Support Children’s Health and Family Farmers … 

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 SchoolGardens,” 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


[1] Formerly the S. 1755 and H.R. 2626, the “Farm to Cafeteria Projects” Act

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Xo,.

FarmGirl


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