Doug Walton, Maura McDermott, Jim Horne and Anita Poole of the Kerr Center with their Champion of Children's Health award. (click on image for high resolution)

Secretary of Agriculture Terry Peach, Farm-to-School administrator Chris Kirby, and Kerr Center president Jim Horne with Champion of Children's Health award. (click on image for high resolution)

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

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 Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture is a nonprofit educational foundation based in Poteau. 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 from Oklahoma Commissioner and Secretary of Health Michael Crutcher, MD.

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.

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.

For more information contact her at 405.522.2106 or visit www.kerrcenter.com.
Another source of information and curriculum focused on food, nutrition and agriculture is the Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom program, online at www.agclassroom.org/ok.