What's For Lunch? Farm to School in Michigan

It’s lunchtime at Houghton Elementary School in the Western Upper Peninsula.

The salad bar is ready with freshly sliced apples and students are buzzing for an opportunity to catch up with friends. For many students, lunch is the best time of the day; friendships are formed, taste buds are tested, and growling stomachs are filled. Recognizing the power lunchtime holds to shape student success, fresh food advocates across the country are teaming up to change the way students experience food.

The Farm to School (F2S) movement has grown steadily over the last decade, with the USDA estimating that nearly 42.8 million students engaged in F2S activities in 2019. These programs offer students, teachers, food service providers, and farmers opportunities to grow and learn together. When schools purchase directly from local farms, money stays in the local economy and students gain access to fresh produce while experiencing the value of local food with each bite.

Relationship Builders

Rachael Pressley, Regional Planner for Western U.P. Planning & Development Region (WUPPDR), views F2S programs as a way for schools and students to practice food sovereignty – to have a say in what and how they eat. From a young age, kids in the Upper Peninsula “are encouraged to participate in the food traditions of the region, like harvesting wild rice, berries, and participating in sugar bush (tapping of maple trees),” and community members are “eager to shake the hand of the farmer that feeds them.” Consequently, getting schools and farmers on board to put Michigan-grown food on the menu doesn’t take much convincing.

When Pressley approaches schools about F2S efforts, she finds many food service

directors already connecting students to their local food system. From there, she’s able to support and expand their efforts by introducing them to grants, programs, and connecting them to a network of farmers who have committed to supplying schools with their products.

Farm to School Coordinators, like Madelina DiLisi, also connect farmers and schools to resources. "I've witnessed firsthand how the Western U.P. Farm to School movement utilizes teamwork, enthusiasm, and dedication to transform our community for the better,” she says. “While there will always be challenges, the U.P. is resilient by nature. In my humble opinion, the Farm to School project is the epitome of successful community collaboration."

Farmer Friends

One of those key collaborators in the U.P. is Ashley TenHarmsel of North Harvest CSA, a small vegetable, herb, and flower farm in Calumet. As first-generation farmers, Ashley and her husband Jake started their operation from bare bones and can tell you that without the supportive community of farmers in the region, their farm wouldn’t be what it is today.

Because of the F2S movement’s holistic approach to incorporating fresh local food through cafeteria meals, taste tests, farmer visits, and school gardens, TenHarmsel sees consistent access to fresh local food “as the start of something big,

something that becomes the norm” for schools throughout the state.

Gina Kerr, owner and operator of Whispering Wild Market Farm in Toivola, has witnessed a growing interest from students and staff who “love to try new foods when they learn about why they’re different or special.” She also appreciates the connections F2S programs encourage between staff, students, and growers; it’s her favorite aspect of the movement. “I often run into families that recognize me from produce drop-offs or classroom visits,” she says. “It’s wonderful to see their smiles and know they have a farmer friend.”

School Staff Advocates

Farmer friendships forged in the classroom and cafeteria exist through support from school staff excited to use local food as an opportunity for learning. In schools that embrace F2S programming, students are more familiar with a diverse array of produce and empowered to make impactful choices at lunchtime. According to Shelby Turnquist, Food Service Director at Houghton Elementary, “In the beginning, we had to coax students to taste new things but after some time they were on the lookout for new items.” Because of farmer visits and witnessing produce drop-offs, she’s noticed students are now “connecting the dots” between their food and those who grow it.

To showcase those connections, Houghton Elementary students are designing a food systems-focused mural for the cafeteria, facilitated by their art teacher, Melissa Hronkin. “Our students have learned so much by tasting locally grown crops,” she says. “When people like Shelby [Turnquist] are willing to go through the extra work of making it all come together, it makes all the difference.”

Supporting Programs: 10 Cents a Meal

One of the ways schools can access locally grown foods is through the 10 Cents a Meal program, a grant that matches up to 10 cents per meal spent on local food for school districts and early childhood education centers.

Wendy Crowley, Farm to Program Consultant for Child Nutrition Programs with the Michigan Department of Education, says the key to the success of F2S in Michigan is for grantees (school districts/kitchen managers) to understand “it’s not an all-ornothing situation.” Food service managers can start with “a couple of things on their menu like apples or cherry tomatoes!”

10 Cents a Meal continues to evolve to match the needs of grantees and make Michigan-grown produce accessible. Work is underway to improve invoicing systems, create local food directories, provide continued education for food service providers, and support the expansion of processing facilities for easy-to-use items such as carrot sticks and cubed potatoes.

A Collaborative Effort

No one entity may be dubbed the leader of the F2S movement. It’s a collaborative effort by a statewide community of organizations, institutions, farmers, aggregators, processing facilities, students, families, food service directors, grant writers, and legislators. TenHarmsel sums it up well, “It’s not possible for just one of us to do everything. The whole community has come together in this energized and hopeful way to make Farm to School a reality.”