Local Food for Schools
Pilot project with USDA to get local food into schools around Iowa.
The USDA will help states deal with the challenges of supply chain disruptions brought on by the pandemic. Through the LFS program, the USDA will reward $200 million to states for food assistance purchases of domestic local food for distribution to schools. This program will strengthen the food system for schools by helping to build a fair, competitive, and resilient local food chain, and expand local and regional markets with an emphasis on purchasing from historically underserved producers and processors.
Camp Creek is fortunate to be written into this USDA grant to help in three ways:
1) Delivering food directly to school districts.
2) Help facilitate Hub to Hub transport of local food items which help get food from one side of the state to the other.
3) Grow and process fresh vegetables that are ready-to-use for schools.
For example:
Shredding local cabbage for slaw
Cubing butternut squash and sweet potatoes for casseroles, pumpkin bread, etc.
Cutting Romaine Lettuce for salads
The schools aren’t equipped with processing equipment or staff to do this work, so if we can deliver fresh, prepared produce to the schools, it adds to the convenience of purchasing local food.