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Ripe time delivery: Carolina growers form co-op to supply farm-to-school market.

Article Excerpt
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North Carolina has 2,513 elementary and secondary schools with 1.44 million students. That's a lot of hungry mouths to feed. These schools are increasingly turning to North Carolina produce growers for a wide variety of nutritious, freshest-possible foods, such as watermelon, broccoli and cabbage.

The farm-to-school program in North Carolina originated in 1997 through a partnership between the U.S. Department of Defense and the Markets and Food Distribution Division of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (NCDA&CS). The first effort involved supplying apples to schools in western North Carolina. The initial success resulted in the program expanding throughout the state, with participation growing every year.

There are more than 2,000 farm-to-school programs operating in 39 states. They bring healthy food from local farms to children's plates at school. This also helps provide a market for local farmers and reduce the distance food is shipped.

In 2004, 60 school districts in North Carolina used the program. The number increased to 67 school districts in 2008, which made record purchases of $700,000 through the program during the 2008-09 school year, up from $502,000 in 2006-07.

Birth of the cooperative

The North Carolina Farm-To-School Cooperative was incorporated in 2008, born out of producers' desire to supply...

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