Seeds to Success: The Louisiana Farm to School Program

Crystal Besse, Motsenbocker, Carl E.

Relevance

Louisiana’s Farm to School initiative is cooperatively led by the LSU AgCenter and the Louisiana Department of Education’s Division of Nutrition Services. It is our goal to ensure every child in Louisiana has access to fresh, locally grown food while promoting the benefits of foods grown in Louisiana through hands-on learning opportunities in a variety of educational settings.

The Louisiana Farm to School initiative works to increase Louisiana products served in schools, offer more wholesome meal options for Louisiana children and get students involved with nutrition and agriculture education through school gardens.

Our Farm to School efforts not only benefit students but also strengthen local food systems in Louisiana by creating connection and expanding food access between schools, farms and communities.

Economic and Workforce Impacts

Through local procurement efforts, capacity building, resource development, technical assistance and training, Louisiana Farm to School fosters positive economic relationships between food producers, schools and beyond.

Through Farm to School, we connect Louisiana’s agricultural abundance directly to school cafeterias, supporting local farmers, reducing food insecurity and fostering lifelong nutritious eating habits in students.

$0.26 to $0.48 additional economic benefit for local communities is generated for every dollar spent on local food purchases by Louisiana school districts.
$3.2 million spent by 101 schools/districts with local farmers and producers using the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement funds from 2022-2025.
85% of School Food Authorities participating in farm to school serve local foods at least weekly.
Among School Food Authorities doing farm to school, 18% of their spending was on local foods.
300 + producers, ranchers, and fishers have been trained using the MarketReady Producer Training Program on how to prepare for selling in large markets and wholesale distribution.

Program Outcomes

92,964 Louisiana students have been directly impacted by farm to school activities since 2021.
92% of Louisiana Parishes are participating in the Louisiana Harvest of the Month initiative.
88% of teachers report increased student interest in healthy eating.
92% of teachers report increased student gardening knowledge.
26,000 + views of the Louisiana Harvest of the Month on-farm tour videos, which are produced in partnership with Louisiana Public Broadcasting.
298 participants in Meet the Buyer, Greet the Grower events since 2018.

Program Highlights

More than 200 educators and community members have been professionally trained through Seeds to Success workshops, covering gardening and agricultural education for use in classroom learning.
Developed Growing Minds Toolkits for preschool, elementary and middle school use. With a focus on consistent programming that can span beyond the classroom and into the home, each toolkit set is designed to highlight a different Louisiana Harvest of the Month. Each toolkit contains a fact sheet, standards-aligned lesson plan, coloring page, activity sheet, suggested recipe and take-home newsletter, all highlighting a specific Harvest of the Month item. To date, 29 toolkits have been created.
Distributed over 3,700 windowsill seed starter kits to Louisiana educators for classroom use, each including two or three customized seed packets from the LSU AgCenter’s Seeds to Success Program.
The annual Louisiana Farm to School Art Contest has engaged 973 students in creating art that celebrates Louisiana agriculture and farm to school.

Kids tasting sweet potatoes Kid biting sweet potato