The Hartford Food System

Farmers' Markets · Farm-to-School · Coupon Programs

Project Farm Fresh Start

In 1998, the Hartford Food System expanded its Project Farm Fresh Start from a special research and demonstration activity to a full program. The program has two goals:

increase the purchase of locally grown produce by the Hartford school system's food service;
encourage young people to make high quality, nutritious food a regular part of their diet.

Accomplishments

The most important accomplishment of Project Farm Fresh Start has been winning the commitment of Hartford's school food services to make locally grown produce a regular feature of their lunchtime menus. This interest has extended to both food service personnel across the state as well state agencies, including the Connecticut Departments of Agriculture, Administrative Services, and Education. Food service directors in Connecticut's school systems are learning from the Hartford experience and implementing similar programs in their school districts, while state officials are simultaneously removing barriers and providing incentives for school systems and other public institutions to purchase locally grown food.

Project Farm Fresh Start has provided new markets for area farmers and increased the consumption of fresh produce among Hartford school children. Through the program, the HFS has worked with several Hartford teachers to run 67 separate food education classes and events for almost 600 students. In addition, the program ran a a month-long food education experience for nearly 1,200 middle-school students as part of Black History Month. The program integrated African-American cuisine into the study of Black culture and history.

On a nationwide basis, the project has become a working model of how an urban school food service can re-orient its food purchasing toward locally grown food. Since the school project began, HFS has received over 200 requests for its reports and curriculum from teachers, school systems, and organizations around the country and has presented project results to several academic and practitioner conferences. In addition HFS provides teacher training using both workshops and individual instruction.

HFS works closely with the Farm-to-School Project of the Community Food Security Coalition, which is based in California. For more information on starting Farm-to-School Programs as well as on the Coalition's related policy initiatives, contact Marion Kalb.

For more information about Project Farm Fresh Start, email the the Hartford Food System. You can also call us at 860.296.9325.

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