School Gardening in the early 1900s through today: Farm to School

Special Reference Briefs Series no. SRB 2011-02. Compiled by Stephanie M. Ritchie and Wei-Ting Chen. June 2011.

The USDA Farm to School team has compiled resources from across the country to assist schools and school districts in implementing farm to school programs. Be sure to check back often as we frequently update the information we share here.

The USDA Farm to School Program is operated by the Department’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), which has seven regional offices around the country; in each is a Farm to School Regional Lead who is available to provide farm to school related support to state agencies and other entities in their region. A list of regions, along with the names and contact information for regional and national USDA Farm to School Program staff, can be found at this site.

USDA distributed the Farm to School Census to 13,133 public school districts in the United States, 9,887 of which completed the Census. 4,322 districts operating approximately 40,328 schools with 23,513,237 students in attendance are bringing the farm to school. Generally the information presented is derived from only those school districts that participated in farm to school activities in the 2011-2012 school year. See About the Census for more details about the calculations.

The National Farm to School Network is an information, advocacy and networking hub for communities working to bring local food sourcing and food and agriculture education into school systems and preschools.

Farm to Preschool is a natural expansion of the national farm to school model and encompasses a wide range of programs and activities. Farm to Preschool serves the full spectrum of child care delivery: preschools, Head Start, center-based, programs in K-12 school districts, nurseries and family home care facilities.

To determine the prevalence of farm to school programs in the United States, USDA surveyed an estimated 13,000 public school districts.

October is National Farm to School Month, a time to celebrate the connections that are happening all over the country between schools and local food!