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Farm to School stories

MDH has been working with University of Minnesota Extension and many other partners to help schools across Minnesota make Farm to School a reality.

Farm to School has been a focus of the Statewide Health Improvement Program (SHIP). In the first two years of SHIP, Farm to School efforts involved over 350 schools and 22 school districts across Minnesota, serving more than 200,000 students.

Here are just a few of the stories happening all across Minnesota:

• The kids are loving it,” in Brainerd
  (PDF: 488KB/1 page)
  When the cooks at Brainerd High School and Forestview Middle School requested 80 pounds of vegetables in September 2011 to serve on the salad bar, local farmers met the challenge...More
  
• Putting a dream into action at Waseca Junior High
  (PDF: 590KB/1 page)
  It all started ten years ago with a salad bar and a foodservice director with a dream. The dream was to start a school garden at Waseca Junior High...More
  
• Sibley East creates “a link between the rural community
  and kids”
  (PDF: 488KB/1 page)
  The situation in Sibley East Schools was no different than many schools across the country. Kids weren’t eating enough fruits and vegetables and had little knowledge of food production...More
  
• Breckenridge High School thinks sustainability
  (PDF: 417KB/1 page)
  At Breckenridge High School, located just west of Fergus Falls, Student Council members got their hands dirty in May 2011 in a good way. They planted 33 trees to make a fruit orchard on school grounds...More
  
• Engaging students through agriculture at Golden Hill in Rochester
  (PDF: 565KB/1 page)
  Seed money from SHIP is “Growing Graduates” at Golden Hill Alternative Learning Center’s garden in Rochester...More
  
• “I never knew there were so many different kinds of apples,” said Winfair Elementary student
  (PDF: 439KB/1 page)
  Kids at Winfair Elementary in Windom, Minnesota, are embracing Farm to School. Starting in the 2010-11 school year, 266 Kindergarten through third-grade students enjoyed locally grown...More
  

"This is truly enjoyable and rewarding project!!  Our students taste the difference."
—Carrie Frank, Food and Nutrition Director, Dover-Eyota Schools

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What's New

• Let's Move Salad Bars to School: Every child should have the choice of healthy fruits and vegetables every day at school. Find out how

• NEW! A Field Guide To Salad Bars In Schools (PDF: 4.1MB/63 pages) offers a one-stop guide for schools offering this great lunch room program for their students. Section by section links, as well as many more resources for schools, are availabe at our salad bars schools page.
• “Farm to School: Growing Our Future” documentary, from the University of Minnesota Extension, MDH, and Twin Cities Public Television, explores the economic advantages and remaining challenges for businesses, farms, schools and communities as we work together to improve our children’s health and education. You can watch entire 30-minute documentary online, view 12-minute version, learn about screenings in your area or even host a screening of your own.
  
• The Economic Impact of Farm-to-School Lunch Programs: A Central Minnesota Example
  
• Minnesota's Let’s Move Salad Bars to School program highlighted by the national Let’s Move effort
  
• Farm to School Videos five on-line trainings designed primarily for food service professionals from the University of Minnesota Extension