The USDA Farm to School Census page will show you the status of Connecticut's participation. Thanks to all the USDA National School Lunch Program school food service directors who participated in this very important survey. Many thanks to the USDA-FNS for such a beautiful, easy to read, and useful format! This data will be important for planning Connecticut Farm to School projects!

The Eastern Connecticut Resource Conservation & Development Area, Inc. (ECRC&D) Sustainable Communities Subcommittee created three surveys for Connecticut as part of the Connecticut Farm to Institution of New England (FINE) Project. The CT DoAg assistance was an integral part of project. The surveys targeted farmers, school food service directors and wholesalers/distributors. They were developed after reviewing similar media and studies from Michigan, New York, Washington State, Delaware, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, California, and Maryland, as well as materials available on the www.farmtoschool.org website and from the Community Food Security Coalition and the Center for Food & Justice at Occidental College.

The intent of the surveys was to verify the level of Connecticut Grown product being shipped to and used by Connecticut schools. Each was written to obtain the perspectives of the three distinct groups. The draft surveys for Connecticut were reviewed by personnel from the Connecticut Department of Agriculture, the Connecticut Department of Administrative Services, the Connecticut State Department of Education and the South Windsor School System.

This document also includes a  final report from the Connecticut Department of Agriculture – Farm to School Program (CT-FTS) to complete the same grant requirement.  CT-FTS agreed to look at if the use of CT Grown, instead of produce from other parts of the United States (US), would positively affect our state's carbon footprint. Materials from other USDA funded projects were used from on-line sources. CT-FTS used Agricultural Marketing Resource Center (AGMRC), http://www.agmrc.org , the USDA-Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA-AMS), http://www.marketnews.usda.gov , and other resources to create an estimate of the excess miles our foods travel. The user guide for USDA-AMS Market news was very helpful, and can be found at http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5048679

Download the 110 page (6MB pdf format) report here:    

 

 

These are historical documents that may be of value to farmer, food service director, or parent. They are here help you understand the process that occurred to start the Farm-To-School in Connecticut.

These are great colorful handouts from the now defunct Connecticut coalition, 5-3-1 Group:

5 -3-1 Landscape Tracker

5-3-1 Pumpkin Patch