About

The Hudson Valley Farm To School Initiative

Chefs Matt and Sarah with Food Service Director Cindy

Farm to School is a national network that connects schools and local farms with the objectives of serving healthy meals in school cafeterias, providing agriculture, health and nutrition education in the classroom, and supporting local and regional farmers. Addressing the national childhood obesity epidemic and improving student health is part of the core mission to help children understand where their food comes from and how their food choices impact their bodies, their environment and their communities.

Sandy McKelvey, a parent and local foods advocate in Cold Spring, New York, founded the Hudson Valley Farm to School Initiative to build on the early successes of her Farm to School pilot programs at the Haldane and Garrison schools. The monthly “Chef in the Classroom” complemented by the “Farmer’s Choice” local vegetable side dish served in the cafeteria is a simple, low-cost initiation for schools into the national farm to school movement. Once these programs are set in place, they are easy to expand and to structure as self-sustaining, ongoing programs. For more information, contact Sandy at sandy@hvfs.org or 845-265-2004.

Why Farm To School?

Health

• Diets rich in fresh fruits and vegetables are associated with multiple health benefits including decreased risk of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
• Establishing healthful diets—one’s that are rich in a diversity of fruits and vegetables — in childhood is important for life-long well-being.
• Schools offering locally produced fruits and vegetables support the health of their students and potentially improve their academic outcomes.

The Environment

• The average food item in the US will travel 1,500 miles before reaching your table. This is an energy-intensive and inefficient system that creates serious environmental problems.

• 90% of the fossil fuel energy used in the world’s food system goes into packaging, transportation and marketing.
• When food is transported shorter distances, less refrigeration is required, less fuel is needed and fewer ozone-depleting gases are emitted. This is good for our health and the health of the planet

Food Literacy

• Most students have a limited understanding of where food comes from and how it gets from farm to school. It is impossible to make informed, healthful decisions about the foods one consumes without a basic understanding of the interdependent systems that provide us with that food.

• Hands-on experiential learning gives students an appreciation for the importance of and relationships between a healthy diet, healthy farms, and healthy communities.
• Students given the opportunity to engage in growing and cooking locally grown foods are more likely to taste those foods and develop a habit of eating them.
• Food and farming education can be integrated into all subject areas exploring math, science, social studies literacy and health.
• When children learn about how their food is grown and the job of farmers, they get invested and care.
• Early elementary-aged children are better able to differentiate between healthful and unhealthful food choices when they are engaged with information and experiences from the real world, such as direct cooking experiences and exploring the environmental impact of the food system, rather than abstract concepts of nutrients and components of foods or the nutritional effects of foods.
• The more students can link what they eat with who grows it and where it comes from, the more likely they are to eat it.