Thursday, November 7, 2024
Save the Date-Cultivating Connections: A Wellness and Farm to School Summit
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction-School Nutrition Team is excited to announce Cultivating Connections: A Wellness and Farm to School Summit.
Who: Anyone interested in school wellness and farm to school, such as school wellness leaders, school nutrition staff, farmers, educators, and farm to school advocates.
What: Two-day summit on innovative strategies that promote student health and knowledge of local food systems through educator engagement, policy implementation, and partnership opportunities.
When: August 5 and 6, 2025
Where: Chula Vista Resort, Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin
Registration information will be available in March of 2025.
We hope to see you at this exciting and energizing event! Please share this information with interested school staff and community members.
Wisconsin Local Food for Schools (LFS) Program
The WI DPI F2S Team is excited to share that on October 1, 2024, USDA AMS announced there will be an Additional Round of LFS Funding! Stay tuned for more information from the SNT School Meals News Bulletin and Harvest Highlights newsletter.
A 1-Pager and Full Comprehensive Report of the impacts of the first round of LFS funding are now available! Please share widely with your networks.
The DPI F2S Team wants to also thank the sub awardees who participated in the first round of LFS funding. Your commitment to provide local, unprocessed, and minimally processed foods significantly benefited the students in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP) across the state. The connections made with local small businesses and socially disadvantaged farmers supported the community, boosted the local economy, and strengthened local supply chains.
Farm to School Month Celebrations
School Year (SY) 2022-23 USDA Farm to School Census results are now available!
The F2S Census is conducted periodically to assess the state of F2S activities across the U.S. The Census surveys all school food authorities (SFAs) participating in the National School Lunch Program. Wisconsin-Specific results are also available. Wisconsin highlights include: 74.7% of SFAs who responded participated in F2S activities in SY 2022-23 which impacted 699,114 students! 66.7% of SFAs serve local food in their school meal programs, 53.1% provide food, nutrition, or agricultural education and 21.6% have an edible garden. Way to go Wisconsin!
F2S in Action!
The Tomahawk School District, in partnership with Foodservice Management Company, Taher Inc., celebrated National Farm to School Month in October by serving local produce in their school meal programs. The district procured locally grown pumpkins from Tranquil Acres, a community garden operated by Heather and John Smith of Tomahawk. Tomahawk’s culinary classes washed, baked, and pureed fresh pumpkin and made pumpkin bars, which were served to students at lunch.
Tomahawk also participated in the Great Apple Crunch. This year’s theme was “A is for apples: Introducing Local Foods Through Apple Crunch and Celebrating Seasonality.” On October 10, 2024, Tomahawk School District joined 158,843 students throughout Wisconsin by serving apples to their students and collectively crunching together. Congratulations to Tomahawk for celebrating National Farm to School Month by teaching students about the awesome products grown by local farms.
Photos from Tomahawk’s Celebration of Farm to School!
Available Grants
Patrick Leahy (USDA) Farm to School Grant Program - Now Open!
The Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant Program requests for applications (RFAs) are now open! There are three grant tracks, implementation, state agency, and turnkey. Designed to increase the availability of local foods in schools, USDA Farm to School grants can help farm to school programs get started or expand existing efforts. Funds support a wide range of activities from training, planning, and developing partnerships to creating new menu items, establishing supply chains, offering taste tests to children, purchasing equipment, planting school gardens, and organizing field trips to agricultural operations.
Grantees include schools and districts (large and small, rural and urban), tribal organizations, agricultural producers or groups of agricultural producers, non-profit entities, and state and local agencies. Implementation and state agency grants offer funding up to $500,000, turnkey grants offer funding up to $50,000. Applications are due January 10, 2025.
Project SCALES
The next round of Project SCALES grants are open now through December 13. 2024. As part of the USDA’s Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative, Project SCALES (Supporting Community Agriculture and Local Education Systems) is now offering funding and support for innovative projects that will build relationships among stakeholders in the school food system, and strengthen the school food marketplace.
Applicants need at least three partners, which must include at least one school food authority and one food industry partner (growers, producers, processors, distributors). Additional partners can be from those sectors or other organizations such as nonprofit organizations, Indian Tribal Organizations, or other food system partners.
Grants for up to three years range from $500,000 to $1,000,000.
For more information and to apply, visit the Project Scales Homepage.
CHS Foundation Classroom Grant
CHS Foundation provides $500 grants each year to pre-kindergarten-12th grade teachers who have classroom projects that use agricultural concepts to teach reading, writing, math, science, social studies and more. Eligible projects include classroom and schoolyard gardens, embryology projects, aquaculture projects and agricultural literacy reading programs to name a few. Projects need to be completed by June 1 the following year to allow for submission of a final report by June 30. Only state-certified classroom teachers employed by a school district or private school teachers are eligible to apply. The CHS Classroom Grant application deadline is November 15, 2024.
Apply for CHS Classroom Grant Here!
Opportunity: Expedition Agriculture with Alice in Dairyland
Invite Alice in Dairyland to your classroom to take your students on an expedition through Wisconsin's Agriculture, specifically focusing on our multitude of specialty crops! The lesson will take approximately 45 minutes and includes hands-on activities. Lessons are geared towards fourth and fifth grade students.
Learn more at Alice in Dairyland.
AmeriCorps Farm to School Members
Deadline: Until filled
The AmeriCorps Farm to School Program provides an innovative approach to building healthy communities by improving child nutrition through the implementation of educational Farm to School activities for students and families.
Available positions in Wisconsin include:
- Half-time position with Arbor Vitae Woodruff Elementary
- Full-time position with the Hayward Community School District
- Full-time position with the Kaukauna Area School District
- Half-time position with the Howard Suamico School District
Learn more and Apply Here!
Wisconsin Farm to School Recognition Program
Join the WI Farm to School (F2S) Recognition Program to promote and celebrate your F2S accomplishments! Complete activities in the three core elements of F2S: procurement, school gardens, and nutrition and agricultural education by the end of May 2025 to be awarded a recognition level. There are four levels of recognition with a bonus level (Broccoli Sprout, Broccoli Seedling, Broccoli Floret, Broccoli Crown, and Broccoli Flowering), awarded on the school level. Prizes will be given for each level of completion. Learn more and sign-up on the F2S Webpage.
A Webinar Recording describing program details is also available.
Farm to School Stickers Are Here
As farm to school efforts continue to grow across the country, we invite you to spread the word! Stickers come in rolls of 200 stickers per roll and eligible entities listed can order up to 3 rolls.
Place an Order for Stickers Today!
Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Awards
Deadline: Applications reviewed on a rolling basis through June 30, 2025
These awards (in partnership with our grantee partner Chef Ann Foundation) recognize and share best practices from school food authorities who made operational changes to improve the nutritional quality of their school meals and/or who engage students and families in nutrition education and school meals.
Learn more about the HMI Awards Here!
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
Jill K. Underly, PhD, State Superintendent
201 West Washington Avenue
Madison, WI 53703
(608) 266-3390 • (800) 441-4563
For questions about this information, contact Jeff Mallegni (608) 266-2364