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Farmer-focused school food supply chain presents opportunities

The chair of the National Farm to School Network says creating farmer-focused incentives could provide greater food supply chain resiliency.

May Tsupros tells Brownfield, “In the United States, school food is the country’s largest restaurant.”

“If we can invest in getting local food into schools, then the purchasing power is exponential,” they say.

The Network and Michigan State University’s Center for Regional Food Systems recently analyzed state-level local food purchasing incentive programs developed from pandemic relief grants like USDA’s Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program.

“There are a lot of challenges around getting from the farm to the school if there’s not a place to process the food, if there’s not a place to aggregate the food that meets the needs of the school,” they explain.

Researchers found if incentives are flipped to the farmer rather than schools, administrative burdens are reduced at several levels compared to current models, food businesses become diversified, and procurement can support hyper-local economies.

At the start of October’s National Farm to School Month, USDA announced nearly $2 billion will be used to support locally and regionally produced food.

Tsupros says they’re excited to see how additional investments can expand school procurement opportunities and local economies.

Midwest states including Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin currently have state-supported local food purchasing programs for schools.

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