School cafeterias from the Sierra to Los Angeles are looking a lot different these days, and for students at Tahoe-Truckee Unified, that means lining up for rambutan, cheering on pozole day, and repeatedly asking staff to restock the salad bar.
The transformation is thanks to California’s Farm to School program, which connects roughly 500 school districts statewide with local farmers and food producers to bring fresher meals into cafeterias. The initiative, launched in 2021, has proven popular enough that state lawmakers this month made it a permanent fixture within the California Department of Food and Agriculture, expanding its reach even further.
“I’m so relieved the state decided to step it up and make this program permanent,” said Christina Lawson, nutrition services director for Western Placer Unified in Lincoln, near Sacramento. “That’s been my abiding fear – that our funding would dry up after all this work we’ve done.”
The program is part of a larger state push to move school lunches beyond the soggy pizza and mystery-meat reputation of decades past. Districts use Farm to School grants to purchase fresh, locally sourced food, organize student field trips to nearby farms, and send cafeteria staff to culinary training so they can prepare dishes such as braised short ribs and roasted root vegetables instead of relying on packaged meals. A companion grant program funds kitchen equipment upgrades, and the state’s move toward universal school meals during the pandemic added momentum to the overhaul. Altogether, California has poured more than $1 billion into improving school food since 2021.
“Our goal is not only to ensure every California child has access to nutritious, locally grown, regenerative organic meals that fuel their full potential, but to continue setting the national standard for what school food can and should be,” said First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who has long championed the state’s school meal reforms. “When we invest in healthy, thriving kids, everyone benefits.”
One key piece of the program, according to nutrition directors, is the use of regional food hubs that act as go-betweens for schools and farms. These hubs place orders with growers, handle deliveries, and manage the paperwork that can otherwise bog down cafeteria staff.
Spork, a Davis-based food hub, partners with more than 100 small farms and 40 school districts stretching from Crescent City to Los Angeles Unified, delivering as much as 120 tons of produce — roughly 720 truckloads — to school kitchens every week. Shipments include everything from vine-ripened cherry tomatoes and purple daikon radishes to Hakurei turnips and painted serpent cucumbers, a striped, thin-skinned variety with a mild, sweet flavor.
“What we’re trying to do is change kids’ eating habits at a young age by showing them how great fruits and vegetables can be,” said Jacob Weiss, Spork’s general manager. “People think kids don’t like vegetables, but we found that if you give them fresh, delicious vegetables, they love it.”
The program also gives a lift to small farming operations that often struggle with unpredictable markets. Roughly 600 small farms across California now supply schools through the initiative, giving growers a more reliable customer base for specialty crops that might otherwise go unsold.
Patrick Bollinger, co-owner of Foothill Roots Farm in Meadow Vista, grows 50 different crops on 20 acres in the Sierra foothills, much of it destined for the Tahoe Food Hub, which supplies Tahoe-Truckee Unified and other buyers.
“If we get an order for watermelon radishes, I know we’ll be able to sell them before we even get the seeds in the ground,” Bollinger said. “And when we sell to the food hub, we don’t have to do the deliveries or marketing. … It’s been incredibly advantageous for us.”
State estimates suggest every dollar spent through Farm to School generates $2.10 in local economic activity. Bollinger said the added stability has allowed him to keep more employees on staff year-round and lease an additional 8 acres since joining the program, while planning his plantings more efficiently between staple crops like carrots and winter squash and specialty items such as beets and chard.
At Tahoe-Truckee Unified, longtime food services director Kat Soltanmorad said she’s never enjoyed her job more in 25 years in school nutrition.
“We now have access to the richness of California agriculture,” Soltanmorad said. “It’s good for the economy, it’s good for the environment, it’s good for student wellness.”
Her team has rolled out dishes like barbecue ribs with garlic bread, organic mashed potatoes and kale Caesar salad, along with mango lassis and potstickers served with baked pancit and cilantro lime rice. Staff regularly taste-test new recipes with students and stock the salad bar with a wide range of options to appeal to different tastes.
“I have become a radish expert,” Soltanmorad said, pointing to varieties like baby French breakfast and Easter egg radishes sourced from nearby small farms. “We dress them up with Tajín and lime juice or cilantro, and the students love it.”
Eighth-grader Gage Gautheier, who transferred to the district two years ago from Reno, said the difference is night and day.
“In Reno they’d give us little sandwiches in plastic bags. Not cooked or anything, just a cold sandwich,” he said. “Here, they actually make an effort. They try.”
Back in Lincoln, Lawson grew emotional describing how Farm to School has reshaped her district’s food program. The 8,200-student district now serves homemade muffins made with locally milled flour, low-sugar Greek yogurt from Sierra Nevada Creamery, handmade tortillas and pupusas, and fresh produce ranging from kumquats to canary melons to finger limes.
The added work has also meant more hours and bigger paychecks for cafeteria staff, along with a renewed sense of purpose, Lawson said.
“It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to school food service,” she said. “The staff is happier, the farmers are benefiting. And the kids are actually eating the food.”
Original source: CalMatters
