association and the Oklahoma State Medical Association sponsor the awards.

In May, the Oklahoma Food Policy Council was named a “Partner in Advancing Public Health” by the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The award recognizes “substantial contributions by a state or local partner” to the state’s efforts to prevent obesity and other chronic diseases.

The CDC cited the council’s “dedication to public health” and its “creative energy” in developing the farm-to-school program.
When the food policy council began to meet in 2001, no one really knew whether schools in Oklahoma were even interested in buying locally. The council surveyed food service directors and found substantial interest. The results were published in the Oklahoma Farm-to-School Report in 2003.

Next the council sponsored a series of meetings during which the nuts and bolts of a farm-to-school pilot were worked out. The pilot projects in four, then six, school districts in 2004 and 2005 went off without a hitch and were extremely popular.

The Kerr Center continued educational outreach with workshops, small farm tours, farm-to-school web pages, articles, brochures and resource guides for both food service and farmers. The Oklahoma Food Connection, containing information about farms wanting to sell to schools and a list of schools interested in buying locally grown, was published in 2003 and updated in 2006.
Five years of effort by the Kerr Center and the Oklahoma Food Policy Council paid off when Governor Brad Henry signed a bill in 2006 establishing a statewide farm-to-school program.

Chris Kirby coordinates Oklahoma’s farm-to-school program at ODAFF. She says that research shows that students choose significantly more servings of fruits and vegetables when given the choice of high quality, farm fresh produce.

Research in Oklahoma has shown that children who participate in school gardens eat more vegetables and less junk food. School gardens and cooking classes are often included in comprehensive farm-to-school programs.

Kirby travels the state promoting such activities as well as connecting farmers with schools. To find out more, call her at 405.522.2106.

For complete information on the Oklahoma Food Policy Council and farm-to-school, visit www.kerrcenter.com. For curriculum focused on food, nutrition and agriculture visit the Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom program, online at www.agclassroom.org/ok. To learn about all of this year’s Champions of Health, go to www.championsofhealth.org.

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