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Farm to School Guide and Directory for the Hudson Mohawk Area: If you are a school food service director or farmer looking to buy or sell local food, this guide is for you. It includes need to know information such as what food services directors must do to comply with regulations to purchase local food. It also includes a listing of schools wanting to buy from local farms and farms willing to sell to schools. The guide can be downloaded for free at the Cornell Farm to School website http://farmtoschool.cce.cornell.edu. The guide is located under “Resources,” then “Publications.” If you would like help with farm to school connections in your school, please contact the HMRC&D office. This project is being funded by the NY Farm Viability Institute.
October 2006
Greenville Central School to Feature Local Foods in Lunch Program
Greenville, NY " Greenville Central School and the Hudson Mohawk Resource Conservation and Development Council will be sponsoring a special lunch featuring local foods for students and faculty on Friday, October 27th. Food service director Paul Ventura will be serving a nacho plate which will contain low-fat ground beef that was raised at the Ooms Dairy Farm in Valatie. Also available will be cider and three different varieties of apples grown at Schnare's Orchard only 12 miles away in Climax. Funding for the special lunch was provided in part by a grant from the Hudson River Bank and Trust Co. Foundation.
“People talk about wanting kids to eat healthier. Here in Greenville we are actually doing it and supporting local agriculture at the same time,” said Paul Ventura, food service director for Greenville Central School.
The ground beef being offered is low-fat, free of added hormones and antibiotics and processed under USDA inspection and certification. The beef is provided through the Northeast Livestock Processing Company, LLC (NELPSC), a business started by the Hudson Mohawk RC&D. “When you talk to livestock farmers most will tell you their number one problem is getting their animals processed,” said Seymour Vander Veen, chairperson of the Hudson Mohawk RC&D and a dairy farmer from Delanson. “NELPSC helps farmers and processors save time and money by ensuring the quality processing of their animals. The company will also be procuring ground beef for schools and businesses that want local meat.”
“When you buy local ground beef, you're not just buying a hamburger,” says Eric Ooms, co-owner of Ooms Dairy Farm in Valatie. “You're supporting a local business, you're helping to create jobs in the community, and you're preserving open space by keeping that farm in business. Unlike many other businesses, most of the money spent by the farmer to operate stays local, from the feed store to the tractor supply store. You also know where your food is coming from and how it was raised or grown.”
“If they like what they have at school, we hope the students, faculty, and their families stop by the farm stand for fresher, local food,” said Gene Schnare, owner of Schnare's Sunset Orchard on State Route 81 in Climax. He, like many local farmers, derives a large portion of the farm's income from the farm store.
The Hudson Mohawk RC&D Council is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization that promotes regional, economic and natural resource conservation development in Albany, Columbia, Greene, Montgomery, Rensselaer and Schenectady counties and is funded in part by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Services. The Council has been working with Greenville Central School and farmers to bring local agricultural products into area schools. For more information please contact Hudson Mohawk RC& D Coordinator Elizabeth Marks at (518) 828-4385 x105.
June 2005
Farm to School Program Soars in Greene County
Local Farms Fill Greenville Central's Cafeteria with Healthy Fare By Kristen Skopeck, Public Affairs Specialist
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Paul
Ventura, Food Service Director,
Greenville Central School |
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Under the direction of Greenville Central's Food Service Director, Paul Ventura, a Farm-to-School program was developed last year to incorporate fresher food in the cafeteria. The school's 1400 students were routinely treated to onions, peppers, corn, beans, fruits and other produce purchased from three farms in Greene County.
Ventura's background as a chef inspired his immediate interest in having fresh produce at his fingertips. He was approached by the Hudson Mohawk Resource Conservation and Development Council (RC&D) about the idea of buying from local farms instead of the larger vendors typically supplying schools.
I see myself as a chef as opposed to a director, and I'm always looking for the best tools to work with, Ventura said. Most schools have to work with frozen or canned goods and, occasionally, some fresh. Normally, it is tough to get truly fresh product in the schools because of the logistics of getting it there and the cost involved.
The RC&D council put Ventura in contact with local farmers to discuss food variety, availability and delivery options. The owners of two farms and one orchard agreed to work with Ventura on making the program viable.
The farmers offered excellent quality food at competitive prices, Ventura said.
Greenville Central runs a self-sustaining cafeteria program. None of the school's budget is reserved for food. Last year, Ventura got less than $30,000 from the state to run his program, which, he said, doesn't even cover his milk bill.
On the business end of things, it was nice to have steady product coming in at a fair price, he said. As a chef, it was wonderful to bring in fresh, local product and use it in experimental ways. I don't care how unusual a product may be; if a farmer called me to tell me he had a certain amount of something, I would find a use for it.
Bill Jordan, Special Assistant in New York State's Department of Agriculture and Markets, is a tireless advocate for farm-to-school programs. People want to buy New York products for schools because they know it is the right thing for New York's students and farmers, Jordan said. I am excited about the coalition of fantastic individuals and organizations that is making farm to school programs successful in New York.
For his part, Ventura literally went out of his way to offer the fresher food to the students. He actually stopped and picked a lot of the produce up on his way to work because the farmers did not have delivery trucks going in his direction. He had some reprieve, though, since the orchard owner, Gene Schnare of Schnare's Orchards, made faithful deliveries of apples throughout the school year.
The students were served educational information along with their meals. Ventura's staff informed the students that eating healthier starts with less processed foods.
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Irene
and Jim Story,
owners of Story Farm display some
fresh strawberries |
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It takes a little higher commitment to purchase locally. said Mark Grennan, formerly the Hudson Mohawk RC&D Program Coordinator. Ventura agreed that bringing in a lot of fresh food is more work, but he said the students are worth the effort Irene and Jim Story are owners of the Story farm, which supplied many of Greenville's vegetables. They said they appreciated knowing the children noticed the quality of the food was very good and that they were glad to be a part of the school's pilot program. We've sold to schools before, but I think it just became easier for them to have everything delivered from the large warehouses, Irene said.
Ventura said many people may not realize that Greenville Central does hundreds of thousands of dollars in business to provide food for breakfast, lunch and after school events for 1400 students. He said he doesn't know many restaurants that have to buy enough food to prepare as many meals each day in the county.
One of the best products Ventura was able to purchase was world-class peppers from the Black Walnut Farm. The farm raises organic vegetables and supplies a lot of the local restaurants with lettuce.
The quality of the product I've gotten from the farms is unsurpassed, who wouldn't want to tap into that? Ventura said. The amount of product I go through is astronomical, and there are a bunch of schools in Greene County that could start buying locally and reaping the benefits.
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