Farm to School Institute:
K-12

The Farm to School Institute is a unique year-long professional learning opportunity for selected school or district teams in Oregon and Washington. The Institute supports teams in working together to create a culture of equity and wellness, improve food access, increase leadership, and strengthen local food systems. Since 2010, Vermont FEED’s Northeast Farm to School Institute, has been bringing teams together across New England and New York and since 2015, they have been working with other regions to adapt the Institute model. 2024-2025 is the first time the Institute will be offered in Oregon and Washington. Read more about our adaptation here. 

Teams selected for the Institute are given support leading up to and during the entire 2024-2025 school year. Selected teams first start with an onboarding session and ideas to gather student and family input. Then at a 3 day in-person summer retreat, teams are joined by an experienced coach that supports the team to develop an action plan inspired by workshops, learning experiences, and the work of other schools. During the school year, team members implement and adapt their plans with the support of their coach. Throughout the year, participants network and learn with peers in similar roles in a professional learning community.

The 3Cs Approach to Farm to School (adapted from Vermont FEED)

The 3Cs approach, which Vermont FEED developed in 2000, has taken root across the country as a successful model of change that connects efforts in the Cafeteria, Classroom, and Community to achieve robust and sustainable farm to school programs.

We’ve found that the more successful programs are not “add ons” to school policies and curricula, but integrated throughout the school priorities and culture. This requires collaboration among administrators, school nutrition professionals, students, families, and educators.

In the Classroom

Farm to school education provides a real-world context for learning across all disciplines. Engaging youth in hands-on opportunities such as planting school gardens, cooking food from scratch, and visiting local farms establishes meaningful connections to the curriculum and deepens understanding. Rather than an add-on to an already crowded curriculum, food, nutrition, and agriculture can be integrated within the existing curriculum, from literacy and history to math and science.

In the Cafeteria

The school cafeteria is a major hub of activity. It can be a powerful educational environment engaging youth in activities like taste tests and cooking lessons to introduce them to new foods and empower them to make healthy choices. Farm to school programs connect the expertise of school nutrition staff with education initiatives, resulting in increased participation in the meal program, reduced waste, and making nutritious food accessible to all students.

More than half of America’s children—nearly 30 million students—get daily nutrition from school meals, and schools spend over $6.3 billion on food costs. These numbers present enormous opportunities, and farm to school programs leverage this potential by strengthening connections between school meal programs and local food producers. When a cafeteria increases its local purchasing, it bolsters its local economy, resourcing it with funds that recirculate and build value long after the original sale.

In the Community

Making connections within the community builds partnerships outside the school for place-based learning and garners community support for school initiatives. Youth have opportunities to learn about how their food is produced and to develop their own agency for creating change. Farmers build relationships with schools, early childhood programs, and other local institutions that allow them to expand into other wholesale markets and boost the local economy. Community dinners, service learning projects, and harvest festivals involve parents, families, and the whole community in building a food culture that is celebratory, honors multiple foodways, and is committed to healthy and sustainable food choices.

Farm to school efforts are most successful and long-lasting when teams take the time to build commitment and capacity of a diverse set of collaborators. These must include school nutrition/food service staff, teachers, and administrators. They may also include school garden educators or managers, family members, students (middle and high school), school nurses, farmers and other food producers, and community partners. We encourage and seek diverse teams that contain members of different racial and gender identity, experience levels, and program roles. Teams for the Institute’s summer retreat are expected to be about 4-5 members, but a full team or farm to school committee can be larger during the school year. 

Consider inviting people who are already farm to school champions as well as key decision-makers and implementers who have yet to become involved but could provide valuable insights or connections when it comes time to implement your action plan. Your school may already have a group that has been working on farm to school or wellness, or there might be a committee that has worked on these efforts in the past but possibly needs a “refresh” with some new planning and new team members.

If your school has a preschool program such as Head Start, ECAP, Preschool Promise, transitional kindergarten, or other pre-k program on-site, we encourage a representative of that program to be part of your team. 

FOR SCHOOL-BASED TEAMS: Teams must be composed of 4-6 individuals representing various constituencies in the school and community. Teams must have representation from the 3 following roles: administration, teachers, school nutrition/food service. Additional team members can include: school garden educators or managers, district-level staff, school nurse and other staff, farmers or other local food producers, school board, community partners, family members, etc.

FOR SCHOOL DISTRICT-WIDE TEAMS: Currently, we are only accepting district- level applications from districts with 5 or fewer schools. Teams must be composed of 5-7 individuals representing various constituencies in the school and community. Teams must have representation from the 3 following roles: district-level administration, teachers, district-level school nutrition/food service. Additional team members can include: school garden educators or managers, school-based administration, school nurse and/or other staff,  farmers or other local food producers, school board, family members, community partners, etc.  In your application, please identify 1 or 2 particular schools in your district in which you will focus efforts on implementing a Farm to School action plan that can serve as an example for other schools within the district.  This has been found to be the most successful way to guide district teams through the planning process.

The application is used to gain an understanding of each applicant’s school community and existing farm to school efforts. We aim to build a diverse cohort of teams that have both similarities and opportunities to share lessons learned with others. We are looking for schools that prioritize making their farm to school program inclusive of diverse students and community members, equitable, and incorporating opportunities for youth and family leadership.

We use the following criteria to evaluate all applications:

• Team composition: The team has at least one member from each of the following roles: school nutrition, administrator, and educator.
• Accessibility: We consider metrics such as the percentage of students participating in free and reduced lunch (public schools/districts that serve at least 40% of children eligible for free or reduced-price meals are prioritized), demographics of the student body and staff, school location (rural/urban), and other demographic information of the geographic region.  
• Team readiness: The team demonstrates some experience in farm to school and is in a suitable phase to receive support and grow.  
• 3Cs mindset: The team has an understanding of the 3Cs (classroom, cafeteria, and community) and intends to use an integrated approach to bring the three components together.
• Equity: The team has clear goals for centering equity in their farm to school work, and demonstrates how the Institute will benefit their equity work.
• Staying power: The team has a clear commitment to farm to school, and has in-place or identified strategy and additional resources to sustain their farm to school work.
• The “why”: The team has a clear “why” for their farm to school work, and can explain how their goals align with the Institute’s vision.

The K-12 Farm to School Institute is developed with school-based programs in mind. If you are an early childhood program based at a public school, we encourage a representative of that program to be part of your school’s Farm to School Institute team. 

We are simultaneously developing a Farm to Early Care & Education Institute specifically for early childhood sites that are not connected to a school district. The Farm to Early Care & Education Institute model will vary somewhat from the K-12 Farm to School Institute model and timeline outlined here, due to the unique opportunities and challenges for early childhood sites and centers. We will post more info here as it becomes available. You are also welcome to reach out to institute@ecotrust.org for more information. 

During the summer retreat, teams gather in-person to get inspired by and learn from leaders in farm to school, build relationships across the team, gain new skills, and develop a year-long action plan for farm to school programming. A network of farm to school partners provide support via role-based professional learning communities, workshops, and learning experiences during the retreat. During the school year, as the team implements their action plan, they work with their coach to assess and adapt to successes and challenges. 

When: Kickoff retreat July 8-10, 2024; program continues through spring 2025.

Where: The retreat takes place at Oregon Garden Resort in Silverton, OR.  The rest of the year action plans are implemented at your site with virtual learning and connections continuing until the virtual program celebration and reflection in May 2025.

What: Three days of professional learning, networking, planning and fun! Participation in the summer retreat is a requirement of 4-5 members of each selected team.