CONGRESS EVALUATES SCHOOL NUTRITION PROGRAMS

As it considers reauthorizing the Child Nutrition Act, Congress is evaluating how students and school districts have fared under current nutrition standards for national school meal programs as well as the snack foods and drinks sold in vending machines and on a la carte cafeteria menus. At recent hearings before a House subcommittee, representatives heard that (1)  more children are choosing and eating fruit with their lunches, and kids are consuming more of their entrees and vegetables; (2) healthy school food can satisfy all students, including athletes; and (3) Congress could help less successful programs by offering greater support for food service equipment, staff training, and technology.

Source: Pew Charitable Trust, 7/17/15, School Nutrition

Local food is growing business in New York

Farm to school programs are helping grow local business in New York. In the state, there are over 2,944 schools spending more than $40 million on local food. These numbers show that not only is the local food movement alive and well, it is growing up and becoming a healthy, established part of the broader marketplace. Niagara Gazette 

Journal of School Health: School Gardens Enhance Academic Performance and Dietary Outcomes in Children

Schools face increasing demands to provide education on healthy living and improve core academic performance. Although these appear to be competing concerns, they may interact beneficially. This article focuses on school garden programs and their effects on students' academic and dietary outcomes. This small set of studies offers evidence that garden-based learning does not negatively impact academic performance or FV consumption and may favorably impact both. Additional studies with more robust experimental designs and outcome measures are necessary to understand the effects of experiential garden-based learning on children's academic and dietary outcomes. Read the article here. 

PUBLIC HUMAN SERVICES OFFICIALS SUGGEST SNAP IMPROVEMENTS

At a recent hearing of the National Commission on Hunger, public human services officials recommended several ways that SNAP could be made even more effective in addressing food insecurity:

• Simplify eligibility and verification rules;
• Improve SNAP’s connection to and interoperability with other human services and health programs;
• eliminate the “cliff” effect that occurs when a beneficiary’s hours or pay increases;
• reduce reliance of face-to-face interviews
• remove participation barriers to elderly and other stable populations

Source: National Commission on Hunger, 7/8/15, SNAP Improvements

$1,500 CHS Classroom Grant Program

One teacher in the Northeast will be award a $1,500 grant to enhance agriculture in their classroom. The grant will be awarded to a K-12th grade teacher whose innovative classroom projects use agricultural concepts to teach reading, writing, math, nutrition, science, and/or social studies.  Applications open on July 15th and the grant deadline to apply is September 15th.

Apply Here

Small Farmers Can Make Food Safety Work: The GroupGAP Pilot in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

This case study provides an overview of the processes, challenges, benefits, and lessons learned from the Group Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) pilot project in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The project goal was to test how a group-based farm-based food safety certification process could benefit small farmers. This pilot study confirms that good agricultural practices (GAP) certification can meet group needs at an affordable cost working with small and very small farms. Read the case study here. 

Food Waste in the Rural Family Home

This video is 23 minutes long, but if you work with youth, it's worth watching!  This project from a Minnesota 4-H group emphasizes how even farm families generate food waste – and can reduce it.  They also came up some great examples of service learning projects.