Abstract
Values-based value chains and farm to school programs are two aspects of the alternative agri-food system that have received a great deal of attention recently from scholars and practitioners. This paper chronicles two separate pilot efforts to create value chains for mid-scale farms to supply large school districts' food-service operations with more healthful, local, and sustainably produced foods, using a modified farm to school model. Early farm to school efforts were mostly farm-direct, a model that poses difficulty for large districts, which often require some kind of intermediary to procure the volume and form of products required for the scale of their food-service operations. Value chains have the potential to address this issue, as part of a more broad-based sustainable school food procurement model that can met the needs of large districts. The lessons learned about the various roles scholars and community partners might play in creating, sustaining, and monitoring performance of these value chains are highlighted.
Highlights
Partnerships among diverse stakeholders are effective means of identifying and acting upon opportunities for food system–based community economic development (Conner, Cocciarelli, Mutch, & Hamm, 2008; Conner, Knudson, Hamm, & Peterson, 2008; Wright, Score, & Conner, 2008)
This paper focuses on the results of interviews of the two aforementioned value chains (VCs): fresh local produce at Saint Paul Public Schools (SPPS) and pasture-raised local beef at Denver Public Schools (DPS)
School meals at SPPS are served by Nutrition and Commercial Services, a self-operated division of the school district
Summary
Partnerships among diverse stakeholders are effective means of identifying and acting upon opportunities for food system–based community economic development (Conner, Cocciarelli, Mutch, & Hamm, 2008; Conner, Knudson, Hamm, & Peterson, 2008; Wright, Score, & Conner, 2008). Institutional food procurement, farm to school (FTS), has received a great deal of attention recently from agri-food scholars and practitioners. FTS typically combines the procurement of locally grown foods with experiential education to instill good nutrition habits in students and to enhance the viability of small and mid-scale farms (Allen & Guthman). FTS’s potential to sustain demand for alternative agri-food products is significant, both because of the magnitude of expenditures in the National School Lunch Program (US$9.8 billion annually and 31 million meals daily in 2009) and its purported ability to create lasting demand for healthful sustainably and locally grown foods (USDA Food and Nutrition Service, 2009; Vallianatos, Gottlieb, & Hasse, 2004).
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