Burlington High School
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Burlington Schools Food Service to
Serve as National Model

Senator Patrick Leahy announced Friday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has selected the Burlington School District as one of 15 school districts nationwide that will be visited by the USDA Farm to School Team to learn about Burlington's Farm to School program.

The USDA Farm to School Team is comprised of both Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) and Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) staff members, and was created to support local and regional food systems by facilitating alliances between schools and their local food producers.

Working with local and state authorities, school districts, farmers, and community partners, the Farm to School Team provides guidance to and develops mechanisms for

• Assisting schools in accessing local markets
• Enabling food producers to effectively service their local schools
• Facilitating communication between interested stakeholders

Burlington will be used as a national example for how Farm to School programs help to better connect children to their food and create opportunities for local farmers to provide their harvest to schools in their communities.

The USDA Farm to School Team is hoping to learn how successful Farm to School programs first began, how relationships with farmers were cultivated, what obstacles were faced, and what the effects have been in the schools and the community. These visits are a part of Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan's Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative to create new economic opportunities for farmers and ranchers by better connecting consumers with local producers. Restoring the link between consumers and local producers brings new opportunities for farmers that help to generate wealth, keeping money in rural communities, creating a greater focus on sustainable farming practices, and helping consumers gain access to healthy, fresh, and locally grown food.

The Farm to School movement also fits into emerging strategies to counter childhood obesity, such as First Lady Michelle Obama’s ‘Let’s Move’ campaign, which is focused on helping kids to make smart and healthy choices in their own lives. With more than 30 percent of American children obese today, the risks to children’s health are also risks to the economy, with the billions of dollars spent each year treating obesity-related conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.