Senator Jamie Raskin

 Promoting Agriculture: Students flourish during Homegrown School Lunch Week

October 13, 2008

By Laurie Savage

TAKOMA PARK — The Maryland Homegrown School Lunch Week celebration kicked off recently at Takoma Park Middle School with the crunch of Montgomery County-grown apples.

"Food doesn't grow in the supermarket, it grows in Maryland on farms," said Sen. Jamie Raskin of Montgomery County.

Raskin was a lead sponsor, along with Del. Sheila Hixson, of Farm-to-School Program legislation.

The bill was signed into law in May. In addition to making it easier to get local Maryland produce for school menus, the program created a Maryland Homegrown School Lunch Week to promote agriculture through school meal and classroom programs and interaction between students and local farmers.

"We wanted to bring together agriculture and natural resources with our most precious resource of all -- kids," Raskin said, by matching Maryland's 12,000 farms with its 1,200 schools.

Following the formal proclamation presentation and speeches by Montgomery County and state elected officials during the kickoff celebration, Takoma Park Middle School family and consumer sciences students led visits to educational displays about agriculture in the county and across the state before hitting the cafeteria for lunch made of locally grown agricultural products.

Chuck Schuster, Montgomery County Extension horticulture educator, and George Lechlider, a Montgomery County grain farmer, distributed the apples, along with farm directories and information on the county's Agricultural Reserve, where 70,000 acres are preserved for agricultural use.

"We want you to know that there is food produced right here in Montgomery County," Schuster said.

National and state participation

Nationally, a farm-to-school program has been in place for more than 10 years with 950 farm-to-school programs operating in more than 35 states.

According to the Maryland Department of Agriculture, nearly all Maryland counties and Baltimore City participated in the statewide homegrown school lunch program, a huge increase over the department's original participation goal of four counties.

"Next year, we can't imagine how far we're going to go," Maryland Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Buddy Hance said.

More than 15,000 gala apples rolled out in Frederick County public school lunches, all provided by Catoctin Mountain Orchard in Thurmont.

"I'm glad to be supplying local apples to local schools," said Bob Black, owner of the orchard. "It's a good, nutritious snack."

Cafeteria superintendents are reporting kids standing in line to buy apples, he said.

"The kids absolutely loved it, we got rave reviews," said JoAnn Morris, food service specialist with Frederick County schools. "We aim to please the children. If they don't like it, it won't help them."

Regional watermelon and cantaloupe were served twice during the week, and the apples were offered three days during the week, she said.

Black said the local apple effort will continue for a few more weeks, and he has been asked to provide apples for other county school systems.

"We appreciate the county supporting us. It goes back to our employees, who will, in turn, spend money in the county," he said.

Providing food to local schools is another avenue farmers can take to move product in larger volume with fewer deliveries, said Colby Ferguson, agriculture business development specialist with the Frederick County Office of Economic Development.

"I think it can be an option for farmers to grow," he said.

Education

Hance said in addition to providing better nutrition in schools, the program has additional benefits for students.

"With this program, we have an opportunity to educate them," he said. While students may not have the opportunity to visit a farm, the program brings the farm to them.

Rebecca Bell, environmental education specialist with Maryland State Department of Education, said the program combined two areas of the department, school food and nutrition and the division of instruction.

Students learn about budgeting and food buying, nutrition, environmental issues, transportation and how state government and public policy shape lives, she said.

"We are in a win-win situation for our farmers, for our students and for our environment," Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett said.

For information on the Maryland Farm-to-School Program, visit www.marylandfarmtoschool.org.