Farm to School Toolkit

Getting Started with Farm to School

Starting a Farm to School Program can seem like a daunting task.  How are you going to get everyone involved?  How can you make the case for a school putting resources into a new program? What are the benefits? Where do you start?

Starting big or small, you can create a Farm to School Program at your school.  Below are questions to ask to get you started and information to utilize for a one-off event or for recurring events throughout the school year.  Make sure to do your due diligence, gather a group of stakeholders from inside and outside the school and figure out what aspects of farm to school your school is capable of. 

Create a Farm to School Team:

  • Principal
  • Teachers
  • Food Service personnel
  • Curriculum instructors
  • Superintendent
  • School Board members
  • Custodial staff
  • Health Teacher
  • School Nurse
  • Physical Education teachers
  • Parents-PTA
  • Outside volunteers, Master Gardeners
  • Area businesses-in kind donations and funding
  • Non-profits-grants
  • Higher Education
  • STUDENTS!!

New Jersey Department of Agriculture

Farm to School Activity Ideas

Farm to School Downloadable Bookmark (548K PDF)

USDA

The USDA Farm to School Planning Toolkit

Farm to School Fact Sheets

 

National Farm to School Network

Get Started

The Benefits of Farm to School

Farm to School 101 Webinar Archive

Getting Started with Farm to PreSchool

National Farm to School Month

Other Resources

Getting Started with Local Foods

Cornell University: Farm to School Outreach

Farm to School in the Northeast 

Sustainable Jersey for Schools: Food and Nutrition Actions

EcoSpaces Education

City Green's School Grounds Department

 

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