Farm To School
The Farm to School program partners local farms with K-12 schools to provide Florida children with nourishing, locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables in school cafeterias. We encourage nutrition and agriculture education through taste tests, school gardens, composting programs, and farm tours—initiatives that also support local and regional farmers. These experiences help children understand where their food comes from and how their food choices affect their bodies, environment, and community.
Additionally, the Fresh for Florida Kids program serves as an information clearinghouse. Schools gain accessibility to seasonal fresh Florida produce at the best possible price while farmers learn about fruit and vegetable needs of schools.
Materials here are available to use in your schools for Farm to School Promotions
We have partnered up with Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign to put together a group of Florida's best Chefs to create recipes for Florida's schools. Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign connects kids in need with nutritious food and teaches their families how to cook healthy, affordable meals.
The following recipes take produce from our "Featured Produce" and can be used in your cafeterias to serve to your students. They would also make great "taste testing" recipes to try out!
Farm to School Produce Statewide Bid
In an effort to promote healthy lifestyles and provide school children in the State of Florida with Fresh From Florida produce, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services will be seeking producers who can provide fresh, high-quality, seasonal, Florida and/or USA produce products to participating school districts. The purpose of this Invitation to Bid is to establish maximum pricing for fresh produce to be procured by the current distributors of individual participating school districts for use in the Federal Child Nutrition programs throughout the state of Florida through March 31, 2013.
Our goal is to procure various fresh produce based on the Florida agricultural harvesting timeline, and therefore we will solicit responses from growers/producers during five separate growing seasons. This second procurement contains a variety of fruit and vegetables. The remaining solicitation time frames and agricultural products can be reviewed on page 51 of the attached ITB.
Responses to this Invitation to Bid will be opened at the below address at 02:00 P.M., December 5, 2012.
407 S. Calhoun Street
SB-8 Mayo Building
Tallahassee FL, 32399–0800
If a producer has specific questions relating to this procurement, please have them contact Christie Hutchinson, Director of Purchasing, by November 27, 2012.
Christie Hutchinson
Phone: (850) 617-7181
FAX: (850) 617-7190
Email: Christie.Hutchinson@freshfromflorida.com