Vermont Farm to School Network Strategy Plan: Catalyzing Action

Since 2009, the Vermont Farm to School Network has had the vision of every Vermont student and school community engaged in a local food and farm culture that nurtures children’s health, cultivates viable farms, and builds vibrant communities. We've done a lot of great things together:

• supporting 30% of our schools with state Farm to School grants
• advocating for more than $8 million in statewide funding and program support
• training hundreds of school teams to build strong farm to school programs
• investing millions of dollars in our farms and working lands enterprises
• sharing ideas, resources and support.

But we need to act strategically to find a tipping point in our complicated farm to school system.

Where to start?

There are many ways we could intervene to create change. So, Vermont FEED and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets facilitated a strategic mapping process, coming together with more than 60 farm to school leaders to understand how we can collaborate and take action to spark the growth and change we want.

How did that work?

We analyzed our current state of reality, mapped our system, defined our goal, and identified four key leverage points that have the potential to radically change the system. We formed Action Teams around those leverage points. Each team identified strategies and actions through a series of 90-day projects that can “move the needle” on the leverage points in our system. Every 90 days or so we come back together to review progress, adjust course, confirm our next steps, and get to work again. A Steering Committee called the “Common Circle” meets regularly to coordinate efforts and communication, identify gaps, allocate funding, measure progress, and ensure that the whole group is moving toward the goal.

VT Farm to School System Goal: By 2025, 75% of Vermont Schools will lead the cultural shift to a values-based food system that engages 75% of our Students in integrated food system education; community-based learning; nourishing universal meals; and the experience of self-efficacy ; purchasing at least 50% from a socially just and environmentally and financially sustainable regional food system.

Levers of Change

• Relative Value to programs without FTS components, both financially (cost of local vs. out-of-state apples, and investment in local communities), and educationally (fewer absences and behavior disruptions, greater engagement, and job training skill).
• Policy Demand to support universal school meals and local purchasing through funding to expand and innovate in farm to school programming. We need legislators to see FTS as a key strategy in tackling other top legislative issues, including healthcare cost containment, education priorities, and economic development.
• Supply & Profitability. We need to make it profitable for local farms to sell their product to schools and practical for schools to buy it. We need to understand the barriers and opportunities for each and develop innovations to make local purchasing easier.
• Market & Network Coordination to make it simple for food service staff to find, purchase, cook, and serve local foods; easy for administrators and teachers to understand the benefits and integrate FTS programs into their classrooms and curriculums; and effortless for community members to get involved.

Progress

The Vermont Community Foundation recently awarded over $500,000 in grants through their Food and Farm Initiative, which included grants to each of the five Action Team projects. The projects include collecting the evidence and stories of the impact of farm to school, strengthening the capacity of farm to school coordinators, expanding participation in universal school meals and breakfast programs, and collecting information on local procurement through a new tracking tool.

Join us in making farm to school the norm for Vermont's classrooms, cafeterias, and communities. Visit our the strategy website for more information and updates.