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November 2020
Opportunities for President-Elect Biden's USDA to Advance Farm to School & Farm to ECE
The transition to a new Presidential administration comes with a change in leadership at important federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This moment is an inflection point, where farm to school and farm to early care and education (ECE) advocates can call for new leadership in how policies and programs are administered.
While the federal Farm to School Grant Program has escaped major regulatory attacks over the last four years, it relies on and supports other programs within USDA that have suffered from agency actions. The new administration, in addition to undoing harm, has the opportunity to elevate farm to school and ECE as a proven strategy aligned with USDA’s multi-faceted mission of nourishing children and families and providing economic opportunities for farmers and communities.
On our blog, Karen Spangler, NFSN Policy Director, shares recommendations that President-elect Biden's new USDA administration can act on to advance farm to school and ECE, as well as support a more just food system for all.
Decolonizing Thanksgiving
November is Native American Heritage Month, as well as the time of the holiday commonly known as Thanksgiving. At National Farm to School Network, we're recognizing these holidays by honoring Native peoples – including Native youth – and their ongoing efforts to reclaim food sovereignty, revitalize traditional diets, and nourish their communities with the food of their ancestors. Our staff are also working to unlearn the white colonized version of history about Thanksgiving and to more deeply understand an accurate history of the Indigenous peoples of this land. We encourage you to learn with us, and to listen to the voices of Native peoples who offer their histories, stories and movements. Here are a few places to start:
LEARN: Collection of writings & videos from Indigenous persons to unlearn the history of Thanksgiving (from I-Collective)
WATCH: Voices of Indigenous Farmers (from FarmAid)
LISTEN: ThanksTaking or ThanksGiving? (from All My Relations Podcast)
REIMAGINE: Reimagining Native Food Economies (from Native American Agriculture Fund)
DECOLONIZE: De-Colonizing Your Thanksgiving Curriculum (from Gedakina, the UVM Institute for Innovative Education, Shelburne Farms and Vermont Learning for the Future)
RETHINK: ‘This Is The Year To Rethink Thanksgiving’, an interview with Sean Sherman, The Sioux Chef (from HuffPost)
READ: Profiles of Native Farm to School Champions (Intertribal Agriculture Council in partnership with National Farm to School Network)
Photo Credit: USDA
USDA Farm to School Grant RFA Now Open
The 2021 USDA Farm to School Grant Program Request for Applications (RFA) is now open! USDA will award up to $10 million in competitive grants to eligible entities in FY 2021. This year, the RFA includes three tracks – Implementation, State Agency, and a new Turnkey track – to support a variety of projects and implementation stages. Eligible schools, state and local agencies, Indian tribal organizations, small- to medium-sized agricultural producers, and non-profit organizations are eligible to apply. New for FY 2021, institutions operating the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) at non-school based sites are included in the definition of eligible schools and may apply for funding. The application deadline is January 8, 2021. Learn more here.
Looking for Application Support? National Farm to School Network advocated for the establishment of the USDA Farm to School Grant Program and is committed to ensuring this funding reaches the communities that need it most. Our team is available on a consultation basis to provide assistance during the application process and grant implementation. Contact us to learn more.
New Shared Metrics for Farm to Institution Tracking of Farm Impact
As part of the National Farm to Institution Metrics Collaborative, National Farm to School Network works with a group of farm to institution organizations across the U.S. to increase the measurement and evaluation of Farm to Institution programming. In 2019, the Collaborative set out to develop a set of shared measures to identify key farm impact metrics that can be used by farm to institution practitioners across the country. Funded by USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, the project resulted in a set of six metrics, and an accompanying set of tools and resources, to help practitioners track the impact of their local purchasing. Learn more about the National Farm to Institution Metrics Collaborative, the farm impact metrics, and how you can get involved here.
Gro More Good Hydroponics Project Continues to Grow
We are excited to announce the next iteration of the Gro More Good Hydroponics Project and our continued partnership with Scotts Miracle-Gro Foundation. Over the next two years, we will be developing a complementary curriculum to our Exploring Hydroponics guide and supporting a new cohort of schools as they engage their students with the lessons and participate in peer learning opportunities. We will be teaming up with KidsGardening again to develop the new hydroponics curriculum, targeting young learners in kindergarten through second grade. This update will focus on the plant life cycle, plant needs, plant parts, and an introduction to farm to table while using hydroponic growing as a tool for investigation. The new guide will also offer more at-home learning and growing opportunities for little ones and their families.
We look forward to sharing out the updated curriculum as well as the schools’ successes and impact incorporating hydroponics into their classrooms. In the meantime, check out the results from our pilot schools and stories from California, New York and Washington, D.C.
Farm to Early Care and Education Implementation Grant (FIG) Will Expand Efforts in 10 States and DC
The Association of State Public Health Nutritionists (ASPHN) has announced that 10 states and the District of Columbia have been awarded $90,900 each to strengthen their state-level farm to ECE initiatives for a one-year project period. National Farm to School Network will be working in partnership with ASPHN to provide support and technical assistance to grantees. Recipients were competitively selected from a pool of 21 applicants and include: Colorado, District of Columbia, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Vermont, and Washington. There were many common themes detailed among the selected proposals, including the prioritization of equity across all farm to ECE activities. This exciting new initiative demonstrates the growing interest in farm to ECE as an approach to enriching young children’s health and lives through greater access to nutritious foods and a hands-on approach to food, health and agriculture education. To read more, see the program press release here.
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Thank You Newman's Own Foundation! National Farm to School Network is thrilled to kickoff #GivingTuesday early this year with a $25,000 donation from Newman's Own Foundation. Please join us in thanking them by giving this Facebook post a Like, Love, or Care. You, too, can get a jumpstart on #GivingTuesday by making a donation to the National Farm to School Network today!
