The Farm to School approach helps children understand where their food comes from and how their food choices impact their bodies, the environment and their communities at large.
Potential benefits of the program for communities, schools, farmers and children include:
-Nutrition education for students
-Participation in school meal program
-Increased consumption of fruits and vegetables
-Improved nutrition
-Reduced hunger
-Obesity prevention
-Local economic development
-Market opportunities for farmers
-Food security for children
-Decreased distance between producer and consumer
-Influence policy-making at the local and regional levels
Recent studies conducted by Beery et al. demonstrated additional, unexpected benefits from programs similar to Farm to School, as illustrated by the following quotes:
-"Students eating from the farm fresh salad bar lunches took between 90% and 144% of recommended daily servings of fruits and vegetables compared to the students eating hot lunches 40% and 60% of the recommended servings"
- "Experiences from existing programs prove that innovative nutrition education, experiential education, and marketing programs for the salad bar are key to generating enthusiasm about the farm to school programs and maintaining strong participation in the cafeteria meal program"