Vermont Farm to School Network Progress Update

The Vermont Farm to School Network has had an ambitious vision for spreading FTS to every community in VT, but we didn’t have a concrete plan to get to our goal until last year when we used a “systems mapping” approach to set a course and organized ourselves for taking collaborative action. We identified four critical leverage points to help us reach a tipping point to scale up FTS. We involved 60 stakeholders, 35 organizations and Network members, and created 5 Action Teams organized around strategies for change. You can read more about the process and Network goal here.

Recently, the Action Teams came together in Montpelier to report on their progress, celebrate achievements, and plan for the next steps. Here is an update:

The Economic Value team has been looking at measuring the economic value that FTS contributes to schools, communities, and the state. They are working with UVM researchers to complete a literature review and on utilizing economic modeling software to analyze the benefits and costs of farm to school.Their economic impact report will be completed by February 2016.

The Ease of Use team is working to increase the capacity for Farm to School coordination through professional development and resources. They have hosted two “Community of Practice” meetings with 50 farm to school practitioners and surveyed 121 farm to school coordinators throughout the state. The takeaways from both of these projects will inform how to create processes that make farm to school coordination and implementation easier.

The Policy Demand team is working on universal school meals. They worked with the Vermont Agency of Education to create an alternative family income reporting form that greatly simplifies the process for data collection. This year, an additional 21 schools are implementing universal meals, now reaching over 11,000 Vermont students, and they will be rolling out the Breakfast after the Bell Challenge in early 2016.

The Supply Innovation team is working on identifying key products currently purchased by schools that can be grown and supplied locally. They developed a local purchasing tracking tool for schools and are gathering data from distributors and schools. They will be launching a school food marketing project called Vermont School Food: What is on Your Plate Today? This is the first such school meal marketing campaign in the state and will be piloting in 10 middle and high schools to build participation in school meals.

The Educational Value team is working to build a strong commitment for FTS from education leaders and create stronger alignment between FTS and current education priority initiatives. They have been working with a digital storyteller to chronicle stories of impact in VT schools. Four completed stories were shared at the meeting that showcased how farm to school can be integrated into the classroom, cafeteria, and community and the positive ways in which students and adults respond. They are working on developing a “story-gathering toolkit” to be used in training other story-gatherers in the Network.

The Network is a complex web. Everything and everyone is connected. The people doing this work are deeply embedded and have succeeded in finding a path through the entanglement. Our December gathering was a great demonstration of the collective impact we are having towards the Network’s goal of 75% of Vermont schools engaging 75% of Vermont students in integrated food system education, purchasing at least 50% of school food from the regional food system, by 2025.