School cafeterias maneuver complexities of change and offer locally grown food
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
More schools are offering locally grown food in their cafeterias thanks to a federally sponsored farm-to-school lunch program. Here's Harvest Public Media contributor Rae Solomon.
RAE SOLOMON, BYLINE: Derrick Hoffman is poking around a dense row of bushy tomato plants on his 100-acre farm on the outskirts of Greeley in northern Colorado. He's filling a white plastic bucket with ripe cherry tomatoes that he's already sold to the local school district.
DERRICK HOFFMAN: These will go to Greeley-Evans School District here just down the road - what? - about five - we're miles from their warehouse.
SOLOMON: In about a week, kids will be snacking on them in nearby cafeterias.
DANIELLE BOCK: Want to try a fresh tomato?
SOLOMON: Like this one at Jackson Elementary, about 10 minutes down the road, where the first graders are helping themselves to the salad bar while nutrition services director Danielle Bock looks on.
BOCK: Tomatoes, celery, green peppers, all from Hoffman Farms.
SOLOMON: Hoffman's tomatoes and Bock's salad bar are part of a growing farm-to-school movement, revolutionizing the humble school lunch. When farm-to-school programming works as designed, kids fill their trees with fresh, nutritious food and local farm economies get a major boost. Hoffman's farm-to-school contracts bring in enough money that he was able to quit his off-the-farm job.
HOFFMAN: It's allowed us to grow. It's let us to do what we're doing.
SOLOMON: But while Hoffman and the schools he works with represent the best outcome of farm-to-school programs, they are hardly the norm. Getting local food into schools has proven frustratingly complicated.
CINDY LONG: We often hear that schools and producers initially don't talk the same language.
SOLOMON: Cindy Long administers the Farm to School Program at the United States Department of Agriculture.
LONG: Schools think about, oh, I need, you know, 7,500 servings of this. And farmers think in terms of, you know, bushels or crates.
SOLOMON: Beyond that, Long says the extra cost of local food is another roadblock. So is the need to train cafeteria staff and an admittedly bureaucratic purchasing system.
LONG: Schools and producers really just needed an ongoing source of support to help take folks from interest to actually being able to execute.
SOLOMON: Recent policy changes at the federal level make providing that support a new priority. Last year, the USDA started funneling unprecedented amounts of money to the effort. At least $260 million directly fund local food purchases and related farm-to-school infrastructure.
SUNNY BAKER: We have been describing it as trying to drink out of a fire hose.
SOLOMON: Sunny Baker with the National Farm to School Network, says all the federal money is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to give school lunch a head-to-toe makeover and integrate it into local food systems.
BAKER: One of the best things that can come out of this, like, massive influx of money is going to be that we're developing really incredible examples of how this can work and, like, learning what's possible.
SOLOMON: In northern Iowa, for instance, those investments trickled down to the Clear Lake School District in the form of $8,000 grants to buy farm-fresh food through a network of regional food hubs that made local food purchasing a breeze for food services director Julie Udelhofen.
JULIE UDELHOFEN: As I saw that product come in - the freshness, the color, the flavor - it just made it all worth it.
SOLOMON: Udelhofen was always interested in farm-to-school programs, but without support, the process was just too burdensome, and she felt stuck with the typical - deliveries of highly processed food from big institutional distributors. Now that she's got a taste of the farm-fresh side of things, she does not want to go back to business as usual.
UDELHOFEN: As long as my budget looks good and I can support it, I'm going to get that food in front of the kids.
MARTÍNEZ: That's Rae Solomon reporting.
