More Solon Community School District meals will be featuring Iowa foods thanks to a grant from the Iowa Local Food for Schools grant (LFS).
The School District has been awarded $4,000 to procure local foods that are healthy, nutritious and unique to their geographic area.
In addition to increasing local food consumption, funds also build and expand economic opportunity for local, socially disadvantaged producers and small businesses. Through this program, producers are able to sell to K-12 schools participating in the National School Lunch Program. School awards are facilitated by the local food hubs.
“We are really excited about the opportunities we are able to give our students by procuring local foods. We not only are able to support local farmers, but we are able to educate our students through taste testing lessons about the benefits of fresh produce. We have had great feedback from the students about our local foods and we are proud to support those in our community and the hard work they are doing every day to create nutritious lunch options,” said Becky West, Food Service Director.
Through the LFS program, their school will “provide a growing education about farmers in their area and nurture an appreciation for buying locally grown produce,” West said.
Iowa Local Food for Schools was launched in October 2022 by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service with funding from USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation. LFS is a cooperative agreement with the USDA and Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.
To learn more about the program and how to support it, visit https://www.iowafarmtoschoolearlycare.org/lfs. The LFS program is building new partnerships and infrastructure across the state to continue serving K-12 schools with high-quality local food.