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U.S. Mayors Thinking Farm to School
At the recent Winter Meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, DC, over 50 U.S. mayors and staff filled a conference room to learn more about the emerging Farm to School movement from Seven Generations Ahead executive director Gary Cuneen. The presentation, organized as part of the U.S. Mayors Conference Task Force on Sustainable Development, featured highlights of Farm to School programs across the nation including SGA’s Fresh from the Farm program. The talk covered both the educational components of leading Farm to School programs, and some of the successes and challenges facing programs as they work to incorporate local, sustainable and organic food into school lunch programs. Gary Cuneen was excited to see so many municipal leaders interested in Farm to School. “As the local and sustainable food movement matures and begins to address the procurement obstacles centered around supply, distribution and processing, I think we will see even greater interest in Farm to School within our nation’s cities.” Mayor Marty Blum of Santa Barbara, California, co-chair of the Sustainable Development Task Force with Village of Oak Park President David Pope, expressed her hope that more of our nation’s schools would adopt these programs and address the waste issues related to school lunches.
For more information on Farm to School programs nationally, visit the links below.
