Cornell Farm to School Program

Our Mission
Through outreach education, applied research, and program development, the mission of the Cornell Farm to School is to build awareness, increase knowledge, and support efforts to increase the amount of locally produced fresh or minimally processed foods served in New York's schools, colleges, universities, and other institutions.

Intended Outcomes

1. Schools, colleges and universities will increase the amount of New York-grown and produced foods in their food service.
2. Students, teachers, parents, school food service directors and community members will increase their awareness of their local food and agricultural systems.
3. NYS farmers will gain access to local markets

Strategies
Cornell Farm to School conducts research, provides educational opportunities, and offers technical assistance to extension educators, nutrition professionals, food service directors, farmers, parents, and students interested in developing farm to school connections. The program website functions as an informational hub and provides on-line resources, relevant links, policy updates, surveys, and data for up-to-date information about farm to school interests, opportunities, challenges and activities across the state.

Program Context
The Cornell Farm to School Research and Extension Program is supported in part by Cornell Cooperative Extension and is based in the Division of Nutritional Sciences in both the College of Human Ecology and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The program focuses on sharing resources, news and policy updates, and tools designed to help extension educators and other community leaders develop, sustain, and grow relationships between New York farmers, school food service providers, teachers and community members. Cornell Farm to School aims to engage stakeholders in addressing converging issues: child and adolescent health, diet and school meal quality, and the sustainability of the food and agriculture system.

Partners
The Cornell Farm to School Program happily partners with the following New York and Northeast-based organizations and agencies on a regular basis:

• National Association of College and University Food Service
• New York State Agriculture in the Classroom Program
• New York State Assembly Task Force on Food, Farm and Nutrition Policy
• New York State Apple Growers Association
• New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets
• New York State Department of Education
• New York State Department of Health
• New York Farm Bureau
• New York School Nutrition Association
• New York State Vegetable Growers Association
• Northeast Farm to School Network-Regional Lead Agencies

Background
The Cornell Farm to School Program was established in 2002 with funding from the USDA Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems, and further developed with support from Cornell Cooperative Extension, Smith/Lever and Hatch funds, and a Profession Development Program grant from Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NESARE).