By Teresa Wiemerslage
Iowa Farm to School efforts received a significant boost in the 2022-23 school year with the launch of the Iowa Local Food for Schools program.
The “Local Food for Schools Progress Report,” released by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, noted that 135 schools in 69 counties received funds from the program in the 2022-23 school year, resulting in $644,931 of food purchases from local farms and businesses.
The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service established the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program in July 2022. LFS was designed to help states overcome the challenges of supply chain disruptions brought on by the pandemic. The USDA awarded $2,193,501 to the state of Iowa for purchases of local foods for distribution to K-12 schools over 18 months.
Iowa representation
The report mentions how Iowa partners quickly formed an Iowa LFS Steering Committee to take advantage of this new funding. The committee had representatives from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship; Iowa Department of Education; Iowa Valley Resource, Conservation and Development; and ISU Extension and Outreach.
“Iowa does not have a statewide food procurement program, so the partners leveraged the assets they had: a food hub network and recent success with a school food grant program called Local Produce and Protein Program,” said Teresa Wiemerslage, author and field specialist with ISU Extension and Outreach’s Farm, Food and Enterprise Development program.
Schools applied for awards ranging from $4,000 to $8,000. Most schools applied for $4,000 produce and $4,000 protein awards. Over 180,000 students ate local foods for breakfast, lunch or snacks.
Schools were assigned a food hub sponsor to help them manage their awards and coordinate distribution. Four food hubs were enlisted as sponsors: Farm Table Delivery, Harlan; Field to Family, Iowa City; Iowa Food Hub, Decorah; and Prudent Produce, Elkhart.
According to the report, the Iowa LFS program was intentionally designed so that dollars spent on produce and proteins would be roughly equal. Protein products included dairy, eggs and meat. A wide range of fresh fruits and vegetables were purchased early in the program. Local honey, maple syrup and flours were also included. Almost half of the produce purchases were frozen vegetables.
Local Purchases
Iowa used a producer registration system ensuring all food safety requirements, source identification and demographic information was collected before sales occurred. One-hundred ten farms and food businesses sold products during LFS Round 1.
Half of the producers sold less than $1,000 through the program. Twenty-three producers sold more than $5,000 through the program.
The Iowa LFS program met the USDA goal of purchasing from socially disadvantaged producers. Sixty-four percent of producers in LFS Round 1 identified as socially disadvantaged or beginning farmers. Half of the food purchases were from socially disadvantaged farmers. Nearly all of the producers identified as small businesses and a handful were nonprofit organizations.
New Markets
In addition to increasing local food consumption, the program also expanded economic opportunity for local, socially disadvantaged producers and small businesses. The report found that for every dollar spent on LFS, the return on investment is $1.94, showing that the program nearly doubles the investment in rural communities when food dollars stay in Iowa.
“Iowa’s model fits the description of “farmer-focused local food purchasing incentives,” said Wiemerslage. “These models contract directly with local producers, vendors or food hubs to subsidize institutional sales.”
“School food is already heavily subsidized through the USDA Foods program and it is virtually impossible for small farms to enter that supply chain,” said Wiemerslage. “The Iowa LFS program ensures Iowa farmers and small food distributors have market access into local schools.”
The program continues to grow. Schools applied for a second round of funding for the 2023-24 school year and over $780,000 had been spent as of Dec 31.
The report lists recommendations to continue the wide-reaching positive impacts of this program.
Source : iastate.edu