Blog - Illinois Farm to School Network

Illinois Farm to School Program receives $85,000 USDA Grant

November 18, 2015Written by Diane Chapeta

Seven Generations Ahead (SGA), the convening organization for the Illinois Farm to School Network, has been selected to receive a competitive USDA Farm to School Grant. The funds will be used to create a robust farm to school program in Kane Country, in partnership with the Kane County Health Department. Alongside the development of the Kane County Food Hub, this project will increase local food distribution, access and education within Aurora area schools.

Lydia Mills, Farm to School Program Coordinator at SGA, knows from experience that when students take part in farm to school programs, they are more willing to try new, healthy foods. “This grant will enable us to work closely with local farmers and create an easy path for their nutritious food to end up on student’s plates,” she says. “We will also bring our programs into Aurora schools to teach students about food and how it grows, so they are excited to try it!”

The USDA is a major advocate for these types of programs. “Farm to school programs work—for schools, for producers, and for communities,” notes USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack. “By serving nutritious and locally grown foods, engaging students in hands-on lessons, and involving parents and community members, these programs provide children with a holistic experience that sets them up for a lifetime of healthy eating. With early results from our Farm to School Census indicating schools across the nation invested nearly $600 million in local products, farm to school also provides a significant and reliable market for local farmers and ranchers.”

There have been $4.8 million in grant funds from the USDA distributed this year for 74 projects spanning 39 states. Seven Generations Ahead is the only 2016 grantee in Illinois. Across the Midwest, many school districts received implementation grants to increase their farm to school efforts. You can find the list of newly funded projects at the USDA website.

The latest round of USDA Farm to School Grants brings investment since the program’s inception in fiscal year 2013 to $19.9 million. Projects have been funded in all 50 states, DC, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. This grant program started with the bipartisan passage of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. The renewal of this law, also known as the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act, is still being debated in Congress, and a Farm to School Act marker bill seeks to increase farm to school funding to further develop these types of programs.

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Great Apple Crunch Highlights

October 28, 2015Written by Diane Chapeta

Did you hear that? That was the sound of almost 600,000 students, teachers, parents, and farm to school supporters CRUNCHING into local apples for the Second Annual Great Apple Crunch. Over 850 schools, preschools, colleges, non-profits, state agencies and others across the midwest celebrated National Farm to School Month by crunching into locally grown apples on Thursday, October 22nd.

Participants joined in on the Great Apple Crunch from across the region, including Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Over 830 schools and 530,000 students crunched to show their support of farm to school throughout the week – from small towns like Hastings, MI, and Manitowoc, WI, to big cities like Minneapolis and Chicago. In Wisconsin over 30 orchards participated in the Crunch!

This was the first time participating for Illinois, and we had a strong start with support from schools, students, media outlets, and many organizations. The highlights of the articles that were published online along with links to the original publications can be found below.

Lombard, IL

Community Contributor, Jay Wojcik, wrote an article for the Chicago Tribune on Oct. 9th. Jay wrote about the activities occurring in Lombard, IL for the Great Apple Crunch and stated the participation of the Healthy Lombard Foundation during this event. Kids were encouraged to join by eating apples at noon on October 22nd or going to their local Jewel-Osco in Lombard, which gave out coupons for apples. Read more here.

Bloomington, IL

Kay Shipman wrote an article on the Illinois Farm Bureau’s radio and news website, FarmWeekNow.com. Kay wrote about Bloomington High School seniors who were eating local apples prior to the event. Bloomington HS received their apples from local grower, Flamm Orchards of Cobden, IL. Kay interviewed Cynthia Haskins and Kevin Daugherty from IFB, both of whom were invaluable partners with IFSN to make this pilot event so successful. Read the original article here.

Illinois Farm Bureau, Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom (IAITC) and Illinois Farm to School Network collaborated on the pilot project to encourage Illinois schools to use Illinois-grown apples “as supplies allow,” said Cynthia Haskins, IFB manager of business development and compliance.

IAITC and county ag literacy coordinators helped distribute 5,000 posters promoting the project as well as classroom apple activities offered in the new apple Ag Mag … We’re promoting everybody eat an Illinois apple on national Farm To School Day Oct. 22,” said Kevin Daugherty, IFB education director.

Springfield, IL

GrowSpringfield.org and the Springfield State Journal-Register posted articles about the Great Apple Crunch. Growspringfield.org stated that the event promotes healthy eating and “The Great Apple Crunch is a great way to showcase local Midwestern food and farmers.” Read more here.

