Farm to Students

Kentucky Agriculture Department program promotes more
locally-grown fresh fruits, vegetables and foods in schools

THE numbers are sobering:
• Only 13.2 percent of Kentucky’s youth eat fruits and vegetables five or more times a day, compared with the national average of 21.4 percent;
• 40.5 percent of Kentucky students drink one or more soft drinks per day, compared with the national average of 33.8 percent;
• 59 percent of American high school students skip breakfast three or more times a week; and
• 37 percent of Kentucky youth are either obese or overweight.

“It’s more important than ever to teach our children the value of a healthy lifestyle,” Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer said. “An important part of a healthy lifestyle is eating fresh, nutritious Kentucky Proud foods.”

Commissioner Farmer launched a campaign in April to encourage Kentucky students to adopt healthy eating habits. Eat to Win is an educational program aimed at teaching children about the advantages of eating fresh fruits and vegetables and buying locally produced Kentucky Proud food while maintaining a healthy weight and being physically active.

Former University of Kentucky basketball star and current NBA player Tayshaun Prince and professional golfer Whitney Wade, a native of Glasgow, joined Commissioner Farmer to promote the program. Posters picturing the three were posted in schools throughout the commonwealth.

In an effort to bring Kentucky Proud products into more school cafeterias, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture joined with the Kentucky Department of Education, University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service and U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Defense in the Farm to School program. Farm to School helps Kentucky’s youth to grow into healthier adults while educating them about local food production and exposing them to local products. Schools in more than 40 Kentucky counties participate in Farm to School.

Commissioner Farmer and Dr. Janey Thornton, deputy under secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (and a Kentucky native), presented Camargo, Mapleton and Mount Sterling elementary schools in Montgomery County with National HealthierUS Gold Awards in October 2009. Montgomery County is the first school district in the state to join the Kentucky Proud movement.  Seventy-six Kentucky schools have achieved gold status.

“Montgomery County and JCPS [Jefferson County Public Schools] were chosen as the only two sites in the Southeastern region for the USDA Farm to School task force to visit and interview,” said Tina Garland, coordinator of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s Farm to School program.

Seven Western Kentucky public school districts served lunches containing Kentucky Proud lettuce in the spring of 2010. Kentucky Hydro Farm in Marshall County supplied hydroponically grown lettuce to county schools in Calloway, Christian, Graves, Marshall and McCracken counties, and city schools in Paducah and Mayfield.

Graves County replaced half of its school system’s iceberg lettuce, about 3,000 heads per month, with locally grown varieties from Kentucky Hydro Farm.

At Mercer County High, a group of health sciences students initiated a project to give their fellow students a choice of more fresh vegetables and fruits. A Students Taking Charge (STC) grant, one of 11 awarded across the country, enabled them to create a salad bar in the cafeteria.

For information about the need for fruits and vegetables in the everyday diet; the importance of buying fresh, local Kentucky Proud foods; nutritional tips, and much more, visit the Eat to Win Web site at www.eattowinky.com.