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Defining Local:. F or San Diego Farm to School Programs. F2S Mission Statement.
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Defining Local: For San Diego Farm to School Programs
F2S Mission Statement SDUSD’s Farm to School program seeks to increase children’s participation in the school meal program and consumption of fruits and vegetables, thereby improving childhood nutrition, reducing hunger, and preventing obesity and obesity-related diseases. We seek to do this by decreasing the distance food travels between farmers and students to 25 miles from the San Diego County border and investing 15% of our annual fresh fruit and vegetable budget in local fresh foods.
SDUSD Farm to School Goals • Purchase 15% of all FFV locally • Serve 1 “all local” lunch per month • Use hormone free, antibiotic free and locally raised meats when possible • Develop supplemental F2S activities and learning opportunities for students • Implement a marketing campaign for F2S • Create community partnerships that support the F2S program
Locally Grown • San Diego Local. Grown/raised w/in 25 miles from the SD County Line. • Local. Grown/raised w/in a 150 mile radius of the SDUSD Food Services distribution center. • Regional. Grown/raised w/in a 250 mile radius of the SDUSD Food Services distribution center.
Local Farms • Farms that grow no less than 1crop per 500 acres. • Preference will be given to farms that grow no less than 2 crops per 250 acres. • Preference will be given to farms that are 500 acres or less. • Preference will be given to farms which utilize hand harvesting, hand packing or human labor power in the growing, harvesting, packing and selling of their food.
Local Farms, Continued • Farms that grow food organically and/or in a sustainable manner, w/ minimal detectable pesticide residues on/in final food products • Farms within the borders of the USA • Producers that use Integrated Pest Management • Farms must be willing to and capable of working with the established produce company of the FSD • Including meeting basic variety, grading and packing standards of that company. • Farms must be willing to and capable of working with or delivering directly to the FSD’s cold storage facility
Local Business Is a San Diego County based business which is family owned and/or solely operated (sole headquarters or manufacturing plants) are within San Diego County. Products which are manufactured, bottled, cooked, assembled, chopped, cut or bagged within the designated local mileage do qualify as a product made by a local business and/or community partner.
SDUSD’s F2S Process • Define “local” before any local food purchases • Vetted definition with department staff • Farm to School concept and “local” definition was approved by SDUSD legal department • Developed RFP for direct purchases of FFV • Document now at legal department • Terms will be integrated into general department procedures • To be ratified in 2012
Why Define Local? • F2S Accountability • To students, parents, staff, community, farmers and partners • F2S Program management • Guides implementation • Defines success • Staff • Understand our program • Communication w/students and staff
Why Define Local?…Continued • Partners • Tell distributors and farmers what we want and need from them • Help with identifying appropriate foods… • ”Is Stehly Farms Organicfood local?” • Develop our definition • Set our own terms, they are not told to us • We tell others what we want, reduce confusion • Gauge our Impact • Are we hitting our targets? • Are we supporting our community?
Why Define Local?...Continued • Students Health • Tasty food • Increase FFV consumption • Obesity prevention • Chronic diseasesprevention
A Unified F2S Task Force Definition? • Greater Impact • Coordinated effort makes the program stronger than when we work alone • We can change the local food system • We can encourage other schools to participate and benefit more students • Increase the local supply of food • We can build alocal food supply that meets our needs • Opens up dialogue and possibilities to engage with new vendors • Allows for custom planting • Food security for SD County • Generate scale • Coordinated orders can create scale • Example-Stehly Oranges order in September 2009
A Unified F2S Task Force Definition? • Generate support • Community working together • Help one another reach our shared goals • Example-Stehly Orange order in September 2009 • Program Management • Ease of implementation and management • Students Health • Tasty food • Fresh food