Farm 2 School

 

Students volunteering to maintain the Orion Alternative School garden in Redwood City

 

Samples of local persimmons served in the school lunch at a San Mateo County elementary school

Hoover Community School students share their opinion on the local produce item served at lunch 

 

Local, grassfed, regenerative beef hot dogs in whole wheat buns served at Santa Clara USD

 

What do we do?
We support school food service directors and build partnerships for a sustainable, equitable and resilient food system in San Mateo County schools.

  • The San Mateo County Food Systems Alliance’s Farm to School (F2S) Committee brings together stakeholders and school food service directors to build partnerships that facilitate a sustainable, equitable and resilient food system in San Mateo County Schools. By sourcing, serving, promoting, and providing education on nutritious, high-quality regional food, we support the health and wellness of school communities and a better connection to the greater food system.

Join us!
Are you a San Mateo County food service director who’d like to bring more locally grown fresh produce into your school meals? Has implementing universal school meals been a challenge? Are parents concerned about the meals you are providing their children?

We may not have all the answers, but we can provide you with the support and resources you need. We provide a safe space to bounce ideas. We’re here to listen and support you. We meet monthly to share successes and challenges, troubleshoot without reinventing the wheel. Contact us for more information.

© 2022 Regents of the University of California. Used by permission. Designer: Laura Crothers

What’s a food system?
A food system is the complex network that is responsible for the production, transport, processing and consumption of food. It includes the governance, waste management, and economics of food, as well as the impact on human nutrition and health, and the natural environment.

What’s “locally grown” food? 
San Mateo County alone cannot grow and provide all the variety or quantity of produce we need to serve over 92,000 enrolled K-12 students in public and charter schools two meals/day. We define “local” food as California grown with an emphasis on food that is grown within 100 miles of San Mateo County. 

Our group works together to increase school purchasing from small to medium size local farms, ranchers, and bakers. Another priority is sourcing food from businesses owned by BIPOC and other underserved groups, and growers that use environmentally sustainable and climate smart methods such as organic, regenerative and low water practices. Together, we find solutions for culturally-relevant, healthy and sustainable meals that kids enjoy. Try this recipe (English / Spanish) from Ravenswood School District that is so popular that kids are asking their parents to make it at home!

Let's talk trash!
We share ideas and best practices for reducing waste, too. Some of our schools are piloting bulk milk dispensers, implementing food share tables and other solutions. Join us to learn more!

Help us spread the word about our work! 
Please download and share our flyer (English / Spanish).

Key Issues
The following key issues have been identified by the F2S Committee as those that are the most relevant to this committee's work.

·      Inequitable access to locally-sourced food
·      Inequitable access to highly nutritious foods
·      Mental models that perpetuate unhealthy food systems and food choices
·      Resilience of local sources of food to the effects of climate change
·      Waste from food service activities

Member Organizations
The following organizations are represented on the committee and provide services to San Mateo County school districts as described below:

Acterra: Action for a Healthy Planet - San Mateo Food Systems Alliance Network Manager, and provides climate change education to middle schoolers, including a unit on agricultural systems and food choice. Program graduates are equipped to organize and lead climate action projects at their schools to reduce food waste, advocate for local foods, and more.

Center for Ecoliteracy -  builds partnerships and the capacity of K–12 schools to support healthy, sustainable school communities and food systems change in schools. We lead systems change initiatives, publish original books and resources, facilitate conferences and professional development, and provides strategic consulting. We work at multiple levels of scale, with local, regional, state, and national programs.

Center for Environmental Health - provides tools, resources and technical support to help K-12 schools transition from harmful single-use foodware to healthier alternatives, with a long-term goal of safer reusables.

Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) - Promotes consumption of local fruits and vegetables by providing procurement and promotional support ranging from connecting school food buyers to local farms and food hubs, providing Technical Assistance in the procurement process, and providing customized farmer signage in the cafeteria.

Each Green Corner - Partners with schools to create garden-centered educational settings promoting physical activity, social justice, empathy-building, civic engagement, and STEM learning.

Environmental Literacy and Sustainability Initiative (ELSI) - Provides "backbone support" to San Mateo County Schools in prioritizing environmental literacy and integrating environmental sustainability and climate-resilient practices across a school's campus, curriculum, community, and culture. ELSI offers capacity building programs, networks, and technical assistance services that can help school nutrition services with food systems initiatives.

The Heal Project - Offers lessons on health, environment and agriculture at school sites, in the classroom and at the San Mateo County School Farm.

San Mateo County Health Policy and Planning Program - Promotes the consumption of local fruits and vegetables by providing nutrition education; fruit and vegetable tastings; and policy, system, and environmental supports that encourage healthy eating. Serving schools where 50% or more of the students qualify for free and reduced-price meals through the National School Lunch Program. 

San Mateo County, Nutrition Education & Obesity Prevention (NEOP) Program - Leads school wellness initiatives, provides schools with technical assistance to create environmental policy and systemic changes in nutrition and health. Works directly with school foodservice directors to improve student nutrition to increase participation in school breakfast, encouraging student consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, procurement of local produce, and changes in the cafeteria that make healthy choices easy.

Sodexo - Oversees the Child Nutrition Education program, promotes healthy fresh options and supports local farms through Sodexo. Supports Farm to School with Sodexo processes to maximize benefits to students and families. 

TomKat Ranch - Advocacy and policy for healthy, local school meals for all. Connecting schools to local, regenerative, grass-fed ranches to get climate smart beef into schools.

University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) - UCCE’s CalFresh Healthy Living Program promotes the consumption of local fruits and vegetables by providing nutrition education; fruit and vegetable tastings; and policy, system, and environmental supports that encourage healthy eating and serves schools where 50% or more of the students qualify for free and reduced-price meals through the National School Lunch Program. UCCE’s Nutrition Advisor provides technical assistance and conducts locally relevant evaluation and research to improve children and families' diet quality and food security.

Individual Members
Angelina Gutierrez, University of California Cooperative Extension
Angie Cavazos, San Mateo County Nutrition Education & Obesity Prevention Program (NEOP)
Ben Schleifer, Center for Environmental Health
Claire Tauber, Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF)
Donya Foley, The HEAL Project
Fran Debost, San Mateo Foster City School District
Gloria Cahuich Gonzalez, SMC Health Policy and Planning Program
Jenny Dang, Second Harvest Food Bank
Julie Hillborn, San Mateo County Office of Education
June Richardson, Ravenswood City School District
Justin Watkins, San Mateo County Health System
Karen Luna, Santa Clara Unified School District
Kathy Webster, TomKat Ranch (co-chair)
Lauren Weston, Acterra
Matthew Spigelman, The HEAL Project and Cabrillo Unified School District
Sandra Kennedy Jonaidi, Sequoia Union High School District
Sandie Nierenberg, Each Green Corner
Stephanie Modena Paoli, Cabrillo Unified School District
Teri Inocencio, San Mateo - Foster City School District
Wendy Chou, Acterra (co-chair)
Whitney Cohen, Life Lab
Yousef Buzayan, Chef Ann Foundation