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Getting Started

Your Task	How Willmar Did It
Do background reading and research. The National Farm to School program website has a wealth of information about farm to school programs across the country. Watch this excellent introductory video from the Vermont Farm to School program.	At the time the Willmar project was getting started, these resources either didn't exist or were in very rudimentary form. California, Wisconsin, and Vermont had the most advanced programs, so information was gathered from experiences in those states. A lot of progress has been made since 2005!
Develop community partnerships. The time constraints placed on a food service director are enormous, and adding a local food program may seem like just too much. Even a highly motivated, passionate food service director can't do it all. You need help! A committee, a task force, a working group, whatever you want to call it -- you need some other folks who are willing to help with the work.	Annette Derouin, Director of Food and Nutrition Services for the Willmar School District, came from a farming family and was interested in purchasing locally produced foods for Willmar Schools. Annette was working with Marilyn Bolin, coordinator of Steps to a Healthier Willmar. Willmar had received a "Steps to a Healthier US" grant from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and Marilyn's job was to create a plan for healthier schools. Meanwhile, the West Central Regional Sustainable Development Partnership (WC-RSDP) of the University of Minnesota had assisted with connecting the UofM-Morris Children’s Garden and the farmer-led organization Pride of the Prairie; which hired a part-time nutrition consultant, Lynn Mader, to begin networking with others interested in farm-to-school programs. At an Action for Healthy Kids conference, Lynn met Marilyn Bolin and they, with Annette, formed the core group that started the Willmar farm-to-school project.
Communication is key! Communicate with food service staff, teachers, school administrators, students, and community members.	Administrators: When we started to implement taste testing in the cafeteria, the principals needed assurance that we would not create more work for the custodial staff, or disrupt the flow of students and shorten their already brief lunch period. Administrative support is needed to change established purchasing patterns, to purchase food products outside of existing contracts, and to find that these changes will not negatively impact the overall budget. Teachers: We asked for support and involvement of teachers to provide Farm to School announcements in their classrooms and to encourage students to try the foods that were featured. Committees: A partnership with University of Minnesota Extension and the involvement of the Wellness committees helped in building Farm to School messaging and tasting events into their overall plans.
Start slowly, and plan carefully. Planning needs to begin many months in advance of the date when you expect to serve a food item. You need to: find a farmer or distributor to supply the food item develop a plan for promoting the local food idea to your school decide how the food item will be served and find a good recipe train the cooks and other food service staff	Planning began in January 2005 to have students eating locally grown foods by the start of the 2005-06 school year. Willmar’s first year began with just four food products planned for the menu: apples, bison, squash and wild rice. It was agreed that the success of the apple tasting would determine whether or not to go forward with the squash, wild rice, and bison. To kick off the first local food event, an apple farmer was featured during an elementary school assembly. After the farmer spoke, children were able to taste test different apple varieties during their school lunch period. The event was videotaped and aired on the school district’s TV channel. The event was so successful that another elementary school carried it out two weeks later!
Connect students with the food. Go beyond simply adding a local food to the lunch menu. Utilize materials in this toolkit to engage children: farm visits classroom announcements school newsletters hands-on activities like gardening and cooking that connect children with delicious and nutritious local foods	Steps to a Healthier Willmar and community volunteers developed "tasting events" to introduce students to local foods. In an effort to minimize cafeteria interruptions, an informational table with the food product was deliberately placed close to where students returned their lunch trays before leaving the cafeteria. To facilitate taste tests, volunteers walked through the cafeteria and offered samples of the food product and asked the students food trivia questions. Anyone working with Willmar’s Farm to School program would tell you that giving young people the opportunity to taste test the food product the day before the food is placed on the menu is essential. Willmar knows from experience. During the second year, wild rice was placed on the menu without a taste test the day before and some children thought they were being served BUGS!
Don't be afraid to ask for help. Remember that there are people across Minnesota and the country that are invested in connecting young people with local and healthy foods in their school lunchrooms. Please contact them.	Beth Nelson Coordinator, Farm to School Toolkit Project Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture 612-625-8217 schre002@umn.edu www.misa.umn.edu JoAnne Berkenkamp Local Food Program Director, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy and Minnesota Co-Director, Farm to School Network 2105 First Avenue South Minneapolis MN 55404 jberkenkamp@iatp.org (612) 870-3410 Great Lakes Regional Lead Agency for National Farm to School Network: Sara Tedeschi Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems University of Wisconsin, Madison 1535 Observatory Drive Madison, WI 53706-1215 (608)513-3980
Network with organizations involved in farm to school work in Minnesota.	The Willmar project and other farm to school efforts in Minnesota have helped to forge connections among a number of groups with interests in schools, nutrition, and local food: University of Minnesota Extension Nutrition Program sends nutrition educators into schools, and is incorporating farm to school into its programming. Minnesota School Nutrition Association offers training for its members who are school food service personnel, and is promoting the use of local foods in schools. The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) co-leads a statewide Farm to School initiative with Minnesota School Nutrition Association, partners closely with the St. Paul Public Schools and works nationally to promote federal policy supportive of healthy school foods.