California’s Farm to School program is bringing business and climate-friendly practices to farms: Report

Food producers who have participated in California’s state-funded “Farm to School” grant program are benefiting from significant growth in their business revenues, a new progress report has found.

About 57 percent of the program’s farmers made sales to schools from April to September 2023 — with those sales representing around 33 percent of their total farm revenues, on average, according to the report.

Meanwhile, schools benefited from an influx of fresh, local and organic fruits and vegetables, meat and dairy products, per the report, an independent publication from researchers at University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, UC Berkeley, Food Insight Group and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The California Farm to School Incubator Grant Program, which receives funding through the state budget, operates with the California Department of Food and Agriculture Office’s Farm to Fork division.

The program, championed by First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, connects local producers and school food buyers, encourages education about food in classrooms, gardens and on farms and involves students and their schools in the agricultural community.

The latest grant round — which awarded $52.8 million for 195 projects, serving 1.65 million students — included funding tracks and opportunities for K-12 school districts, technical assistance providers, early education centers and farmers, according to a recent announcement.

The new report focuses on the outcome of the 2023 cultivation season, with a particular look at the farmers who received their grants and how partnerships with schools helped bolster their businesses.

Of the 50 producers evaluated in the report, about 42 percent identified as Black, Indigenous or people of color, while 62 percent of businesses were owned by women and 94 percent were small-to-midsize operations.

All farmers whose projects received funding from the program confirmed their attention to adopt more efficient agricultural practices throughout the duration of their grant period.

Tim Bowles, a coauthor of the report and leader of the program evaluation team, praised the initiative for supporting farmers who expand or adopt environmentally beneficial practices.

“It’s essential these farmers have a market for what they grow to see durable environmental benefits,” Bowles, an assistant professor in environmental science, policy and management at UC Berkeley, said in a statement.

“We’re also seeing farms actually expand their acreage in order to sell to schools, suggesting this is a desirable market,” he continued.

About 16 percent of producers reported adopting new climate-smart agricultural innovations within the first six months of receiving their grant, while 24 percent said they expanded existing practices while cultivating crops for schools.

Also within that first six-month window, 11 farmers said they added acreage to their properties as a direct result of the program — relying mostly on composting practices instead of pesticides.

Despite these successes, the evaluators also flagged certain difficulties, such as years of delays in infrastructure build-out and other complexities associated with improving school food systems.

“Decades of research shows the value to children from fresh, locally sourced food,” said Gail Feenstra, co-lead on the project and a researcher from UC Agriculture and Natural Resources.

“However, what is becoming more clear from this research is that long-term investments in the full farm to school system are crucial,” she added.

Without the establishment of regional-level infrastructure, staffing, product consolidation and distribution, participants will “have challenges moving the needle,” according to Feenstra.

Nonetheless, she credited the state’s “investments in the entire farm to school supply chain” for beginning to address these challenges.