2. 2 | P a g e
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
All across our nation, Farm to School programs are emerging as communities work
together toward the common goal of connecting local sources of healthy, just, and
sustainable food to our school cafeteria plates. It is never an over-night success, but a
collaborative process requiring a great deal of communication, visioning, planning,
and implementation. The Farm-to-School Hive is one of many conversations going on
around our community which are helping shape our Farm-to-School system. Thank you
for participating in the conversation and be sure to keep it going among your friends,
neighbors and schools.
Special thanks to IDEAS FOR US for the Hive collaboration solution and some of the local
folks that fuel this conversation:
OUR SPECIAL GUESTS
Lindsey Grubbs, Florida Farm to School Lead at the Florida Department of
Agriculture and Consumer Services
Christina Walmer, Northwest Florida District Coordinator, Florida Farm to School UF-
IFAS
OUR PANEL OF EXPERTS
Cathy Reed, Director of Leon County Schools Food and Nutrition Services
Reggie Glover, Student at Rickards High School
Cetta Barnhart, Project Coordinator at Seed Time Harvest Farms
Katie Harris, Certified Naturally Grown Farmer at Full Earth Farms
OUR SUPPORT TEAM
Heidi Copeland, Extension Agent of Family & Consumer Sciences at IFAS Extension
Nathan Ballentine, iGrow Youth Farm and Tallahassee Food Network
Alexandra Quintero, Masters Student at FSU Department of Urban & Regional
Planning
Justin Vandenbroeck, Graduate in Industrial Engineering at FAMU/FSU School of
Engineering
Wes Shaffer, Masters Student at FSU Department of Urban & Regional Planning
3. 3 | P a g e
HIVE MEETING OVERVIEW
We begin our meeting with a short
presentation about what Farm-to-School (F2S) is.
On the surface, F2S is exactly what it seems like;
connecting our local and regional farm produce
to our school cafeterias. As we explore the idea
further, we realize that the opportunities for F2S
are tremendous because healthy food not only
fuels our students’ but is a conduit for exploring
all sorts of educational opportunities in science,
technology, engineering, math,
entrepreneurship, and more.
We then speak with Lindsey Grubs via
Google Hangout. From the 7th National Farm to
Cafeteria Conference in Austin, Texas, Lindsay
shares with us all the ways that the Florida
Department of Agriculture and Consumer Service
are moving F2S forward statewide. They are a
source of information, coordination support, and
of course creative ideas!
Next our panel of F2S experts paints the
local picture of some of the challenges and
opportunities for F2S. Cathy Reed describes
her aspirations for procuring the freshest food
possible however there are infrastructure
challenges in that she is not always able to
store and process fresh foods. Reggie Glover,
a fan of LCS cafeteria food, reminds us of how
important eating healthy is for academic
success and how there are many student
leaders pushing our fresh food system forward!
4. 4 | P a g e
Cetta Barnhart illustrates an interesting
phenomenon in which she witnesses beautiful
produce going to waste in farm fields near
Tallahassee. She exclaims that this oversupply
is a coordination issue which Seed Time Harvest
works to resolve. Katie Harris details the
complete opposite issue she experiences on
the Red Hills Online Market (rhomarket.com),
not enough food to meet demand. Many of
these issues seem to overlap and potentially
have similar solutions. We explore these and
other issues during Nathan Ballentine’s Open-
Space Technology Break-out Session.
OPEN-SPACE TECHNOLOGY BREAK-OUT SESSION
Members of our audience champion specific
topics relating to F2S by announcing their
interest – their location in the room becomes
the anchor for where people meet to discuss
that topic. The remaining audience members
then openly walk to the topic anchors and the
discussion begins. Our topics include:
Important Certification Requirements
Distribution
Farmer Interest
School Garden Network
Nutrition Education
Making fresh food appetizing and
reducing plate waste
Kitchen Staffing
5. 5 | P a g e
CERTIFICATIONS – REQUIREMENTS TO
DO FARM TO SCHOOL
Maybe need a list of certifications
Good Agricultural Processes (GAP)
o Cost depends on size of
farm, deems your
agricultural practices safe
for the consumer,
protection for farmer and
consumer
o Auditor: Primus – Third party,
expensive, private ($90-
$100/hour), usually 5 hours
Requirements to do Farm to School
They want GAP certification for
farmers and distribute on
Would be good to find a way for small growers with high productivity to farm to school
I want to create a Prezi on how to get GAP certification
Distributers denote GAP certification on packaging
Potential Resources: Can we get a link with F2S farmer/distributer certification info?
