More Schools than Ever Serve Oklahoma Melons

Oklahoma’s new farm-to-school program is growing to its largest size ever this fall, with hundreds of schools participating.

Oklahoma-grown honeydew melons and watermelons juice up the farm-to-school menu. Last year, the program switched gears from a pilot project to a state program sanctioned by the Oklahoma legislature.

“The schools have been thrilled with the melons and the fresh flavor,” says Chris Kirby, Oklahoma Farm-to-School Program Coordinator.

In 2004, four Oklahoma school districts participated in a pilot farm-to-school project, organized by the Oklahoma Food Policy Council, a joint project of the Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture and the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry.

The schools served Oklahoma-grown seedless watermelons for lunch during August and September.

The watermelons were so popular with students and food service that in the fall of 2005, two school districts were added to the four, tripling the number of melons delivered.

Last year, the program drew the attention of state legislators, who passed a bill making farm-to-school an official program within the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture. HB2655, authored by Rep. Susan Winchester (R-Chickasha) and Sen. Daisy Lawler (D-Lawton), unanimously passed both houses of the legislature in May. On June 7th, 2006, Governor Brad Henry signed the bill into law.

With the full force of the law now behind it, farm-to-school continues to expand faster than ever. In the fall of 2006, the number of participating schools rose to 343, in a total of 35 districts.

Participating school districts ranged from Sayre, in far western Oklahoma, to Dewey in the northeast part of the state. Both smaller districts such as Pond Creek-Hunter in Grant County and larger districts such as Oklahoma City and Tulsa participated.

“Farm-to-school is a win-win for both farmers and schoolkids,” says Food Policy Council Chair Jim Horne. “Kids eat tasty, nutritious, produce, while farmers gain a new market.”

Oklahoma ranks last in the nation in consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, and 19.1% of Oklahoma children are overweight, compared to 16.1% nationally.

“Our students’ diets could be drastically improved adding fresh fruits and vegetables into our school menus. Lack of healthy fruits and vegetables in a child’s daily diet contributes to the massive youth obesity and juvenile diabetes epidemics in our state,” said Rep. Winchester.

In 2006, a new produce item, honeydew melons, joined previous years’ offering of seedless watermelons. The watermelons are being supplied by Bob Ramming, and the honeydews by Bruce Price and Marlin Unruh, all of Hinton.

Kirby has worked closely with the growers, schools, and over ten different distributors to make sure the program runs smoothly.

So far, twenty states around the country have initiated some form of farm-to-school Program.

The Food Policy Council is a joint project of the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry, and the Kerr Center, with support from USDA Risk Management Agency.. For more information call 918.647.9123 or visit www.kerrcenter.com.