What is Farm to School?
Farm to School is a movement that connects all parts of the food system with all aspects of the school day. It creates an educational opportunity for students to identify where food comes from, learn why it is important, and apply knowledge from all subject areas in an engaging way. It is experienced through eating local foods in the school cafeteria, working with school gardens, and by participating in food-based learning activities that meet established curriculum criteria.
There are no minimum requirements for what it takes to implement a F2S program; no activity is considered too small. Whether a school is serving local apples in the cafeteria, teaching students to grow a plant in science class; or having a farmer visit the school to talk about their operation, that is a farm to school program. Georgia has a strong Farm to School program that supports communities across our state and plays an important role in Fueling Georgia’s Future.
Some examples of Farm to School implementation in Georgia Schools include:
- Serving locally grown foods in school meal programs
- Curriculum connections through incorporating food, agriculture, and nutrition into the curriculum
- Taste Tests
- Hands-on learning through school gardening
- Farm field trips
- Visits to schools by farmers and related professionals including small business owners, registered dietitians, and culinary professionals
- Partnerships with Culinary Programs
Using the Farm to School logo
The Fueling Georgia’s Future Farm to School logo represents farm to school occurring in Georgia’s School Nutrition Programs.
Some suggested ideas for using the logo include:
- On serving lines and/or posted menus when Farm to school items are featured
- In parent newsletters
- As part of district wellness communications
- When sharing school meal posts/photos being used to highlight Farm to School work in your program