Dept. of Agriculture Now Allows Schools to Buy Local Fruits and Vegetables

Thursday, June 09, 2011
School officials can now request locally-grown fresh produce through a federal program designed to provide children with healthy foods.
 
Thanks to a policy change by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, school districts can specify that they would like fruits and vegetables from area farmers, instead of accepting produce that may have been grown thousands of miles away.
 
According to a report in the American Agriculturalist, “USDA's final ruling pertaining to the 2008 Farm Bill allows schools to put a geographical preference specification on school bids and in their purchasing procedures.” The new rule allows food service officials to specify that fruits and vegetables must be grown within a certain state or region or even within a specified number of miles from the school.
 
The $158 million Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, which began as a pilot program in 2002, has since spread to every state and provides fresh snacks to about four million elementary school students a day.
-David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff
 

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