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    • Apr 7, 2022
    • 2 min read

GCRFPC Featured in Ohio Farm to School Newsletter

Updated: Apr 12, 2022

We Convene Partners in the SW OH Region to Propel Farm to School (F2S)


The GCRFPC was recently featured in the Ohio Department of Agriculture's Ohio Farm to School Monthly Newsletter in the southwest regional spotlight edition.


Read more about our comprehensive F2S efforts in the April issue of the OH F2S Newsletter (and sign up to receive future issues!).


Here's an excerpt:


Southwest partners, including the Greater Cincinnati Regional Food Policy Council (GCRFPC), used regional health planning processes to guide institutional buy-in for F2S. By seeking out and actively participating in the regional Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) and Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) processes, they were able to raise the importance of F2S as a health strategy to address diet-related disease. The recognition of F2S as a strategy prioritized by the CHIP helps bring resources to further F2S work.


trays of small side salads with cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, and broccoli on stainless steel carts.
Side salads served in Cincinnati Public Schools feature cucumbers from Holthouse Farms and Lobenstein Farms, grape tomatoes from Riehm Produce and Lobenstein Farms, yellow peppers from Fox Tail Farm and Riehm Produce, and Sunny Crunch lettuce from Bright Farms. Photo courtesy of Cincinnati Public Schools.

As part of their USDA F2S Implementation Grant, GCRFPC launched a Farm-to-School Ag Ed Curriculum Team. With a mission to improve the health and well-being of school children and increase the demand for local food procurement, they will be developing a toolkit for bringing school grown food into school cafeterias.


The GCRFPC invites active F2S stakeholders in the SW region to join a quarterly meeting to review the Greater Cincinnati Regional Farm to School Action Plan. Advisory Board Members help ensure Farm to School programming meets the needs of key regional school stakeholders: students, food service staff, teachers, and parents.


Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) and F2S partner, What Chefs Want, have been able to mitigate recent fresh produce supply chain gaps through their joint effort to develop a regional food system. The CPS Board adopted the Good Food Purchasing Program (GFPP) in 2019 with a commitment to values-based purchasing. In combination with emergency USDA waivers, this work resulted in increased local food purchasing for school food service during the pandemic.

 

Funding for efforts discussed here was made possible by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service through grant AM190100XXXXG181. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the USDA.


This project has been funded at least in part with Federal funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the view or policies of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.


This work was financed in part or totally through a grant from the Ohio Department of Agriculture, the State of Ohio, and the United States Department of Agriculture under the provisions of the Specialty Crop Block Grant. This project was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service through grant AM200100XXXXG067. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the USDA.

 

🍱 Contact us at feedourfuture@greenumbrella.org for more information about joining our quarterly Regional F2S Advisory Board meeting.


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