WGCSD Food Service Receives Farm to Table Grant Along with a Consortium of CNY Schools
Emily Cullen, School Lunch Director II
October 29, 2023
October is National Farm to School Month and therefore was perfect timing to hold a press event on Wednesday, October 18 where several schools in Onondaga County came together at Edward Smith Elementary School in the Syracuse City School District for the announcement of Farm to School Grants awarded to local schools.
In addition to West Genesee Central School District, Syracuse City, Baldwinsville, Liverpool, and North Syracuse School Districts have recently each received a grant that allows their Food Service departments to purchase fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables directly from New York State and specifically Onondaga County. These schools unofficially make up Syracuse-Onondaga Food Systems Alliance (SOFSA) Farm to School Working Group.
To help us coordinate all of this, we will partner with Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE)/Harvest NY https://cals.cornell.edu/cornell-cooperative-extension. We have a CNY Farm to School Coordinator, Lizzy Cooper, who has helped to facilitate and support our initiatives.
The grant was awarded to each school by the New York State Education Department (NYSED) who entered into a collaborative agreement with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), to administer the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (LFS).
The Onondaga County Division of Purchase invited vendors to bid on various Farm to Fresh products. As a result of the bidding process, the school districts will be purchasing produce from Russo Produce (Syracuse), Reeves Farms (Baldwinsville), Headwater Food Hub (Ontario, NY), and Dagele Brothers Produce (Florida,NY).
On the third Wednesday of every month, all CNY participating school districts will offer a Farm to School menu featuring produce from local and NYS farms. September featured fresh corn on the cob, while October featured concord grapes and NYS potatoes. Upcoming menus will feature butternut squash, peas, acorn squash, cabbage, carrots and strawberries. Funds may also be used to purchase minimally processed local meats and dairy products.
Our goal is to continue to partner with local producers to support the local economy and improve the quality of our students' diets. At West Genesee, we currently menu local apples, Upstate Niagara milk and Caz Tortillas, in addition to products from the other New York vendors listed above.
