Garden State

Farm To Fork Office Spreads Nutritional Wealth

Imagine living in a state where every resident, child to elder, has access to farm-fresh, healing, life-sustaining produce.

For decades, access to nourishing produce has been associated with more privileged lifestyles. In poorer areas, adults suffer dietrelated health conditions. Children are often malnourished. Ten percent of Californians have diabetes. People with the least amount of money often travel long distances for healthy produce.

In recent months, I’ve learned about the California Office of Farm to Fork and its Farm to School Program. I began to see threads pulling together the farm-to-fork movement. Each link forms a chain of relationships.

The state’s Farm to Fork office builds and maintains relationships among government agencies, farmers, schools and people who need farm-fresh produce. Office supervisor Elysia Fong says the mission is “to increase food access for all Californians, and we recognize that to do so