Farm to School Resources

General

• Farm to School Student Curriculum: Curriculum created to educate students on Farm to School and to assist educators with collecting information on students’ school meal preferences and perceptions. Topics include: Introduction to Farm to School, School Meals, Perceptions, and Advertising, Taste, Farmers and Agriculture, School Gardens.
• Farm to School @ Home: Activity series that teach valuable Farm to School and nutrition lessons to students while learning from home.
• Social Media Assets: Help your district join the social media conversation to promote school meal and Farm to School Activities. Use these assets to spark the conversation in your community!
• Farm to School Social Media Toolkit: Designed to help maximize social media engagement with parents and students in your school district. Topics include: How to Use the Social Media Calendar, Tips for Social Media, Social Media Resources, Hashtags, Emojis, and post templates to highlight food, nutrition and farming throughout the year.
• Farm to School Promotional Strategy Guide: Provides resources and tools for school nutrition service professionals to effectively market and promote their school meal and Farm to School programs. Topics include: Creating a message, Identifying a Brand, Social Media Promotion, Storytelling, and Engaging Your Community.
• School Meal Branding Materials: Developed to support school districts in helping families identify meal pick up locations and to distribute fun activities to do at home.
• School Meal Branding Materials: Developed to support school districts in helping families identify meal pick up locations and to distribute fun activities to do at home.
• Farm-to-School District Profiles:  District profiles provide information from San Diego County School Districts around Farm to School activities, school gardens, local food purchasing and much more.
• Good Food Rebate Program: An innovate economic incentive program in which institutional food buyers will be rebated the average cost difference between “conventional food” and local, sustainable, and/or fairly-produced food.
• State of Farm to School in San Diego County Report: The State of Farm to School in San Diego County Report provides a countywide assessment of school food procurement and farm to school activities.
• Farm to School Taskforce Support Guide: The Taskforce identified and developed the following support contract list for areas of interest within three areas of Farm to School: school food procurement, school gardens, and nutrition education.
• Benefits of Farm to School For Parents: Created to help spread the word about Farm to School and its many benefits to parents. This resource is available in English and Spanish.
• Chef Ann Foundation: The Lunch Box provides an archive of meal recipes, which have been analyzed for the USDA meal components.
• Chef Ann Foundation: Posters, sings, and stickers to enhance the cafeterias learning environment.
• Lean and Green Kids: The Cool Bean School Lunch Recipe collection includes kid-tested planted based recipes to support school nutrition departments around the country.
• National Farm to School Network: A collection of farm to school resources covering 25 different farm to school related topics.
• National Farm to School Network- Farm to School Month: A collection of toolkits, fact sheets, posters, logos, stickers, bookmarks, and coloring pages to help celebrate Farm to School Month.
• Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center: A large database of recipes for your favorite fruit and vegetables.
• School Nutrition Association: Webinars on nutrition, operations, administration, communication and marketing.
• Wisconsin Farm to School Fact Sheets: Includes selling to school 101 guide, tips for farmers to sell to schools, and visual charters for fruits and vegetables.
• Wisconsin Farm to School Toolkits Includes serving to pounds calculator, tools on food safety, guide for salad bars in schools, sample menus, and more.
• Crops, Plants, and More: Learn about Farming! Includes an overview of agriculture, the history and its many types, as well as careers in the field.

Procurement

• The California School District Produce Procurement Guide: This guide that provides resources and tools for school nutrition service directors to purchase produce from local farms. This resource was created by Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) and Community Health Improvement Partners (CHIP)’s Farm to Institution Center.
• CAFF Direct Sales: Details for vendors and buyers around direct sales, including flyers for “Bridging the Communication Gap” and “How to sell to institutions.”
• CAFF Local Procurement: Bid and procurement resources such as the USDA decision tree, the Price Index Website, and bidding for local produce webinars.
• Let’s Go Local: Recommendations for Linking Locally Grown Food, School Gardens, and Joint-Use Agreements to School Wellness Policies: Provides districts with recommendations for integrating support for farm to school, including local purchasing and schools gardens, into local school district wellness policies.
• Questions to Ask Your Vendor/Distributor When Trying to Source from Small, Local, and Sustainable Farms: Provides school food services with basic tips for speaking with their vendors/distributors about local procurement.
• USDA Presentation on Procuring Local Produce, April 10, 2015: USDA representatives provided a workshop for the San Diego Farm to School Taskforce on different ways to preference local food in produce bids.
• Why Local Matters: A Primer for Schools: This document outlines some of the major reasons why local purchasing is good for students, schools, and communities.
• Example Produce Bid: San Diego Unified School District 2016-2017
• Example Produce Bid: Vista Unified School District 2017-2018