DISTRIBUTION
County funded study on financial viability of a new distribution center
Blue Oven incubator in Gainesville, FL
Costs that go into creating distribution center need to be established
Co-operative model farming model and need for farmers education
ECO has a model for farmer co-operative owned distribution center
How are we going to share information within this group as a whole
Food waste issues could potentially be solved with farmer planting schedules and Leon County
School System having talk about demand
How much land would we need for a distribution center? – Must be close to I-10 and other major
truck routes
Potential Resources:
6. 6 | P a g e
Blue Oven Kitchens main site –http://www.blueovenkitchens.org/about/
Examples from Blue Oven Kitchens’ website:
1. North Central Florida Food Safety Certification –IFAS Food Safety and Quality Program
http://fycs.ifas.ufl.edu/foodsafety/indexfsqp.htm#registration
2. Workshops and Training
3. For a full list of resources from Blue Oven Kitchens
http://www.blueovenkitchens.org/resources/
USDA Report on Co-op Distribution Models
http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=stelprdc5097504
INTEREST FROM LOCAL GROWERS
1. Price – is it worth it?
2. Quality – can the school district pay fort the quality?
3. Community interest – we need community pressure
Potential Resources:
Co-op Distribution Models
Adam Diamond, James Barham. Moving Food Along the Value Chain: Innovations in Regional Food
Distribution. USDA Marketing Service. 2012.
http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=stelprdc5097504
SCHOOL GARDENS
Easy to get a garden, but maintaining is tricky
o Garden coordinator – implementation plan from the get go
Schools are autonomous, so knowing who has a garden is tricky
o Kate Sullivan is balling out
o Kids sneaking away to garden
o Creating meaningful experiences
District wide infrastructure – people not food
Training students in surrounding communities to be ambassadors
NUTRITION EDUCATION (INFORMATION DISSEMINATION)
Evaluate where the strengths are for their desired involvement
o This has a number of complications:
o This program is for children (let’s not lose sight of that)
7. 7 | P a g e
o How important is education in this?
Ghazvini – ecological, cultural, as well as a program
Curriculum centered around food
Food can make people more interested about school
2 educating potentials
1. Agrinauts
2. Curriculum ---(Agrinaut curriculum)
Personalizing nutrition
o Consider:
o Classroom
o Garden
o Home Life
Issues
o Dealing with the political reality of education
o Teachers
Talked about F2S grant requirements
o Evaluation (SHED FSU)
o Education requirement
Potential Resources: Local Garden Links
8. 8 | P a g e
FOOD IS APPETIZING AND CONSUMED WITH LIMITED PLATE WASTE
Cycle menus
Appeal
Seasoning
Forced to eat – recess
Variety
Own options of what to eat instead of not being able to pick food I want choices
LABOR KITCHEN STAFF
1. More preparation involved – staff is used to heating and serving (chef in 3 schools- chili and salad
dressing)
2. Staff follows directions to a “T”
3. Creating more prep cook positions in schools might facilitate the work of the staff
4. Train to use equipment
How to instill pride in staff?
Paid approximately $8.50, baker, cook, manager, assistant
Pre-blended seasoning (eliminate room for error)
Turn kitchen into processing type plant – 60,000 big freezer, quick chill system
I want to make them step back and have more pride in cooking
I want to talk to entire staff about SML
I want kids to like the feel of the lunchroom making kids wants to eat there
o Title One schools eat more than others
CONCLUSION
This is a general overview of our conversation. In truth, this document does not capture every great
idea from this Hive event. Please feel free to make edits to this document, add value and resources
to it, share it with friends, and continue the conversation. We greatly appreciate your participation
and hope that you leave with more enthusiasm and direction than when you originally arrive. For
additional questions or comments you may contact Wes Shaffer at (239) 682-4434 or
thomaswesleyshaffer@gmail.com. Thank you again!
