All this week Kent County Public Schools has been participating in the Jane Lawton Farm-to-School initiative and the Maryland Homegrown School Lunch Program. The Farm-to-School program, established during the 2008 session of the General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Martin O’Malley, is designed to bring more Maryland-grown products to school lunches and to help educate students about the source of their food, how it is produced, and the benefits of a healthy diet.
“This week KCPS featured local produce from Lockbriar Farms [in Worton]– apples, pears, cantaloupe, watermelon, tomatoes and corn on the cob,” says Margaret Ellen Kalmanowicz, director of transportation and food service for Kent County Public Schools. “We also had give-aways in the cafeterias [and] had Farm to School materials from the Maryland Department of Agriculture…including bookmarks and a beautiful poster.”
On Tuesday, Kalmanowicz and Sabine Harvey, University of Maryland Extension educator for Kent County brought the commissioners a sampling of what would be on offer in the schools. Kalmanowicz says the students, some of whom rarely or never eat fresh fruits and vegetables, appreciate the alternative to canned.
“The cafeteria managers [say] the students always prefer fresh fruit when it is offered,” says Kalmanowicz.
With nearly 236,000 school lunches served during the last school year in Kent County, using local fruits and vegetables has an impact on local farmers as well as on students diets. Using local produce supports the farmers, which as Kalmanowicz points out in her website message, strengthens the local economy and helps to keep farm land open and productive. Just as important — or even more so from a parent’s perspective – the children gain the nutritional benefits of fresh, local fruits and vegetables and begin to learn something about the physical, economic and nutritional cycle of growing, transporting and consuming local produce.
“[We’re] committed to participating in the Jane Lawton Farm to School initiative this year and to expanding the variety of local products included in school lunches over time,” Kalmanowicz says.
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