CONTACT: Colleen Matts Farm to School Specialist,
CS Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems
Michigan State University
Tel: 517.432.0310
Email: matts@msu.edu
Web site: www.mifarmtoschool.msu.edu

October 30, 2008

Michigan Farm to School has launched a new website to share information, tools, and resources that help support farm to school projects throughout the state.

"Farm to school" applies to a variety of initiatives that link schools and kids to local food and farms, including procurement of local food for school meals programs, fundraisers utilizing local agricultural products, and education opportunities like school gardens, farmer visits to school classrooms and cafeterias, and school field trips to local farms.

The website houses Purchasing Michigan Products: A Step-By-Step Guide, a local food purchasing manual for Michigan school food service directors. Reviewed by school food service directors and an advisory committee, the Guide walks school food service directors through the process of purchasing food directly from local farmers, provides templates of forms for competitive bidding, and compiles regulatory information concerning local food purchasing for school meals programs participating in the National School Lunch Program. From the website, Purchasing Michigan Products can be viewed and/or downloaded in its entirety or step by step.

The website also allows interested readers to sign up for the Michigan Farm to School listserv (MIFARMTOSCHOOL). It provides links to other organizations working on farm to school and additional resources like recipes for school meals programs using local food. With funding from Michigan State University's Project GREEEN (Generating Research and Extension to meet Economic and Environmental Needs), a manual for Michigan farmers to market to school will be developed over the next two years and posted to the website upon completion. Information about classroom activities, fundraisers with local food and agricultural products, and community resources will be coming soon.

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Colleen Matts, Farm to School Specialist with the C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems at Michigan State University, coordinates Michigan Farm to School. The website and Purchasing Michigan Products were developed by Colleen Matts and Betty T. Izumi of the C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems with graphic design by Eat Local Food, LLC. These projects were funded by the North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Graduate Student Grant Program and the C.S. Mott Chair of Sustainable Agriculture at Michigan State University.