The article investigated childhood obesity and its causes, such as unhealthy eating habits. When the article was written, almost a third of the children in the United States were overweight and only one in ten met fruit and vegetable consumption recommendations. At the same time, family farming was facing difficulties due to the unpopularity of the trade, particularly among younger generations.
The author proposed a farm-to-school food program, wherein the former would supply products to the latter directly, obtaining a market while providing children with healthy food. The children would benefit from additional educational opportunities afforded by regular contact with food producers and potentially further engagement. Besides, the nutrition lessons would be reinforced by the prevalence of healthy options in cafeterias, a scenario that contrasted the typical menu selections at the time. The farmers, on the other hand, would sell more products while obtaining higher profit margins than they would by selling to retailers in bulk.
There were also potential environmental and economic benefits from savings in fuel, packaging, and refrigeration costs as well as the associated emissions and waste generation. However, organizational difficulties would be a significant detriment to the introduction of such enterprises. Most farm-to-school programs had to be proposed and supervised by a third party such as a nonprofit organization or a parent or community group.
While the existing programs had displayed a broad variety of traits, the examples gathered by the author led her to suggest a set of general guidelines. These included consulting the food service director, collaborating, starting slowly and expanding, assisting with the search for farmers, organizing the volume and supply, incorporating the program in education, and taking advantage of seasonality. The author concludes that discovering that natural foods taste good would help children to adopt healthy eating habits naturally and pass them on.
Reference
Kalb M. Getting fresh with farm-to-school programs. Green Teach. 2006; 80: 22-27.