Farm to School Saratoga County

Farm to School

Saratoga County

Connecting Classrooms, Cafeterias, and Communities

What is the Farm to School Program?

The New York State Farm-to-School Program was created to connect schools with local farms and food producers to strengthen local agriculture, improve student health, and promote regional food systems awareness.

-NYS Agriculture and Markets

Farm To School Grant Partners

2018-2020 Farm to School Grant

- Cornell Cooperative Extension of Saratoga County Received funding to establish and coordinate a Farm to School program in Saratoga County

-Saratoga Springs CSD Received money for equipment to process and store local produce.

-Pitney Meadows Community Farm Received money to:
Install and wire a cooler into their existing barn.
Build a curing area into their existing barn.
Build storage for root vegetables and winter squash

2019-2021 Farm to School Grant

-Cornell Cooperative Extension Saratoga County Due to the success of our first grant, CCE was awarded a second grant to expand the Farm to School program to include three additional school districts.
-Saratoga Springs CSD Received money to expand food processing and long-term storage of locally sourced produce.

-Corinth CSD
-Galway CSD
-Schuylerville CSD Received money for equipment to process and store local produce.

- Pitney Meadows Community Farm Received money to expand their ability to produce and store food for local schools.

- Farmhouse Foods Received money to train school food service staff to process fresh produce, and provide recipes for using local food in school meals.

How Farm to School affects the…

Classroom

Our Farm to School Grant Coordinator educates students about local agriculture and how it impacts our local economy and environment, and how eating locally produced food enhances their physical health.

Cafeteria

The Farm to School Grant enables schools to purchase the necessary cafeteria equipment needed to process fresh food from local farms. Farmhouse Foods chef and trainer educates school cafeteria staff on techniques and recipes for preparing fresh local food with the goal of offering appealing, nutritious, locally sourced foods to students.

Community

The Farm to School program helps connect local farmers within our community to schools. Incorporating local produce into the school lunch program provides better nutrition and stimulates the local economy. Establishing sustainable relationships will make fresh, healthy, local foods the norm on school menus.

In addition to being IN SCHOOL, the program is expanding to encompass more community wide educational opportunities. In the Spring of 2021 the public was invited to enjoy a Zoom Networking Event with two presentations; Vacuum Sealing for Quality Frozen Local Produce with Bruno Xavier, PhD and Shannon Prozeller, BS from the Cornell Food Venture Center and Making the Most of Geographic Preference Bidding with Mark Bordeau, Senior Food Service Director and Julie Raway, Registered Dietitian at Broom-Tioga BOCES (from the Southern Tier Farm to School Project). Click here to watch both!