Meeting the Challenges
Surveys of school food service staff show that cost, procurement, and supply are seen as the biggest barriers to success in farm to school programs.
Source of survey information:
Making the Farm/School Connection: Opportunities and Barriers to Greater Use of Locally-grown Produce in Public Schools. 2006. JoAnne Berkenkamp.
More Resources
Challenge |
Other Schools' Experiences |
| Cost |
- Surprisingly, for food service directors that had purchased a few food items locally, cost had not proven to be a problem. Responses ranged from locally purchased being virtually the same cost as non-locally sourced, to perhaps slightly higher cost to slightly less.
- Some schools such as Winona, MN have used their ala carte line to introduce locally-produced or organically-grown products. Students have been willing to pay the higher price for these items.
- Willmar schools have looked at the lunch menu over a period of time, and served less expensive meals on some days to offset the higher cost of local foods on other days.
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| Procurement |
- Many food service staff were concerned with the time required to connect with farmers.
- A "forager" can be a very valuable asset for getting a farm-to-school program started. A forager is a person who is familiar with the farmers in the area, can identify who is likely to have the quantities of product needed by the school, and can make the initial contact with the farmer.
- Some food service staff liked the idea of using a food distributor to procure local food, but were concerned that they then lost connection to the farmer. The notion of connecting kids to how their food is grown was a major motivating factor for many of the schools expressing interest in farm to school programs. Having the “story of the farm” and the farmer be carried through with the produce was important to them. Some distributors are willing to do this.
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| Supply |
- Some food service staff said they didn't know what is available locally and what is season. This website is a good starting point for information on seasonal availability of foods and sources of local foods.
- Once a school has established a relationship with a few farmers, it can be helpful to meet with farmers in the spring to discuss what might be available for the next fall's menu.
- A few food service directors cited quality control as a problem: products not being delivered on time, or not meeting specifications. These "growing pains" can be addressed over time by:
1) Developing a short list of potential local suppliers who are aware of school district needs;
2) Communicating with farmer-suppliers so that they clearly understand your requirements and expectations.
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