Bringing local foods to schools by land and by sea

Taking Root

National Farm to Cafeteria Conference

Detroit, MI

May 17-19

Bringing Local Foodsto Schools:

By Land & By Sea

Bringing Local Foods to School: By Land and By Sea

AMY WINSTON, PH.D.

NATIONAL FARM TO SCHOOL NETWORK& COASTAL ENTERPRISES, INC

ARW@CEIMAINE.ORG

State of Maine Coastal Counties

Atlantic Ocean

Settlement Pattern: A

Century of Growth in Lincoln County,

1891-2007

Agriculture

292 farms in 2002 (up 4% from 1997)30,618 acres cultivated in 2002 (up 2%)Avg. farm size 105 acres (down 1%)Market Value $7.5M (up 10%)Avg. $25, 829 per farm (up 6%)

Public Health

In Maine (CDC):Obesity rates have risen 100% in 17 years (from 12% of Mainers in 1990 to 26% in 2006).59% of Maine residents overweight or obese. About 25% of Maine high school students are overweight.36% of Maine kindergartners have BMI in the 85th percentile.

Maine Child Health Survey (MCHS)Children entering kindergarten in 2003 Preliminary Data:

18% with BMIs 85-94% (“at risk for overweight”)15% with BMIs greater than 95% (“overweight”)33% have high BMIs!

Because of obesity and overweight, our youth may be the first generation in America to not live as long as their parents.

The Costs: Economic Impact of Chronic Disease

Over $2 billion in health care dollars every year in Maine (Chenoweth et al. 2006)Adult obesity in Maine estimated to cost 11% of the State’s medical expenditures$6.7 billion in total health costs in Maine

$1.4 billion in direct treatment and $5.3 billion in indirect costsObesity raises individual health care costs by 36%/medication costs by 77%Direct costs of obesity/physical inactivity account for 9.4% of U.S. health care expenditures (2001, JAMA)FMI: DeVol, Ross, and Armen Bedroussian, An Unhealthy America: The Economic Burden of Chronic Disease, Milken Inst., Oct. 2007 (chronicdiseaseimpact.org)

Farm to School Impacts:Student Impacts (diet, knowledge, attitudes, behavior, choices)Institutional Impacts

Impacts on School Food Service ViabilityIncrease in School Meal ParticipationIncrease in Local Food Procurement

Impacts on FarmersCommunity Impacts(Source: Joshi A and Azuma A M, Farm to School Impacts: A review of evaluation findings, indicators and tools. Center for Food and Justice, Occidental College. ([forthcoming])

“Our future rests on our being able to take care of our kids, teach them how to take care of the land, how to nourish themselves, and how to gather at the table.

That is where our culture is passed on to the next generation.” -Alice Waters

“Farm - and Fish - to School as Economic Development”

Taking Root - Detroit, May 18 2010

Amy Winston, Ph.D.Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI)Northeast Regional Lead, National Farm to School Networkemail: arw@ceimaine.org tel. 207/882-7552

Bringing Local Foods to School: By Land and By Sea

BRETT TOLLEY

NORTHWEST ATLANTIC MARINE ALLIANCE

BRETT@NAMANET.ORG

Small scale vs.

large scale

Figure 1. Schematic illustration of the duality of large and small scale fisheries prevailing in most countries of the world (statistics are global). Adapted from graph in Pauly (2006).

CSF Drop off

Bringing Local Foods to School: By Land and By Sea

AMANDA BEAL

MAINE’S EAT LOCAL FOODS COALITION & CULTIVATING COMMUNITY

AMANDA@CULTIVATINGCOMMUNITY.ORG

By Land & By Sea:Connecting Maine’s Farming &

Fishing Communities

PARTNERS

PENOBSCOT EAST RESOURCE CENTERNORTHWEST ATLANTIC MARINE ALLIANCEISLAND INSTITUTEMAINE SEA GRANT/UNIVERSITY OF MAINE COOPERATIVE EXTENSIONMAINE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUREMAINE ORGANIC FARMERS AND GARDENERS ASSOCIATIONMAINE FARMLAND TRUSTFOOD FOR MAINE’S FUTURECULTIVATING COMMUNITYPORTLAND MAINE PERMACULTURENEW ENGLAND ENVIRONMENTAL FINANCE CENTER, MUSKIE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC SERVICEMAINE COUNCIL OF CHURCHESBELFAST CO-OP

Why bridge silos between farmers & fishermen?

Our food system includes farm and aquatic productsOur foodshed and watershed are interconnectedOur food security lies in resource conservation – natural & human

Goal & Process

Multi-level Discussions:

Farmers & FishermenNGOs, State Departments, Educational Institutions and other OrganizationsPolicymakersWholesalers/distributers

The ultimate goal of By Land and By Sea is to amplify the voices of our farmers and fishermen and create a grassroots movement to advocate for their recommendations.

Topics of Exploration

PolicyMarket Access/MarketingInfrastructure/Processing/TransportationConsumer Education

Maine Food Access & Resource Maps

By Land & By Sea: Outcomes

Outcomes in process:

A shared strategic plan between organizationsBetter leveraging of resources, less duplication of efforts

Policy recommendations for the next Governor of Maine

Current impacts:

Overall communication web is expandingStrategic conversations between farmers and fishermen, and between organizations are happeningPolicymaker connections are growingInterest in other U.S. regions and other countries to learn about and potentially replicate the process

PARTNERS:PORTLAND PUBLIC SCHOOL DEPARTMENTCULTIVATING COMMUNITYCUMBERLAND COUNTY COOPERATIVE EXTENSIONMAINE ORGANIC FARMERS & GARDENERS ASSOCIATIONPROP/COMMUNITIES PROMOTING HEALTH COALITIONLOCAL SPROUTS COOPERATIVE

Recipes for Success

Building on a successful one day event: The Maine Harvest Lunch

How to move from one day event to year-round?

Challenges…

Seasonal availabilityFinding farm and fish productsProcessing – physical infrastructure, knowledge, timeBudgetAdministrative & staff buy-in

Seeking solutions…

NESARE grant, allowing exploration:

Creating more links to local food producersBuilding seasonal food processing capacity

Strawberries, Rhubarb, Carrots, ZuchinniRecipe development & evaluationRevenue building streams for school kitchenDocumentation & Toolkit to share with other schools

Building the Recipes for Success Toolkit

Recipes for Success: Outcomes

Outcomes in process:

Wiki Toolkit in development for other schoolsExploring potential for Portland central kitchen to be a regional processing hub for neighboring school districtsOther community partners utilizing kitchen in off hours for fee

Current impacts:

Better control over nutritional content of foodsFavorable student response to evaluationConnections with local farmers have expandedFish is on the radar!

THANK YOU!

Q&A