At the same time!
March XX, 2006
Dear Senator,
The undersigned organizations urge your support for a $5 million appropriation to implement “Access to Local Foods and School Gardens,” Section 122 of the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act.[1] Section 122 addresses the dual problems of climbing childhood obesity rates and struggling family farms by assisting schools in overcoming the barriers to purchasing locally-grown foods.
Childhood obesity rates have doubled in the last twenty years, with more than 16% of American children now overweight or obese and vulnerable to heart disease and other diet-related illness. Another 15% are considered at risk of becoming overweight. The number of young people who do not eat the recommended number of servings of fruits and vegetables is almost 80%.
At the same time that children need more healthy food in their diets, small- and medium- sized farms are struggling to find profitable markets. However, with the removal of certain barriers, farmers can market their fresh foods directly to local schools. Successful Farm to Cafeteria projects are beginning to emerge across the country, and they have demonstrated that children's eating habits dramatically improve when provided with hands-on nutrition education, farm-fresh food choices, and positive experiences in a school garden or at a local farm. In addition to economic benefits, farmers become more involved in their community, boosting sales in other outlets, such as farmers’ markets. This modest federal support will bring the benefits of fresh local foods to children in poorer school districts at a time when farmers are struggling to secure new markets.
Building on these innovative successes, “Access to Local Foods and School Gardens” removes barriers and creates a win-win situation for at-risk kids, small- and medium-sized family farmers, and their communities. Children who receive free and reduced price lunches particularly benefit from Farm to Cafeteria, as they often do not have access to fresh fruits and vegetables elsewhere. Section 122 authorizes a grant program for schools to receive funds of up to $100,000 to assist with the start-up costs of a Farm to Cafeteria project. These competitive, one-time grants will allow schools to purchase adequate equipment to store and prepare fresh foods, develop vendor relationships with nearby farmers, plan seasonal menus and promotional materials, start a school garden, and develop hands-on nutrition education showing the importance of agriculture. An initial investment of $5 million will allow schools to create long-term Farm to Cafeteria projects.
"Access to Local Foods and School Gardens" offers each community the opportunity to design a Farm to Cafeteria project tailored to specific needs of area schools and farms. A modest appropriation of $5 million will clearly have far-reaching benefits. We, the undersigned national, regional, state, and local organizations, therefore respectfully request your inclusion of $5 million for Section 122 "Access to Local Foods and School Gardens" in your appropriations requests.
For more information about the need or the benefits of Section 122, please contact the Community Food Security Coalition by phone at 202-543-8602 or e-mail at Steph@foodsecurity.org.
Sincerely,
National and Regional
American Community Gardening Association
American Corn Growers Association
America’s Second Harvest – The Nation’s Food Bank
Bread for the World
Center for Food Safety
Community Food Security Coalition
Congressional Hunger Center
Farm Aid
Federation of Southern Cooperatives
Food Alliance
Food and Water Watch
Grassroots International
H.A. Wallace Center for Agricultural and
Environmental Policy
Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers of America
League of Young Voters
MAZON
Mennonite Central Committee
Michael Fields Agriculture Institute
National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture
National Catholic Rural Life Conference
National Family Farm Coalition
National Farmers Union
National Gardening Association
Northeast Midwest Institute
Northeast States Association for Agricultural
Stewardship
Organic Consumers Association
Organic Trade Association
Organic Valley Family of Farms
Partners in Ending Hunger
Prevention Institute
Project for Public Spaces
Rural Coalition
School Nutrition Association
Slow Food USA
Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working
Group
Urban Agriculture Network
Weston A. Price Foundation
World Hunger Year
Alabama
Food Security Coalition, Jefferson County
Alaska
Nome Community Center
Arizona
Arizona Community Farmers' Market Group
Arizona Food Policy Coalition
Community Food Connections
Flagstaff Foodlink
Maya's Farm
Natwani Coalition
Rural ACCENT, Inc
Arkansas
Arkansas 5 A Day Coalition
Arkansas Hunger Coalition
Dunbar Gardens
California
Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association
Alameda Point Collaborative
California Citizens for Health Freedom
California Coalition for Food and Farming
California Food and Justice Coalition
California Institute for Rural Studies
Center for Food & Justice, Occidental College
Center for Informed Food Choices
Center for Land-Based Learning
Center for Urban Agriculture, Fairview Gardens
Central Coast Hunger Coalition
California (con’d)
Chez Panisse Foundation
Community Services Unlimited Inc.
Farmosa Farms
Food for People
Food for Thought-Ojai Healthy Schools Project
Garden for the Environment
Growing Gardeners
Heart of the City Farmers Market
LA Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness
Merced County Community Action Agency
Model Neighborhood Program
Monterey County Farm to School Partnership
Northern California Indian Development Council
San Diego Urban Farms
San Francisco Food Systems
Santa Monica Certified Farmers' Market Program
Southland Farmers' Market Association
The Ecology Center
University of California Hansen Trust
Colorado
Denver Urban Gardens
Larimer/Weld Food and Agriculture Policy
Council
Ridgway School Wellness and Nutrition Advisory Committee
San Luis Valley Food & Agriculture Policy
Council
Connecticut
City Seed, Inc.
