Andover Celebrates Harvest for Students Week

This press release was provided by the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources.

With the school year underway, officials from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (DAR) kicked off a week-long celebration to promote and increase the consumption of locally grown foods in schools and other learning institutions.

During Massachusetts Harvest for Students Week, schools and colleges highlight the local harvest by hosting special events and serving meals prepared with fresh, local foods produced by Massachusetts farms.

Andover Public Schools have celebrating Harvest Week in a variety of ways, including placing farm to school materials in all 11 cafeterias, working with fruits and vegetables in art classes, serving a macaroni and cheese recipe in which local butternut squash replaces some of the cheese, and eating tomatoes and basil from the high school garden.

Parents who attend the four PTO meetings that week will be served local cucumber and watermelon salad.
 
In the 2010 school year, 66 percent of students in public schools around the state were enrolled in a district that served local foods – up from 55 percent in the previous school year. Commonwealth farms that sell to institutions such as schools and colleges grossed over $1.3 million in 2010, according to a report released by the Massachusetts Farm to School Project. The 42 farms that reported 2010 income data, which was a 74 percent increase over 2008 when 29 participating farms reported they grossed $760,000.

“Initiatives like the Massachusetts Harvest for Students Week are effective at encouraging schools and colleges to serve healthier foods,” said DAR Commissioner Scott J. Soares. “Students eat better and learn about where their food comes from. The initiative is also a boon to the state’s agricultural economy – a recent survey showed that 110 Massachusetts farms benefit from direct sales to schools and colleges.”
 
The week’s events include a visit by White House Chef Roland Mesnier to the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus, Cambridge students will volunteer at a farm in Lincoln and school menus across the state will feature local apples, collards, squash and other produce.
 
The program is coordinated by the Massachusetts Farm to School Project in collaboration with DAR, the School Nutrition Association of Massachusetts, and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The project, a statewide grassroots effort founded in 2004, provides technical assistance to and fosters purchasing relationships between farm and learning institutions.
 
“Massachusetts Harvest for Students Week is a great time for schools to try out new foods and recipes when local foods are most available. In 2003, fewer than ten public school districts in Massachusetts reported they preferentially purchased locally grown foods,” said Kelly Erwin, director of the Massachusetts Farm to School Project. “By the end of last school year, 217 public school districts told us they’d served locally grown foods in their cafeterias.”