Farm to school stories: Meet the producers and purchasers

Farm to school and early care and education (ECE) build strong relationships with local food producers and supports access to local foods through gardening activities, agricultural education, and local food purchasing at schools and ECE sites.

In Oregon, food producers and nutrition staff are doing incredible work so that the students in their communities can eat fresh produce and culturally relevant dishes and deepen their connection with their local food system. These stories uplift their care in and perseverance to this work, and provide insight into what building relationships with local producers or school districts and early childhood programs can look like. Stories will be released weekly.

For producers who are interested in selling to schools and early childhood programs, check back weekly to hear how Salsas Locas, Fishpatrick’s Tuna, Happy Curry Foods, and Full Cellar Farm have entered the farm to school marketplace and how they are able to consistently sell to school and early childhood programs in Oregon.

School and early childhood nutrition staff who are looking for guidance on how to increase their programs’ local procurement can read how Mt. Hood Community College Head Start and Early Head Start nutrition services manager Kara Carsner and Reedsport School District food service director Thomas Kyelberg are building relationships with producers in their area. They both reflect on how buying local makes their menus more culturally diverse, navigating funding for local procurement, and how they have built stable relationships with producers in their area.