USDA: Most school districts buying food locally, or plan to
October 22, 2013 | 12:12 AM
More than half the schools in the country are buying food locally or plan to buy it locally within the next year, the Agriculture Department announced in a Farm to School Census released early today.
USDA surveyed 13,000 school districts, and 8,800 responded. A total of 43 percent of the districts said they had a farm-to-school program in place during the 2012-13 school year and another 13 percent said they plan to make local purchases.
The total value of locally purchased food in the 2011-2012 school year, the last year for which the data was available, was $354 million, about 14 percent of school food purchases.
The schools were most likely to buy fruits, vegetables and milk — perishable commodities — but are making plans to buy local plant-based proteins, grains, meat, poultry and eggs, virtually the entire range of foods that the schools buy, the USDA said.
The information on school districts around the country and their purchases may be found on an interactive website that went active at midnight. (See link below)
“An investment in the health of America’s students through farm-to-school activities is also an investment in the health of local economies,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a news release.
“We know that when students have experiences such as tending a school garden or visiting a farm they’ll be more likely to make healthy choices in the cafeteria,” Vilsack said. “We also know that when schools invest their food dollars in their local communities, all of agriculture benefits, including local farmers, ranchers, fishermen, food processors and manufacturers.”
Deborah Kane
Deborah Kane, the national director of the USDA Farm to School program, noted in an interview that the 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act gave USDA a mandate to assess local school food purchases and to increase them.
“Our sense at USDA is that it is good news for agricultural producers looking to get into the school food market,” Kane said. “Local foods span the school meal tray.”
A color-coded map shows the intensity of local food purchases throughout the country, Kane noted. New England and North Carolina lead the nation, she said, followed by the West Coast, Minnesota, Wisconsin and New York.
The interactive site is designed so that producers, school districts and groups that support local purchases can use it. The site highlights those districts that are doing well, and local advocacy groups can also see what school districts need more help in learning how to make local purchases she said.
The site summarizes data a state level and also by school district.
“If you are a carrot producer in Georgia you can log onto the website and see whether [the local schools] are buying carrots or plan to buy in the future,” Kane said.
USDA is continuing to gather data, and is encouraging school districts that may not have submitted data yet to send it in before January, she said.
Kane said USDA did not apply a definition of “local” to the study, but asked the districts to tell the department how they defined the term.
Most districts defined “local” as within the state, but the definition did vary, she said. St. Paul, Minn., for example, defined “local” as within a 200 mile radius. The 2008 farm bill defined “local” as within 400 miles.
USDA used to require schools to buy food at the lowest cost, but now has a geographic preference option that allows the schools to “set a definition that works in their context,” Kane said. The distance allowed for local beef production might be different than local for another food product, she added.
USDA surveyed 13,000 school districts, and 8,800 responded. A total of 43 percent of the districts said they had a farm-to-school program in place during the 2012-13 school year and another 13 percent said they plan to make local purchases.
The total value of locally purchased food in the 2011-2012 school year, the last year for which the data was available, was $354 million, about 14 percent of school food purchases.
The schools were most likely to buy fruits, vegetables and milk — perishable commodities — but are making plans to buy local plant-based proteins, grains, meat, poultry and eggs, virtually the entire range of foods that the schools buy, the USDA said.
The information on school districts around the country and their purchases may be found on an interactive website that went active at midnight. (See link below)
“An investment in the health of America’s students through farm-to-school activities is also an investment in the health of local economies,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a news release.
“We know that when students have experiences such as tending a school garden or visiting a farm they’ll be more likely to make healthy choices in the cafeteria,” Vilsack said. “We also know that when schools invest their food dollars in their local communities, all of agriculture benefits, including local farmers, ranchers, fishermen, food processors and manufacturers.”
Deborah Kane
Deborah Kane, the national director of the USDA Farm to School program, noted in an interview that the 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act gave USDA a mandate to assess local school food purchases and to increase them.
“Our sense at USDA is that it is good news for agricultural producers looking to get into the school food market,” Kane said. “Local foods span the school meal tray.”
A color-coded map shows the intensity of local food purchases throughout the country, Kane noted. New England and North Carolina lead the nation, she said, followed by the West Coast, Minnesota, Wisconsin and New York.
The interactive site is designed so that producers, school districts and groups that support local purchases can use it. The site highlights those districts that are doing well, and local advocacy groups can also see what school districts need more help in learning how to make local purchases she said.
The site summarizes data a state level and also by school district.
“If you are a carrot producer in Georgia you can log onto the website and see whether [the local schools] are buying carrots or plan to buy in the future,” Kane said.
USDA is continuing to gather data, and is encouraging school districts that may not have submitted data yet to send it in before January, she said.
Kane said USDA did not apply a definition of “local” to the study, but asked the districts to tell the department how they defined the term.
Most districts defined “local” as within the state, but the definition did vary, she said. St. Paul, Minn., for example, defined “local” as within a 200 mile radius. The 2008 farm bill defined “local” as within 400 miles.
USDA used to require schools to buy food at the lowest cost, but now has a geographic preference option that allows the schools to “set a definition that works in their context,” Kane said. The distance allowed for local beef production might be different than local for another food product, she added.
