Local Foods For School Grant Recipient
October is National Farm to School Month and our school nutrition program is pleased to announce the results of a recent farm to school grant that we have facilitated during both the 23/24 and through the first two months of the 24/25 school year.
The Local Food for Schools grant was part of the USDA’s program to bring local foods into schools and infuse funding into our local small farming economy. We are thankful that this grant did both! The school nutrition program purchased chicken, beef, turkey as well as some fresh vegetables over the course of the grant duration.
What was the impact of this grant on the menu? We were able to serve close to 3,000 lbs of chicken, almost 1,000 lbs of turkey and nearly 900 lbs of ground beef to our students. This amounts to about 100 meals in which our students had a local meat source on the menu. To put that into perspective the students have 180 days in a single school year. This accumulates to about 80% of their meals having a local protein that was served from August of 2023 through September of 2024.
What was the nutritional impact of this grant? The beef, turkey and chicken served through this time frame was mostly from Pure Pastures, a local small farm. They produce high quality meats that are: Non GMO, ethically raised, no vaccines, no chemicals, no medications, no antibiotics and no animal by-products. Their beef is 100% grass fed which creates a nutrient dense protein.
Grass fed beef tends to be higher in Omega-3 fatty acid, more antioxidants, more vitamin k2 giving more nutrient dense qualities to the beef and in turn the consumer. Pasture raised chicken “contains 50% more vitamin A compared to conventionally raised chicken.” Vitamin K is essential for immune function, vision and overall skin health.
Pasture raised chicken can also be found to have higher levels of iron, higher levels of omega 3 and higher levels of vitamin E. Overall the quality of the meat is greatly increased with pasture raised/grass fed animals. With this grant we were able to infuse our students' diets with high quality proteins and give them the nutrition they need to fuel a wonderful day of learning!
