Natomas Unified’s award-winning Nutrition Services Department can add another to its growing list of honors: From hundreds of applicants, the U.S. Department of Agriculture selected NUSD to receive one of 65 federal Farm to School grants today.
The grant will provide NUSD with nearly $80,000 to enhance farm-to-school efforts designed to enhance students’ knowledge about local farming and to bolster purchases of local crops for school cafeteria meals.
NUSD and Twin Rivers were the only Sacramento County winners of the two-year federal grant, which went to 10 districts statewide.
“Increasing the amount of local foods in America’s schools is a win-win for everyone,” USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue said. “Our children benefit from the fresh, local food served in their meals at school, and local economies are nourished, as well, when schools buy the food they provide close to home.”
NUSD Nutrition Services Director Vince Caguin said the USDA grant will be used by the district to:
· Create school gardens at Discovery High School and at a new campus to open this fall, Paso Verde School
· Continue NUSD field trips to Vierra Farms in West Sacramento to teach students about farming methods and agricultural career opportunities
· Increase purchase of local foods for use in school cafeteria meals. NUSD began buying directly from California farms several years ago. About 90 percent of the district’s fruits and vegetables now come from California farms, as do foods for creating one cafeteria entrée item per week
· Train more school staff on scratch cooking, consistent with NUSD’s practice of relying less on prepackaged foods and more on producing meals in its central kitchen with finishing touches applied by school cafeteria staff
“I’m definitely excited about it – I know there were hundreds of applicants from throughout the nation,” NUSD Nutrition Services Director Vince Caguin said of the federal grant, adding it will help the district serve even more locally grown food. “We’re grateful we can continue this good trajectory we’ve been in.”
According to the 2015 USDA Farm to School Census, schools with strong farm to school programs report higher school meal participation, reduced food waste, and increased willingness of students to try new foods, notably fruits and vegetables.
The Farm to School grant marks the third statewide or national award won by NUSD Nutrition Services in recent months. In April, it won a USDA “Turnip the Beet Award” for the quality of its summer feeding program. Last November, the California Farm to School Network named NUSD as one of five statewide winners of a “Golden Seed Grow Award” for emphasizing fresh, locally grown food in school cafeterias and for offering hands-on nutrition education to students.
