FARM TO SCHOOL PROGRAM

Cortland County Farm-To-School Project Receives FundingTo Promote Local Foods In Cortland County Schools

Cortland, NY, December 21, 2018: The New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets has award a $99,989 competitive grant application submitted by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Cortland County.

The purposed of the Cortland County Farm­To­School Project is to raise the awareness of and demand for local foods in schools with administrators, PTOs, teachers, parents and students in the County. As the awareness increases, this project will begin to work with schools to develop a plan for bringing local foods into the school lunch program, unlocking not only the economic development potential for local producers, but also increasing access to fresh, healthy foods for County students who may not have the same opportunity in other areas of their lives.

In the fall of 2017, the Cortland County Food Project, of which the grantee is an active member, supported Seven Valleys Health Coalition (SVHC) in their application on behalf of the City of Cortland for a Local Foods, Local Places (LFLP) technical assistance grant. LFLP is a federal initiative of the EPA, USDA and the CDC, and was awarded to Cortland in March, 2018. The LFLP steering committee comprised of SVHC, City of Cortland, County Planning, SUNY Cortland and Cooperative Extension of Cortland County led the local planning process culminating in an intensive two-day training and planning workshop with community members and other stakeholders in July 2018. 

The LFLP process identified the need for more economic opportunities for local farmers and improved access to healthy, local food, especially among disadvantaged groups was identified. To address these needs, an action plan was created, one goal of which is establishing a relationship with Cortland County's five school districts and Onondaga ­Cortland ­Madison (OCM) BOCES, regarding sourcing local foods for school meals by bringing a Farm-to-School program to Cortland County. The complete LFLP action plan will be discussed and released at the Cortland Counts Community Forum on January 16th, 2019.

The Cortland County Farm-To-School Project, which includes a school education component delivered by our collaborative partner, Main Street Farms, builds a framework for increasing purchases of local food for Cortland County schools. Improving awareness and appreciation for local foods by students, parents, and school food service administrators increases the demand for Cortland County and NYS grown food. 

That demand is a fundamental step in the process of bringing food grown by Cortland County and NYS farmers into school cafeterias, thus creating financial benefits for farmers and strengthening the local food economy. Once the demand has been established and relationships formed with the school districts, the second critical step will be creating an implementation plan for districts. 

At the end of the 18 month grant period, Cortland County will be prepared and able to fully incorporate Cortland County and NYS grown food into district meal programs through a comprehensive Farm-to-School program which will be ready for implementation.