This document discusses farm to early care and education (ECE) programs. It defines ECE settings like child care centers and head start programs. Farm to ECE incorporates local food procurement, gardening, cooking demonstrations and taste tests to teach children about food and nutrition. The document outlines farm to ECE activities and discusses its benefits for health, education and community engagement. It provides data on farm to ECE in Arkansas, including the number of sites, students reached, and common local food sources. Barriers and available support are also mentioned. Contact information is provided for the Arkansas farm to school program.

1. Hear from the Buyers
Emily English, Jenna Rhodes, Dolores Sutterfield, Sarah
Martin

3. National Farm to
School Network
• Non-profit hub
• Information
• Advocacy
• Networking
• Racial + social equity
• Every state has a
Core Partner and
Supporting Partners
http://www.farmtoschool.org/

4. USDA Office of
Community Food
Systems – Farm to
School Programs
7 regional offices
Technical assistance
Research
Grant making
F2S Census
https://www.fns.usda.gov/farmtoschool/farm-school

5. K-12
Pre-K
College and
university
Public
Private
Charter
Inside
Classrooms
Cafeterias
Outside
School /
Community
gardens
Farms

6. HARRISBURG
FARM TO SCHOOL

7. Harrisburg Farm to School
4 campuses; 15 employees
1190 student: Average 850 lunches, 600 breakfast, 200
snacks and 600 Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Snacks
Member of the PGA (Purchasing Group of Arkansas)
 Group of 32 districts representing over 36,000 students
 Our group is NOT about the cheapest prices, but about the
best price of the best product for our kids
 What could be any better product for our kids than F2S
products??
 Our whole group connected with producers after the F2S
tour a few years ago.

8. Considerations
Connect (producers)
GAP certification (safety for our students first and
foremost)
Labor/prep for staff members
Price (compared to our weekly produce guide)
Season availability (what is available)
Delivery (pool resources together? PGA groupings
or individual?)

9. Goals of Harrisburg Farm to School
Strengthen local
economies by expanding
markets for Arkansas
agricultural producers
Fresh produce for
students

10. Where We Started
Farm tour

11. School Food Service
Challenges and Opportunities
 Delivery
 Food safety
 Price
 Time
 Finding
Local
Producers
 Seasonality
 Scale/reliable
supply
 Labor/food prep
 Staff skills
 Storage/refrigerat
ion
 Student
preferences

12. Producer Challenges and Opportunities
 Price point
 Food safety/liability
insurance
 Good Agricultural
Practices (GAP) and Good
Handling Practices (GHP)
are voluntary audits that
focus on best agricultural
practices to verify that
fruits and vegetables are
produced, packed,
handled, and stored in the
safest manner possible to
minimize risks of microbial
food safety hazards.
 Delivery
 Time
 Seasonality
 Storage/refrigeration
 Quantity: http://fbg.nfsmi.org/

13. Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
WG Pizza or *Hamburger
Broccoli
Carrots
Crispy Treat
Fruit
Milk
Chicken Nuggets or Strips
Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans
Roll
Fruit
Milk
Bosco Cheese Stick or *PBJ
Sandwich
Macaroni & Cheese
Green Peas
Carrots
Fruit
Milk
Soft Taco/Taco Salad or
Pizza
Pinto Beans
Lettuce/Tomato
Fruit
Milk
*Salsa
*Mexican Cornbread
Corndog or *BBQ
Oven Crisp Fries
Pork & Beans
Fruit
Milk
*Cole Slaw
WG Cookie
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
WG Pizza or *Hamburger
Broccoli
Seasoned Corn
Crispy Treat
Fruit
Milk
Eggs/Sausage or *Chicken
Nuggets
Quick Baked Potato
Carrots
Gravy
Biscuit
Fruit
Milk
Crispito or *Pizza
Seasoned Broccoli
Pinto Beans or Refried
Beans
Salsa
Fruit
Milk
Country Steak/Gravy
Or *Hamburger
Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans
Fruit
Roll
Bacon Cheeseburger or *Hot
Dog
Oven Fries
Lettuce/Tomato
Fruit
Milk
*WG Cookie

14. Food Buying Guide Calculator
https://foodbuyingguide.fns.usda.gov/Home/Home

15. Food Buying Guide Calculator
FBG Calculator - Create Shopping List

16. FBG Calculator

17. Ite
m
Servin
gs
Size Food Item (AP)
Serving
Description
(EP)
Exa
ct
Qty
Purchas
e Qty
Purchas
e Unit
Select
1 100 1 cup
Lettuce, romaine, fresh,
untrimmed
ready-to-serve raw
lettuce pieces
12.78 13.00 lb
2 100 1/2 cup Strawberries, fresh, whole
raw whole
strawberries
19.05 19.25 lb
3 100 1/2 cup
Broccoli, fresh, florets,
trimmed, ready-to-use
ready-to-cook
broccoli
6.94 7.00 lb
4 100 1 cup
Spinach, fresh, leaves, (4-inch
by 9-inch), ready-to-use
ready-to-cook or
serve, raw chopped
spinach
15.62 15.75 lb
5 100 1/2 cup
Grapes, fresh, seedless, whole,
with stem
ready-to-serve raw
grapes
19.05 19.25 lb

19. Thank you!
dolores@hbgsd.org

20. WHITE RIVER
REGIONAL
JUVENILE
DETENTION
CENTER

21. WHO ARE WE?
• We aren’t your
ordinary school.
• We are a 52 bed
facility.
• We are open year
round – 24/7 365
days a year.

