Economic Analysis of Local Food Procurement in Southwest Florida's Farm to School Programs

Jonathan Watson,Ray Bucklin,Danielle Treadwell

doi:10.5304/jafscd.2018.083.011

Abstract

Farm-to-school (F2S) programs aim to educate people about food and farming, to increase the availability of fresh, nutritious foods, and to improve health outcomes among children. Nationally, all states have school districts that self-identify as farm-to-school program participants. National and regional food procurement systems account for the majority of food purchased by National School Lunch Program participants, but school foodservice authorities (SFA) who purchase food from farmers often do so in the context of strengthening their farm-to-school program (U.S. Department of Agriculture [USDA], n.d.-b). A greater number of local supply chain participants benefit when food is sourced in state (locally) rather than out-of-state because more money ends up in the pockets of local producers and distributors. Local fruit and vegetable producers and SFAs interested in developing business partnerships for local procurement would benefit from recommendations on menu-appropriate fresh market products, volume, and purchase prices. However, detailed data sets from SFAs are uncommon, limiting opportunities to advance procurement efforts. The objective for this project was to begin developing local procurement recommendations for other Florida school districts based on the purchasing history and experiences of the Sarasota County School District (SCSD). In 2014, Sarasota County, Florida, received a USDA F2S implementation grant, affording it the opportunity to develop its local procurement efforts. One deliverable from that project was a robust data set of school food purchases over a two-year period. With permission SCSD, we analyzed seasonal purchase variations and market prices of local and out-of-state fresh fruits, vegetables, and egg purchases for 38 public schools in the SCSD. In this paper, we present an approach to estimate the potential of local procurement viability in the context of an emerging districtwide F2S program and recommend system changes based on the success of procurement efforts in SCSD and surrounding school districts in Southwest Florida.

Highlights

Introduction and Literature ReviewFarm to school (F2S) is a national movement with the goals of educating persons, children, on where and how their food is grown, improving nutrition, reducing childhood obesity, increasing physical activity, enhancing community development, and supporting local farmers (Izumi, Wright, & Hamm, 2010; National Farm to School Network, n.d.-b; Winston, 2011)
This article summarizes total and local food purchases, describes trends and seasonal patterns of local food purchases made by the Sarasota County School District (SCSD) during the 2014–2015 academic year, and identifies challenges and opportunities for expanding local procurement
This research contributes to the literature by providing an analysis of procurement activities including type, volume, and price of select specialty crops used in an area with a high population and socioeconomic differences

Summary

Introduction

Introduction and Literature ReviewFarm to school (F2S) is a national movement with the goals of educating persons, children, on where and how their food is grown, improving nutrition, reducing childhood obesity, increasing physical activity, enhancing community development, and supporting local farmers (Izumi, Wright, & Hamm, 2010; National Farm to School Network, n.d.-b; Winston, 2011). As is often the case across the nation, school districts in the state of Florida procure a large portion of their food from government programs, including the Department of Defense Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program or USDA Foods in Schools, at low cost. These monetary incentives have been federal policy in the U.S since the creation of the National School Lunch Act of 1946 (2010). SFAs receive a specified reimbursement from the federal government for every meal served free or at a reduced price to children whose households’ limited incomes qualify them for support. At the time of this study (2014), the threshold for reduced price lunch was 185% of the poverty line (a maximum of US$44,123 for a family of four), while the threshold for free lunch was 130% of the poverty line (a maximum of US$31,005 for a family of four)

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