Rising food and fuel costs give local food a market opportunity in schools and institutions

As prices at the gas pump and the grocery store continue to rise, local food economies could benefit as their produce becomes more competitive.

The combination of pain in pocketbooks, increased childhood obesity and a focus on building local markets makes putting more squash and sweet potatoes on school lunch menus more attractive.

“Schools can provide fresh, flavorful, locally grown food while giving farmers a chance to sell to new markets,” said Bill McKelvey, the state coordinator for University of Missouri Extension’s Farm to Institution project. “If you can provide more fresh fruits and vegetables in school meals and snacks while also providing economic and market opportunities for local farmers, we feel that’s going to benefit local communities.”

McKelvey joined more than 100 people – from farmers and local food organizers to hospital and school food service administrators – at the Springfield Farm to School conference in March. They exchanged ideas and strategies about local food, melding nutrition concerns with practical ideas for farmers and food service personnel.

This focus comes at an opportune time.

The average gas price in the Midwest is a dollar more than a year ago, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Food prices in the U.S. increased 3.6 percent in the last year, according to the Consumer Price Index. This makes local food, with lower shipping costs, more competitive with food from mainstream distributors.

Brad Gray, who owns Nature’s Lane Farm and runs the Springfield Farmers Market, describes himself as a big backer of self-sufficiency through local food, and he understands how this could open the door to growth.

“It gives us an incentive to grow our business in a way that makes us more efficient,” Gray said. “If we can learn how to market to schools, to institutions, to hospitals that can use our fresh local products, we will become better growers and keep our food systems sustainable.”

Missouri can learn from other states with Farm to School programs, such as Michigan and Oklahoma, replicating and reusing successful efforts rather than starting from scratch, said Chris Kirby, the Farm to School coordinator for the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture.

Kirby suggested schools and farmers in Missouri use tools like her produce calculator, which can convert pounds of sweet potatoes into units that food service providers are accustomed to using.

“Food service works with price per serving or number of servings, and the calculator can translate that into poundage of a vegetable needed from a farmer,” Kirby said. “With it you can see, for example, that to feed squash to 240 kids, you might need to ask a farmer for 50-60 pounds of squash, which is very easy and achievable for a small grower to provide for a medium-sized school district.”

Tools like this connect schools with farmers who don’t deal with food in the same terms. Ruell Chappell will soon be one of those farmers. He runs Springfield’s Well-Fed Neighbor Alliance, one of several local co-ops connecting groups of farmers to the community’s food needs. Chappell said schools and hospitals can complement current sales to local restaurants and at farmers markets.

“You need both small and big customers and it’s that mix that makes it economically profitable to utilize all your different products,” Chappell said. “The problem is that there are only so many steaks in a cow but there’s a lot of grind, so you can sell to high-end restaurants but that also makes institutions who will utilize your hamburger important.”

In 2009, more than 30 percent of Missouri’s population was classified as obese, including one in seven high schoolers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This makes the business of local food closely tied to the goal of healthier children and communities.

“There’s a great opportunity to feed our children and families better with our own local food,” Chappell said. “This puts farmers back in business, creates jobs, improves our health to lower the obesity rate and gives us a future we can grow to.”

“If we eat healthier and eat better we’ll be a healthier society,” Gray said. “If our medical bills can be kept lower, our whole lives can be revolutionized by eating healthy and using good local food. It just goes hand-in-hand with our society trying to do better.”

Visit the Missouri Farm to School to learn more about the program. Find Kirby’s food calculator by clicking here and more resources from the National Farm to School Program.
(by Roger Meissen, MU Information Specialist)