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Miongoni mwa makampuni ya chakula cha mchana ya shule ya MARTINEZ, ambayo ni moja ya makampuni ya chakula cha mchana ya shambani, ni moja ya makampuni ya chakula cha mchana ya shambani. Mshirika wa Harvest Public Media Rae Solomon. Derrick Hoffman anaangalia mstari mzito wa mimea ya nyanya kwenye shamba lake la ekari 100 kwenye vitongoji vya Greeley kaskazini mwa Colorado. Mfano: Mto wa kijani-kibichi unaoitwa cherry unaoweza kuuzwa kwa shule ya wilaya. Hizi zitaenda kwa Wilaya ya Shule ya Greeley-Evans hapa chini ya barabara - nini? - kuhusu tano - sisi ni maili kutoka ghala yao. Katika wiki moja hivi, watoto watakuwa wakila chakula cha mchana katika mikahawa ya karibu. DANIELLE BOCK: Je, unataka kujaribu nyanya safi? Katika shule ya msingi ya Jackson, karibu dakika 10 chini ya barabara, ambapo wanafunzi wa darasa la kwanza wanajiunga na bar ya saladi wakati mkurugenzi wa huduma za lishe Danielle Bock anaangalia. Nyanya, celery, pilipili, zote kutoka Hoffman Farms. "Hofman's Tomatoes na Bock's Salad Bar ni sehemu ya ""Farm to School"" ambayo ni njia ya kuanzisha chakula cha mchana cha shule." Wakati programu ya shamba-kwa-shule inafanya kazi kama ilivyopangwa, watoto hujaza miti yao na chakula safi, chenye lishe na uchumi wa shamba la ndani hupata kichocheo kikubwa. Mikataba ya Hoffman ya kutoka shambani hadi shuleni huleta pesa za kutosha hivi kwamba aliweza kuacha kazi yake nje ya shamba. Hufanya kazi kwa njia ambayo inatuwezesha kukua. Ni basi sisi kufanya kile tunachofanya. Hata hivyo, Hoffman na shule zake zinaonyesha matokeo bora ya programu za shamba-kwa-shule. Kupata chakula cha mahali hapo katika shule kumethibitika kuwa ngumu sana. "Mwanamke mmoja alisema: ""Mara nyingi tunasikia kwamba shule na watengenezaji wa filamu mwanzoni hawazungumzi lugha ileile." Cindy Long, Mkurugenzi wa Shirika la Shule za Kilimo la Marekani "Mwanamke mmoja alisema: ""Ninaamini kwamba ni muhimu kwa shule kuandaa vipimo vya 7,500 vya dawa hii." Wakulima wanafikiria kwa njia ya mashimo au masanduku. "Kupitia ripoti hiyo, Long alisema ""mfano wa chakula cha kawaida ni chakula cha kawaida.""" Hivyo ni haja ya mafunzo ya wafanyakazi cafeteria na mfumo wa ununuzi admittedly bureaucratic. """Siku hizi, shule na watengenezaji wanahitaji msaada wa kuendelea ili kuwasaidia watu kutoka kwa maslahi yao hadi kuweza kutekeleza." Mabadiliko ya hivi karibuni ya sera katika ngazi ya shirikisho hufanya kutoa msaada huo kuwa kipaumbele kipya. Mwaka jana, Wizara ya Kilimo ya Marekani ilianza kutoa fedha nyingi sana kwa ajili ya mradi huo. Zaidi ya dola milioni 260 zitatumiwa kununua chakula na vifaa vya ujenzi vya shule. "Sani Baker: ""Nilikuwa nikijaribu kunywa maji kutoka kwenye bomba la moto." "Sony Baker, kutoka Shirika la Kitaifa la Shamba hadi Shule, anasema ""pesa zote za shirikisho ni fursa ya mara moja katika maisha ya kutoa chakula cha mchana cha shule kutoka kichwa hadi vidole na kuunganisha katika mifumo ya chakula ya ndani.""" "Mmoja wa mambo bora ambayo yanaweza kutokea kutoka kwa hii, kama, ""mtiririko mkubwa wa fedha"" itakuwa kwamba tunaendeleza mifano ya ajabu ya jinsi hii inaweza kufanya kazi na kujifunza nini inawezekana." Katika Iowa ya Kaskazini, kwa mfano, uwekezaji huo ulipita kwa Wilaya ya Shule ya Clear Lake kwa namna ya ruzuku ya $ 8,000 kununua chakula cha shamba kupitia mtandao wa vituo vya chakula vya kikanda ambavyo vilifanya ununuzi wa chakula cha ndani kuwa hewa kwa mkurugenzi wa huduma za chakula Julie Udelhofen. "Julie Udellhofer: ""Nilikuwa na furaha sana kuona bidhaa hiyo ikikuja, safi, rangi, ladha, ilifanya yote yawe na thamani." Udelhofer aliwahi kuwa na hamu ya programu za shamba-kwa-shule, lakini bila msaada, mchakato huo ulikuwa mzito sana, na alihisi amenaswa na kawaida - utoaji wa chakula kilichotengenezwa sana kutoka kwa wasambazaji wakubwa wa taasisi. Sasa kwa kuwa amepata ladha ya upande wa mashamba-mapya ya mambo, yeye hataki kurudi kwa biashara kama kawaida. """Kama bajeti yangu inaweka sawa na ninaweza kuitegemeza, nitawapa watoto chakula hicho." "Msemaji wa habari wa ""The Times"" Rae Solomon." (Kutoka kwa NPR) (Kutoka kwa NPR) (Kutoka kwa NPR) NPR transcripts ni kuundwa juu ya haraka deadline na Mkataba NPR. Nakala hii inaweza kuwa si katika fomu yake ya mwisho na inaweza kusasishwa au kurekebishwa katika siku zijazo. Usahihi na upatikanaji inaweza kutofautiana. Rekodi ya mamlaka ya programu ya NPR ni rekodi ya sauti.