Rich Saal from the SJ-R posted the week of October 19-25 under the visual journal, showcasing pictures and events from each day of the week. For october 22nd, the Great Apple Crunch was showcased. First graders from Enos School were shown crunching into their apples with just a few teeth. Apples eaten in the district were donated by local grower Rendleman Orchards in Altopass, IL. Read more here.

Bensenville, IL

The Bensenville School District posted their activities and celebration for the first Great Apple Crunch on their school website. The school district stated that the students would be crunching into local Fuji and Golden Delicious apples from Michigan. This event is a way of increasing student education to eat local fruits and vegetables. View their posting here or their newsletter here.

Carbondale, IL

On Great Apple Crunch Day, Kevin Boucher, from WSIU posted a short audio interview with Lydia Mills, SGA Illinois Farm to School Coordinator, and Ulli Tragoudas, Food Service Director at Unity Point School in Carbondale. Lydia can be heard describing the event and its purpose while Ulli describes the excitement and reactions from the students at Unity Point, which is one of many Southern Illinois Schools that participated in the event. The original article and interviews can be read and heard here.

Macomb, IL

Western Illinois University published a story about their Communicating Agriculture Issues students who have been working on agriculture advocacy projects. One project occurred on Oct 22, during the Great Apple Crunch. WIU students passed out apple slices with caramel around campus while informing fellow students about apple facts and asking them to support local Illinois Apple farmers. Read more here.

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Oak Park Schools Crunch Into Local Apples

October 22, 2015Written by Diane Chapeta

Hundreds of students in Oak Park, Illinois participated in the 2015 Great Apple Crunch on Wednesday, October 21st at William Beye Elementary and Oak Park River Forest High School (OPRFHS) with free, locally grown gala apples. William Beye Elementary incorporated apples grown at Rendleman Orchards in Alto Pass, Il into the lunch that was served to the children, and OPRFHS offered their students local apples from Jack Brown Produce in Michigan.

OPRFHS had great student involvement from their farm to school student group who set up three booths around their cafeterias for the apple crunch with posters and games. In addition to an
official Great Apple Crunch poster, the students created their own promotional sign: “North Cafeteria, South Cafeteria, The Mall, Every student gets a FREE apple”. Each booth also had Great Apple Crunch handout sheets, and a fun game where they had to guess the amount of calories in a basket of apples and a mason jar full of Hershey’s Kisses. The game was set up so that both the large basket of apples and the smaller jar of chocolates had the same amount of calories. The winners who guessed correctly won the basket of apples!

As students walked by and took their apples we asked them for their comments on the Great Apple Crunch and their thoughts on the locally procured fruit. One student remarked “Apples are the best!”, and another student stated that “Honeycrisp apples are nature’s candy” when we were talking about our favorite varieties. Many students were excited, and some were shocked when told that we were giving out the apples for free.

After trying his local apple, one student remarked “I would eat more fruit at school if it all tasted this good.”

One conscientious student noted that “local apples are cheaper, better for the economy, fresher because they aren’t in transport as long, and they are healthier for us.“

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Early Results From the 2015 USDA Farm to School Census are Here

October 21, 2015Written by Diane Chapeta

On Tuesday, Oct 20th, the Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack released preliminary results
from the 2015 USDA farm to school census, which represents data from the 2013-2014 school year. The last survey was conducted two years ago, and provided information on the state of farm to school programming for the 2011-2012 school year. Final results won’t be available until early 2016, but the currently available data is very encouraging!

Over half a billion dollars were invested in local foods; an increase of 55% (212 million dollars) from the previous census. Almost half of those who responded indicated that they wanted to increase their local food purchasing even more in the future. There are now over 42,000 schools across the country who are participating in farm to school activities!

While supporting the local economy by providing new market options for local farmers, fisherman, and ranchers, 75% of respondents found these additional benefits from farm to school programming:

Greater participation in school meals
Increased community support
Less food waste
Lower food costs

The USDA wants to make sure their data is as accurate as possible, and they’re asking school districts to review and submit information at the 2015 farm to school census website. They will be accepting corrections and new data until November 20, 2015. Click here to learn more about the farm to school census.

There’s still time to make your voice heard and show your support for the 2015 Child Nutrition and Reauthorization Act, to make sure the USDA can continue to support farm to school programming, and continue to provide healthy school meals for our children.

Coming up on Thursday, October 22nd the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition is organizing a Big Day of Farm to School Action. Show your support for the Farm to School Act of 2015 by sharing your stories on social media, contacting your legislators, and helping to grow the farm to school movement!

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