Maryland Celebrates Homegrown School Lunch Week

By Joe Bartenfelder, Maryland Agriculture Secretary

Students across Maryland enjoyed lunches full of fresh, local Maryland agricultural products. Governor Larry Hogan officially designated September 14-18, 2015 as Maryland Homegrown School Lunch Week, a time when schools across the state help students understand that their food comes from farms.

Our goal is to see more local, fresh food in school lunches, not only to improve childhood health but also to help them learn about the importance of our farms to our environment and daily lives. Homegrown School Lunch week not only provides effective learning activities, it can be an economic opportunity for Maryland farmers and it’s fun for students and other participants.

Governor Hogan supports the program, saying “It is essential that students learn and understand where our food comes from, and how vital our agriculture industry is to Maryland’s economy and our quality of life. We are extremely encouraged that nearly all 24 of our public school systems and some private schools are participating in this essential educational program.”

To kick off the week, I had the pleasure of joining educators, farmers, and federal, state and local officials last Thursday with about 400 students from Preston Elementary School in Caroline County.  I would like to thank Beth Brewster, coordinator of food services for Caroline County Public School, who has creatively observed Maryland Homegrown School Lunch Week since it began in 2008.

That day, the school held an all-school assembly where students heard from agriculture and education officials more about the connection between farms and food. Principal Dr. Lois McCoy said she and the Preston Elementary School’s staff and students were honored to host the Statewide Farm to School Kick-off Celebration. “What a wonderful educational opportunity for our students to learn about how food is grown in their local communities. On a daily basis, our local farmers provide many of our nutritious produce, fruits and vegetables, for school breakfast and lunch programs. It is my hope that we can continue these programs and sustain the partnerships that we have with our local farmers.”

We enjoyed a delicious lunch featuring local agricultural products including bison burgers (SB Farms, Hurlock); chicken taco salad (Perdue Farms, Salisbury); watermelon slices (Harris Farms, Preston); corn on the cob with cilantro butter (Taylor’s Produce, Preston); and peach cobbler (Blades Orchard, Preston).

Special for the event, Chesapeake Culinary Institute students prepared three different soups that they presented for the elementary students in in tasting stations that featured: watermelon gazpacho (Harris Farms, Preston and Clayton Farms, Denton); Maryland crab soup (Blough’s Seafood, Denton and Clayton Farms, Denton); and cantaloupe soup (Clayton Farms, Denton).

Officials who attended the event also toured two Caroline County farms (Outstanding Dreams Alpaca Farm and Faulkner Branch) while students visited the Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation Ag Showcase. Miss Caroline County Farm Bureau Julie Cesarini, Mar-Del Watermelon Queen Courtney Hastings and Apple Annie also visited with students during the day.

We ended the festivities with an official tour of the Chesapeake Culinary Center (CCC) in Denton (Caroline County) and its grand opening of a new restaurant kitchen at the center. CCC is a community driven facility that promotes a positive culinary learning experience for students, and a professionally trained workforce for the hospitality industry.  It provides culinary training to youth, students and adults. CCC also provides a catering service to allow students to have a hands-on learning experience in the industry.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is supportive of Maryland’s efforts as well. USDA, Food and Nutrition Service, Mid-Atlantic Region Administrator Patricia Dombroski said “We are thrilled and honored to celebrate Maryland’s Homegrown School Lunch Week. Early childhood is the ideal time to establish healthy eating habits. Connecting schools and education settings to local food producers with the objectives of serving locally-grown, healthy foods to children while providing related nutrition education and improving child nutrition is a win-win situation for all.”

The Maryland Farm to School Program is a joint effort supported by MDA and the Maryland State Department of Education. Interim State Superintendent of Schools Jack R. Smith, Ph.D., says “While our students are learning all about the food chain, they are also engaging in lessons that span the curriculum—from science and health to history and economics. These activities are an excellent way to bring learning to life for students across Maryland while also exposing them to potential career paths.”

This year, other county schools are creatively incorporating local protein and developing infrastructure for local farmers into the 2015 Homegrown School Lunch Week. Eight school systems indicated they “buy local when feasible” throughout the school year – up from zero when the program started in 2008. Information about activities in other counties is available www.marylandfarmtoschool.org.

The Maryland Homegrown School Lunch Week, an element of the Jane Lawton Farm to School Program, was signed into law in 2008. More information about Maryland’s Farm to School program, including educational materials, menus, places to find local products, brief video soundbook with photos and interviews, plus much more for parents, teachers, and food service staff, visit:www.marylandfarmtoschool.org. For information on the school meals programs, visit: www.eatsmartmaryland.org.

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