CT Northeast Organic Farming Association
(NOFA)
Hartford Food System
Delaware
Sussex Consortium/ Delaware Autism Program
Florida
Florida Organic Growers (FOG)
New College Local Foods Initiative
Georgia
Action for a Clean Environment
Bread for the World-Southeast
Georgia Organics
Oakhurst Community Garden Project
Hawaii
Halau Ku Mana Public Charter School
Kokua Hawai'I Foundation
Idaho
Rural Roots
Illinois
Healthy Schools Campaign
Illinois Stewardship Alliance
Seven Generations Ahead
Indiana
Heartland Center/Office of Peace and Justice, Diocese of Gary
Jennings County Growers Co-op
Iowa
Iowa Farmers Union
Women Food and Agriculture Network
Kansas
Kansas Rural Center
Kentucky
Appalachia -- Science in the Public Interest
Community Farm Alliance
Maine
College of the Atlantic
Massachusetts
Institute for Community Health
New Entry Sustainable Farming Project
Northeast Organic Farming Association-MA
Nuestras Raices, Inc.
Seeds of Solidarity Education Center Inc.
Michigan
Agrarian Adventure
Food System Economic Partnership
Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council
Growing Hope
Michigan Integrated Food and Farming Systems (MIFFS)
Michigan Land Trustees
Michigan Land Use Institute
People's Food Co-op
Slow Food Huron Valley
Minnesota
Environmental Association for Great Lakes
Education
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
The Minnesota Project
Missouri
Missouri Rural Crisis Center
Montana
Community Food and Agriculture Coalition
FarmHands
Nevada
The Food Bank of Northern Nevada
New Hampshire
NH Northeast Organic Farming Association
(NOFA)
North Country Health Consortium
New Jersey
NJ Northeast Organic Farming Association
(NOFA)
FoodShed Alliance
Martin Luther King Jr. School
Ridge and Valley Charter School
New Mexico
Cooking with Kids
Farm to Table
New Mexico Food and Agriculture Policy Council
New Mexico Food Stamp Project
New Mexico Public Health Association
New Mexico Task Force to End Hunger
Rio Grande Agricultural Land Trust
Rio Grande Community Farm
Santa Fe Farmers Market Institute
Southwest Marketing Network
New York
Added Value and Herban Solutions
Catholic Daughters of the Americas, Court
St Joseph #139
Center for Popular Research Education and
Policy
Church Women United of Chemung County
Church Women United of NYS
FamilyCook Productions
Feed the Solution
Food Bank of Central New York
Food Change
Food Link
Gardenshare
Horsehead Grange #1118
Just Food
Ladies of Charity of Chemung County
Massachusetts Avenue Project
New York City Nutrition Education Network
NY Sustainable Agriculture Working Group
NY Northeast Organic Farming Association
(NOFA)
NY State Nutrition council
Past Regents' Club of the Diocese of Rochester
Pax Christi Upstate NY
Rochester Roots Inc.
Small Planet Institute
Urban Community Health Organization
North Carolina
Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project
Herbert Green Agroecology
The Corporation for Economic Opportunity
Ohio
Four Season City Farmers
Grow With Your Neighbors, Wergerzyn
Gardens MetroPark
Oklahoma
Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture
Oregon
Bend Farmers Market
Bend/LaPine School District
Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon's Interfaith Network for Earth Concerns
Growing Gardens
Lane County Food Coalition
Oregon Food Bank
Oregon Hunger Relief Task Force
Oregon Tilth
The Rogue Initiative for a Vital Economy
The School Garden Project of Lane County
Troutsdale Fresh Direct Farm
Pennsylvania
A Little Taste of Everything
Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank
Just Harvest
Nutritional Development Services, Archdiocese of Philadelphia
Philadelphia Higher Education Network for Neighborhood Development
Sweet Miriam's Farm
Threshold Foundation In Support of Youth
Urban Nutrition Initiative
Rhode Island
RI Northeast Organic Farming Association
(NOFA)
Farm Fresh Rhode Island
Kids First
Texas
CASA de Llano, Inc.
South Plains Food Bank
Sustainable Food Center
Utah
The Anti-Hunger Action Committee
Utahns Against Hunger
Vermont
RI Northeast Organic Farming Association
(NOFA)
Rural Vermont
Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger
VT Food Education Every Day
Virginia
Appalachian Sustainable Development
Foodbank of the Virginia Peninsula
Virginia Association for Biological Farming
Western Virginia Land Trust
Washington
21 Acres
Blue Heron Farm
EAT Local
Good Food Strategies LLC
Lutheran Public Policy Office of Washington
State
Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance
PCC Natural Markets
Seattle School Gardens Collaborative
Small Potatoes Gleaning Project
Sustainable Connections
Tilth Producers of Washington
West Virginia
Partnership for the Land and Agricultural Needs of Tradition Peoples (PLANT)
Wisconsin
Cornucopia Institute
Family Farm Defenders
FH King Students of Sustainable Agriculture,
UW-Madison
Friends of Troy Gardens
Growing Power
Madison Food System Project
Madison Graduate Student Organization
Ranbow Farmers Cooperative
Research, Education, Action, and Policy on
Food Group
WestCAP, Inc.
Wisconsin Farmers Union
Xo,.
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