The Jersey Fresh Farm to School Recognition and Award program will recognize schools that work with farmers and the community to ensure students have access to healthy Jersey Fresh fruits and vegetables in their school cafeterias and teach about agriculture through growing school gardens.
Farm to School programs provide hands-on, experiential learning opportunities to help students learn about local agriculture, how food grows and what it means to eat healthfully with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Farm to School activities can include, but are not exclusive to nutrition education, harvest meals serving locally sourced projects, tie ins that connect the cafeteria to the classroom or school garden, visits to or from local farms that teach students how food is grown; and/or school garden education that ties directly into what is already being taught in the classroom.
One school that provides the most extensive number of meaningful Farm to School activities will be presented with the “Best in New Jersey Farm to School Award” during Jersey Fresh Farm to School Week September 26-30.
Applications are due By June 1, and are available at www.surveymonkey.com/r/f2school.
For more information, visit www.farmtoschool.nj.gov.