Bill Establishes Farm-to-School Program in Texas

Hello Sustainable Food people, remember me? I'll be doing my best to help Melissa with content for this blog while Natasha is away.  Looking forward to getting back into the farm and food discussion over the next couple weeks.)

Last month, Texas Senate Bill 1027 passed through the state's Legislature and was signed into law by Governor Rick Perry on June 19, 2009.  The bill, sponsored by state Senator Kirk Watson, provides for the establishment of an inter-agency farm-to-school coordination task force in order to increase the ability of schools in the state to purchase locally produced foods to feed students.

First off, yay!  I'm happy to see that government officials in Texas are taking a proactive role in increasing the amount of healthy foods available to state schools.

With the recent documentation that a full 20 percent of pre-schoolers in the U.S. are obese (yes, not just overweight, but obese), this legislation could not come at a better time.

Among the various tasks the bill requires the task force to accomplish (with my comments italicized):

• Offer assistance in identifying funding sources and grants that allow schools and school districts to recover the costs associated with purchasing locally grown food products.  (I can't tell you how important this provision is.  The greatest barrier to getting more fresh and local food into schools is cost, and if government can help defray that cost, schools will be much more willing to shell out the extra money for fresh food.)
• Provide technical assistance to school food service agencies to establish procedures, recipes, menu rotations, and other internal processes that accommodate the use of locally grown foods in public schools. (It's easy to throw a bunch of frozen french fries in the deep frier, but it's quite another to figure out how to incorporate beets, leeks and other fresh veggies into meals--and get kids to actually eat them.)
• Identify, design, or make available training programs to enable local farmers and ranchers to market their products to schools and school districts.  (Making it easier, and of course profitable, for farmers to sell their products to schools helps to remove another barrier in making more locally produced good available.)

Second, I'm even more pleased to see the emphasis the legislation places on nutritional and experiential food education.  More than simply making it easier for schools to source locally grown food, the task force is designed to encourage kids to learn to appreciate and understand the value of diets that include lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.

The earlier you teach children about the joys of enjoying fresh food, the more likely they'll take these eating habits with them as they grow older.

It won't be until the winter of 2010 until this task force is actually set up and ready to make recommendations on how to increase local foods in schools.  As we've seen before, just because a government program is set up, it does not mean it's going to be effective.

I'm hoping that this task force will keep in mind the health and well-being of the state's children as they're working toward a stronger statewide food system.

(Photo credit: Bonzo McGrue on Flickr)