Hot News

8.26.2008

By STEPHANIE JORDAN
Associate Editor

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The Maryland Farm to School program is picking up steam across the state, with 17 counties signed up to participate in Maryland Homegrown School Lunch Week, which will be held Sept. 22 to Sept. 26.
Thus far, the counties of Anne Arundel, Baltimore City, Baltimore, Carroll, Cecil, Dorchester, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, Howard, Kent, Montgomery, Prince George’s, St. Mary’s, Talbot, Washington and Worcester will take part in accepting local products and making them part of students’ lunches.
Some counties are providing local foods to select schools, while other counties have all its schools participating.
“I’m pleasantly surprised everyone wants to get on the band wagon,” said Jane Storrs, director of national marketing for the Maryland Department of Agriculture. “Everyone realizes it’s a good idea. Most everyone I’ve talked to is extremely enthusiastic about it.”
Schools will be able to offer students a variety of local products, including apples, Asian pears, cabbage, cantaloupe, cauliflower, corn on the cob, cucumbers, eggs, green beans, lettuce, peaches, pears, plums, squash (butternut, yellow and zucchini), sweet potatoes, tomatoes (sliced and cherry) and watermelon. And farmers across the state are showing interest in providing other products such as meat, poultry and eggs.
Storrs said that providing enough volume to meet schools’ demand is probably the biggest difficulty facing the program. For example, in Prince George’s County alone, 70,000 meals per day are provided.
“We don’t have a whole lot of farmers who can meet that demand individually,” she said.
The Maryland State Department of Education will also play a role in the Homegrown School Lunch Week, providing resources to teachers to help them educate their classrooms about where their food comes from.
“We’re optimistic it will help kids get past ‘my chicken comes from the grocery store,’” Storrs said. And with the cost of fuel still at historic highs, it will also save money on transportation costs.
Another bonus of the program is that there has been an increase in awareness among food distributors and schools as to what produce actually is available seasonally. There are even some of them who want to put local labels on the food provided by the state’s farmers.
The department is working to provide examples to other school systems as to how the program can work, and to identify issues that arise as a result of it. Storrs said the hope is to take a look at the program later this year and get the ball rolling for next year.
Storrs said that many government agencies and departments have come together to get this program up and running, giving the state “an excellent example of the way government ought to work.”
“If we all work together, everybody wins.”