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Farm to School program urged to bring farmers into the planning stage

FILE - A display showing the four food groups greets students in the lunch line in New Mexico.
Susan Montoya Bryan
/
AP
FILE - A display showing the four food groups greets students in a lunch line in New Mexico.

The state wants to serve 30% locally sourced food in public schools by 2030, but the House Education Committee is worried that the goal may be out of reach.

The previous goal was to have 10% local food in schools by 2025. But the state Department of Education says locally sourced ingredients only make up 5.4% of food served in public schools now.

The committee hopes the use of local farms and products will increase nutritional benefits for students and benefit in-state farmers.

But with current trends, hitting 30% in the next five years seems unrealistic.

"I think part of the problem is that there is no communication with the farmers ahead of time. We need to bring the small farmers into the planning table so they know what to grow and what kind of quantities they need to have at certain times to meet the menu requirements," said Kawika Kahiapo with the Farm to School initiative.

"There's also been issues with making sure that the nutritional portions are up to par to meet the USDA standards, and so bringing them outside of DOE will allow them to help regulate and make sure that they're hitting those nutritional standards.”

Several committee members suggested that the DOE should talk to farmers before making the menu, rather than after. This would allow farmers to have a larger place in deciding what is realistic in the menu planning.

Emma Caires is the UH Legislative News Intern at Hawaiʻi Public Radio. Contact Emma at ecaires@hawaiipublicradio.org
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