Putting local food on children’s trays

When Cannon Falls Area Schools had to make chili using non-local beef commodity crumble from a distributer instead of its usual locally grown and sourced beef, a student stopped by the office concerned about their lunch.

“(The student) said, ‘Well, something’s really wrong with that chili,’” said Lori Hanson, CFAS nutrition director. “We all chuckled because we knew (why).”

CFAS is one of 63 school districts and nine early care centers across Minnesota that are using funding from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s 2025 Agricultural Growth, Research and Innovation Program’s Full Tray Farm to School and Early Care Grant and MDA’s AGRI First Bite Farm to School and Early Care Grant.

These grants require a 1:1 cash match, meaning every state dollar is matched by local investment. Together, those funds help institutions purchase Minnesota-grown and -raised food in their cafeterias or buy equipment to be able to process and serve local products. This past year, the MDA distributed $948,096 to schools and early care centers. It also distributed $97,000 to 194 family childcare providers through its Local Tots Cost-Share.

“The biggest goals of the grant are to get more Minnesota-grown and -raised foods into schools and onto kids’ plates,” said Kate Seybold, MDA’s farm to institution coordinator. “(Also) to be supporting market growth for Minnesota producers.”

The First Bite Farm to School and Early Care Grant is for institutions beginning to incorporate local food. Once the institutions have received this initial grant, they are eligible for the Full Tray Farm to School and Early Care Grant, which helps with expanding and continuing farm to fork initiatives.

“It’s really a win for everyone,” Seybold said. “It’s a win for farmers. … It’s a win for kids, and it’s a win for our communities.”

Seybold said every $1 of grant funding invested into local food generates 99 cents of economic activity.

“That really speaks to this broader community and statewide economic impact,” Seybold said. “When schools and early cares are buying locally from farmers in their community or their region, that money is staying local, and then, it’s supporting other businesses as well.”

Cannon Falls Public School District serves roughly 800 students for lunch and 475 students for breakfast. It uses local lettuce, apples, cheese, plant-based protein, turkey and beef in its meals. Next year, it is hoping to include local maple syrup, wild rice and pork.

Some of the Cannon Falls farms the district collaborates with include Churchill Reserve, Ferndale Market, CannonBelles Cheese, BAMF Meats and Deeply Rooted. It also collaborates with Rahe of Sunshine Farms near Wykoff.

“We’re so fortunate to live in Cannon Falls, right in the heart of (these) local farmer businesses,” Hanson said. “It makes it easier for delivery, communication and just all aspects of strengthening our partnership.”

Hanson said CFAS has been doing farm-to-school food for many years beginning with local apples, turkey and cheese. Around 2021-22, it got its first MDA grant, and it has received grants each year since then.

An hour and a half south of Cannon Falls on the banks of the Mississippi River, Winona Area Public Schools has also been incorporating local food for over a decade under the direction of experienced farm-to-school nutrition director and registered dietician Jennifer Walters.

“I truly believe that food really shouldn’t have to travel,” Walters said. “If we can buy it locally, that’s going to be more healthy for our students. And then, also, we need to support our farmers.”

WAPS, which serves about 1,800 students, uses fresh produce when it is in season, as well as apples from Van Lin Orchards near La Crescent and Richland Hills Farms over the border in Wisconsin. It also uses cheese from Bongards, brats and hotdogs from Ferndale Farms, local beef for tacos and spaghetti, and more.

The district has also started growing food. It owns six hydroponic farm units for growing lettuce -, and in the summer, it grows tomatoes and cucumbers outside.

One day recently, the district’s refrigerator went out, and, because of their hydroponic farms, it still was able to serve students fresh lettuce.

Lettuce is the first local product Renee Buehler is incorporating into the school lunch program at Kingsland Public Schools with the MDA grant money. KPS serves 470-480 students daily. Buehler, who is in her second year as the food service director, said that, to her knowledge, this is the first time KPS has served farm-to-table food.

The school is purchasing fresh lettuce mix from Rahe of Sunshine Farms. Before, it served iceberg.

“At the beginning, you could see some confusion on some kids’ faces,” Buehler said. “But once they started eating it, they were like, ‘Wow, this is actually good. Like, there’s flavor.’”

When she was applying for the grant, Buehler said there were times when the whole process felt intense and overwhelming; but she said she is glad she did it.

“If you just take a breath and focus on it, it’s going to totally be worth it in the end,” she said.

Walters and Hanson said they both encourage other school nutrition professionals to start small at the beginning.

Over the years, Seybold said she has seen an evolution in the variety of products schools are incorporating.

“It’s just really fun to see how schools and early cares are building their confidence in local sourcing, building that commitment and filling all parts of the tray with different local items,” she said.

Not only is buying directly from farmers beneficial for students, it also is beneficial for the farming community, Seybold said.

“Some farms have been able to find this sweet spot where farm-to-school or farm-to-early care can fill a gap that they have with their other markets,” Seybold said. “Schools, depending on the size, can buy a lot of product at one time, and so that wholesale aspect is really great for some farmers.”

Hanson said feedback from farmers has corroborated this.

“They have often said to us that, without that partnership of our school district — and now it has expanded to many other districts — … they maybe would not have survived,” Hanson said.

For each of these school districts, the MDA grants are allowing them to do more to put local food on trays.

“Without the (MDA grant) funding, there’s no way we could ever put that many dollars out of our food service budget or general budget to sustain this type of improvement,” Hanson said.