Farm to Cafeteria Connections
Farm to Cafeteria Connections is a network of foodservice professionals, farmers and ranchers, and leaders in Montana's local food movement who are working together to create and grow Farm to Cafeteria programs in Montana. We learn from each other through our listserv, website, conference calls, and special events.
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Please follow this link to join the Montana Food & Ag listserv, a 500 member email list used to discuss issues relating to the Montana Food System.
Profile
Glendive Farm to Table
Farm to School Activities: Fall 2009-Winter 2010
In Glendive this past fall, a Local Food and Wellness Committee was formed to address the need to get more local food into our community. The Committee is made up of the school food service director, the Director of the Health Dept and WIC, a hospital dietitian, a teacher, a farmer, and a few of us from Farm-to-Table. We first came together to organize an Eat-in, which is a potluck style sit-in where people gathered to eat and celebrate homemade local food, and kids getting access to local food in schools. From then on we began having lunch meetings at different institutions in town – we ate at the high school, middle school, elementary school, and the county prison. Experiencing the schools/institutional food was an important first step in working to change it.
Just before Thanksgiving we organized a Harvest Lunch Week at area schools to celebrate local foods and the harvest. Each day of the week we had a local food item in the school lunch; apples, beans, pumpkins, beef, potatoes and even local root-beer! It took a lot of volunteer work to process raw ingredients for the schools, but it paid off when all the kids wrote letters to Senator Baucus telling him about Harvest Lunch Week and how they liked fresh and healthy food. We sent in a total of 101 letters to the Senator from students, teachers and food service workers asking to increase the reimbursement rate by $1 per child per day so that the schools can afford local food on a regular basis, and support our farmers and communities. This was part of a national letter writing campaign catalyzed by Slow Food USA in preparation for the Child Nutrition Act Reauthorization.
Harvest Lunch Week was a great success as we received overwhelming support in the press and on the streets, the students enjoyed higher better food, and the cafeteria workers said how much more enjoyable it was to cook with fresher, higher quality foods. Since the Harvest Week, the schools are now buying local beans when they can and have learned to make homemade granola with local barley flakes from Western Trails Food. They have only been able to buy local products once since January but it is a step in the right direction to changing what food is served in the lunchroom and where it comes from.
Learn more about Community GATE's Farm to Table project, and the progress they are making toward a sustainable local food system.
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| Staff with signs advertising local foods as part of Harvest Lunch Week. | Eat In local foods potluck to raise awareness of child nutrition issues. |
Producer Lists
Who are some of the Montana food producers that already sell to institutions?
- Montana's institutions are often able to purchase local foods through existing distributors. View a list of Montana foods that are available through
Sysco and Food Services of America (FSA).
Note: These lists are posted in order to offer an example of which kinds of Montana products are available, be sure to ask your Sysco or FSA representative for the most updated information.
Seasonal Availability
What Montana-grown foods are available in January? April? July?
Want to sell your products locally?
Selling Produce Locally: A Briefing Paper for Produce Growers 
[PDF/21K]
3 Ways to Sell Meat Locally: A Briefing Paper for Meat Farmers [PDF/27K]
Other Montana Farm to Cafeteria Resources
Time
Need more personnel to help you develop your program? Consider using AmeriCorps volunteers!
Americorps VISTA Information Page PDF/92K]
Information
The Office of Public Instruction's Child Nutrition Program and Montana Team Nutrition are leading supporters of Farm to School. Learn more about the resources they provide.
Marlee Ostheimer, former FoodCorps member at Gallatin Valley Farm to School, compiled facts and the latest research on school nutrition and farm to cafeteria in this easy-to-read document. [PDF/206K]
Policy
Montana's procurement law encourages purchase of local foods.
Montanans forging the way
University of Montana Missoula Farm to College:
http://life.umt.edu/uds/name/Overview
University of Montana Western Farm to College:
www.umwestern.edu/studentlife/dining/page4.htm
Montana State University Bozeman Montana Made:
www.montana.edu/ufs/Montana_Made.php
Gallatin Valley Farm to School:
www.farmtoschool.org/state-programs.php
Missoula County Community Food & Agriculture Coalition Farm to School Project:
www.umt.edu/cfa/farmtoschool.htm
Farm to School Montana Profile
www.farmtoschool.org/MT/
Research
Food Systems Research
www.growmontana.ncat.org/resources.php
*Do you know a resource that should be added to this webpage? Please email kevin1.moore@umontana.edu
National Farm to Cafeteria Links and Resources
National Farm to School Network: www.farmtoschool.org
• Policy: www.farmtoschool.org/policies.php
• Funding Opportunities: www.farmtoschool.org/fundingopps.php
Center for Ecoliteracy
• Rethinking School Lunch Guide: www.ecoliteracy.org/programs/rsl-guide.html
• Model Wellness Policy Guide: www.ecoliteracy.org/programs/wellness_policy.html
Vermont FEED:
"How Do We Feed Vermont's School Children:
An Insider's Guide to Vermont School Meals and How to Improve Them."
Ecotrust's report on the economic impacts of Oregon's Farm to School program.
Renegade Lunch Lady: Ann Cooper's website.
Highlights of Farm to School Policy from Oregon and Washington.
Community Food Security Coalition: www.foodsecurity.org/farm_to_school.html
• Policy: www.foodsecurity.org/policy.html
• Funding Opportunities (Community Food Projects Grants): www.foodsecurity.org/funding.html
• Farm to Hospital: www.foodsecurity.org/F2H_Brochure.pdf
Center for Food & Justice
• Farm to Hospital: http://departments.oxy.edu/uepi/cfj/f2h.htm
http://departments.oxy.edu/uepi/cfj/publications/farm_to_hospital.htm
FoodRoutes Farm to Cafeteria:
www.foodroutes.org/farmtoschool.jsp
World Hunger Year – Food Security Learning Center:
http://www.worldhungeryear.org/fslc/faqs/ria_063.asp?section=6&click=1
*Do you know a resource that should be added to this webpage? Please email kevin1.moore@umontana.edu