South Carolina Adopts Farm-to-School Initiative
CHARLESTON, S.C. — A multi-agency, farm-to-school initiative that started at the College of Charleston will go statewide in early 2015 with funding by grants from Boeing. The program, already available in Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties, will now include counties across the state as more schools adopt wellness policies. This will mean a rise in school gardens as well as farm kitchens, which cost about $50,000 each to build.
The initiative helps promote healthy eating and living habits with children at an early age and increases access to locally grown foods, Jessica Jackson, global corporate citizenship manager at Boeing South Carolina, told The College Today. She added, “Through comprehensive school-based gardening programs such as the Green Heart Project, it promotes S.T.E.M. learning through the experiential process of starting and maintaining a school garden.”
The initiative has five components that include:
• Workforce development for educators: Clemson Extension agents Amy Dabbs, Jennifer Schlette and Zach Snipes developed “School Gardening for South Carolina Educators,” a new online course with one full day of hands-on instruction that assists educators in the creation of sustainable school gardens.
• Community, family and student engagement: The Green Heart Project provides technical assistance to participating schools wishing to implement school-based garden programs to engage youth in farm-to-school programming. Project staff facilitates public-private partnerships between local businesses and participating schools in order to strengthen community ties, while providing needed financial and volunteer support to scale gardens and sustain educational programming.
• Workforce development for school nutrition staff: School nutrition staff are trained by certified chefs from the Culinary Institute of Charleston at Trident Technical College to prepare and serve healthful meals to school children using local produce, as directed by USDA school nutrition guidelines.
• Workforce development for farmers and food systems leaders: Lowcountry Local First’s program entitled “Growing New Farmers” provides new and beginning farmers with farm apprenticeship, farm incubation and land-matching programs.
• Produce supply chain infrastructure and management: Agent Harry Crissy with the Clemson Institute for Economic and Community Development and faculty member David Pastre with the Clemson Center for Architecture in Charleston are leading teams of students to design and build HACCP-certified farm kitchens that will enable farmers to more easily participate in farm-to-school initiatives as well as in other markets. Participating farmers will be provided with HACCP food safety instruction at a low cost and, upon course completion, farmers will be able to lease kitchen space for a nominal fee.
Two farm kitchens are already being built and will be operational in 2015: One in the Charleston area under the management of Sweetgrass Garden and one in Greenville under the management of Mill Village Farms. The kitchen in Greenville will have an outdoor classroom, which will involve students as well as adults in educational programming.
“The commercial farm kitchens are intended to support local farmers so that the food, particularly local produce, can be accessible and affordable for schools who participate in farm-to-school initiatives,” explained Professor Olivia Thompson, farm-to-school director within the Mayor Joseph P. Riley Institute for Livable Communities at the College of Charleston.
“What we hope to do is construct about 15 in the state of South Carolina and that number would support the farm-to-school initiative in our state,” Thompson said.