22. • Heat and hold oven.
• Household appliances
 Griddle
 Electric Skillet
 Toaster
 Popcorn Maker
• NO STOVE!

23.  We serve 67 out of the
75 counties in
Arkansas.
 Wide range of charges -
disorderly conduct and
shoplifting to armed
robbery and murder.
 Kids from FOOD
DESERT areas
 Kids with FOOD
INSECURITY

24. Opportunities
• Excited to learn
• Never seen a growing garden
• Seed propagation/planting
• Plant maintenance and care
• Land management
• Eating fresh and local

29. THIS IS THE ENEMY
…my nemesis – the dreaded fruit cup

30. Purchased from Ben E Keith and Sysco $0.59 each
14 cups per juvenile per WEEK
728 cups per juvenile per YEAR
$ 8.26 per juvenile per WEEK
$ 429.52 per juvenile per YEAR
Based on 35 kids a day
$ 289.10 per WEEK
$ 15,033.20 per YEAR

31. We also serve fresh fruit
most days:
Apples Oranges
Bananas Grapes
Strawberries Pears
We also serve fresh
vegetables every day:
Broccoli
Carrots
Snap peas

32.  We serve 67 out of 75 the counties in Arkansas.
 Transporters are in all regions of the state regularly

33. Sarah Martin
White River Regional Juvenile Detention Facility
(870) 612-6814 x2
sarah.martin@independencecounty.com

34. THANK
YOU

35. Farm to Early Care and
Education (ECE)

36. What is Farm to ECE?
•ECE is a broad term to describe any type of
educational program that serves children in
their pre-school years
• Family child care homes – home-based care
that is provided for pay in the private family
home of the caregiver
• Child care centers – provide care in centers
that vary in terms of size and structure of
operations
• Head Start or Early Start
• Preschools or child care in a K-12 district
• State preschool program
• Private preschool or child care

37. What is Farm to ECE?
The three big motivators for ECE
Educators…
Teaching children about where food comes
from and how it is grown
Improving children’s health
Providing children with experiential learning
opportunities

38. What is Farm to ECE?
46 states, including Arkansas, passed
laws ranging from supportive bills and
resolutions to those creating funding
streams

39. Why Focus on Early Care and Education
Settings?
• Health
• Earliest years of life are formative years for developing taste
preferences and healthy eating habits
• Family and community engagement
• Parental involvement tends to be strongest during the early
childhood years
• Experiential education
• Experiential learning opportunities associated with farm to ECE
enhance the learning environment, can help achieve early
learning standards and support appropriate cognitive,
emotional, social and physical development
*NFSN: A Roadmap for Farm to Early Care and Education

40. Farm to ECE Activities…

41. Additional Farm to ECE Activities…
• Held taste tests and/or cooking demos of locally
produced foods
• Facilitated children’s families access to locally produced
foods
• Hosted a special event or day related to food and farms
• Promoted locally produced foods in general at the site
• Hosted a farmer visit
Local farmers are NEEDED!

42. Where?

43. Where?

44. Where?
• Within Arkansas
• 10 total farm to ECE sites
• 22.73% of total respondents planning to
start farm to ECE
• The total enrollment of farm to ECE is 922
• 10% started within the last year and
• 10% of the sites have been doing farm to
ECE for over five years

45. Sources of local foods

46. Sources of local foods
“ECE sites were most likely to
list “other” (74.3%) as a
source for local foods, but
include specific names of
grocery stores/retail outlets
or as well as food banks and
school systems as specific
examples.” *NFSN: Results
From the 2018 National Farm
to Early Care and Education
Survey

47. Common Food Choices

48. Barriers to
Purchasing/
Procuring
Local Products

49. Support Exists
• Funding

50. • National Organizations and Programs
• Child and Adult Care Feeding Program
• supports local procurement
• CDC
• includes F2S ECE in their spectrum of
strategies of addressing childhood obesity
• National Farm to School Network
• USDA Office of Community Food Systems
Support Exists

51. Contact
Info
Website
 www.arkansasfarmtoschool.org
Facebook
 www.facebook.com/arkansasfarmtoschool
Twitter
 www.twitter.com/arfarmtoschool
 #ARFarmtoschool
Emily English
 501.364.3390
 esenglish@uams.edu
Jenna D. Rhodes
 501.364.3360
 jennarhodes@uams.edu