Preschoolers introduced to local food and farms through simple classroom lessons
A student from Ayers’ classroom, D, tries cheese and butter his class made from cream from Iowa dairies.
By: Michelle, Arlene
• When Christy Ayers, early childhood instructor at Southwest Valley Community School district, heard there was an opportunity to implement farm to early care teacher kits, she immediately knew she wanted to participate. Ayers was already doing a lot with STEM education and had implemented Iowaponics, a program that provides classrooms with aquaponics systems, where plants grow above a fish tank. She explains, “I'm really interested in teaching kids, especially at this young age, that we need farms, and that food doesn't just come from the store.”
Value Chain Coordinator Works with Food Pantry
• Araceli Vasquez, coordinator of the LULAC 317 food pantry, and Jonathan Lawrence, value chain coordinator with Eat Greater Des Moines, first began working with one another to arrange for the food pantry to receive locally produced foods from the Organic Greens food hub and funded by the USDA Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement.
• Biweekly deliveries of local food from Organic Greens along with food bank deliveries have allowed the food pantry to increase the frequency of food distribution from monthly to weekly.
• Vasquez and Lawrence take extra steps to provide pantry users with culturally relevant foods. This is necessary because Latino users of the pantry are less familiar with some foods commonly available from the food bank, such as canned foods. Working to provide them with more culturally relevant foods, like corn flour, flour, chicken, and fresh produce, which respects users while preventing food waste.
• Lawrence procured a community fridge for the LULAC 317 pantry. Anyone can put food to share in the fridge and anyone can take the food. Visitors to the fridge appreciate that it can be used by anyone, is anonymous, and is open 24/7. The fridge is a good option for those who may not want to use the food pantry.
Value Chain Coordinator Supports Farm to School
• Food hubs have streamlined the purchase of local food by acting as a group purchasing organizations.
• Local foods may be higher priced but are superior quality. Funding supports from the USDA and Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship have been essential for allowing Clear Lake CSD to access local product while paying local farmers a fair price.
• Healthy Harvest of North Iowa is partnering with the Clear Lake CSD to provide monthly taste tests; develop posters on local food and farms and nutrition; and educate families about local foods. These are funded by a USDA Action for Healthy Kids grant.
• Local food taste tests have created a dialogue between food service staff and students. It has allowed students to know that the food service staff cares about what they think.
• It is uncertain what will happen to schools and food hubs when the USDA’s Local Food for Schools program ends in 2024. State or federal funding supplementing the cost of local food may help schools continue to serve local foods.
