DUXBURY, Vt. (WCAX) – More and more schools in Vermont are connecting with local farms to make sure kids have what they need when it comes to nutrition. Our Hailey Morgan visited one school to see why the program is so important.
It’s lunchtime at the Crossett Brook Middle School in Duxbury.
“I think there is a good diversity of the different foods that we do get to eat. There’s always a good vegetarian option, too, which is great,” said Brooke Greenberg, an eighth grader.
Greenberg likes the salad bar at her school, and for good reason. Some of the veggies are locally grown.
“I think they are important because a lot of us like to stay active. It’s also very beneficial to have good food for your brain when you are learning,” she said.
Crossett Brook is part of the Harwood Unified Union School District which was one of six districts or supervisory unions to get a grant to beef up local buying.
‘’That was the game-changer. How can we place our order strategically in a way where we are competing against each other? We are not purchasing items from USDA that we can purchase here locally,” said Erika Dolan, who helps manage food and nutrition in the district.
Dolan helped secure the grant money after making it a priority to purchase some food locally.
The Vermont Agency of Agriculture says Harwood increased its local food purchasing from 14% to 23%, making it the second-highest purchaser of local foods in the state.
And the schools are also making sure none of the food goes to waste.
“So, for example, if we serve roasted Brussels sprouts in the lunch line one day as the daily vegetable, if we cook a little bit too much, that could potentially go to the salad bar the next day,” Dolan said.
It’s not only students that benefit. Farms like Vermont Wagyu have participated in farm-to-school programs for the past couple of months and say the added business helps after losing customers from last summer’s flooding.
“So our two major burger accounts were knocked out instantly. It did not really catch up to us until the fall. So we found the farm-to-school program. So burger itself we are not selling at a profit. We are probably selling it at cost at most,” said Sheila Patinkin, who owns Vermont Wagyu.
Back at Crossett Brook, school officials hope to connect with more farms soon to increase their local buying.
State leaders say as long as school districts can keep locally sourced food at about 15%, the money will continue to flow.