Farm2Five

The following description is a summary of our farm to school plan funded by a 2014 USDA Farm to School Program grant: School District Five of Lexington and Richland Counties proposes to implement a farm to school program over two years to create new, robust farm to school projects in seven schools in our district. Through this cost‐effective initiative, we will implement a sustainable program that expands local food offerings in our schools, engages students in eating more and a greater variety of locally grown products, creates peer mentorship opportunities to launch effective school gardening and experiential learning opportunities, trains school foodservice personnel in effective procurement and preparation of local foods, trains educators in integrating curricula to include food and nutrition‐based learning across the school culture, and implements a marketing plan to engage our school and local community in the project. As a result, approximately 4,661 students will gain hands‐on learning experiences about the cultivation and consumption of healthy local foods, participating schools will integrate local produce into their menus and into the K‐12 curricula and our community will benefit from increased engagement and participation.