Baton Rouge Farm-to-School Program

The following description is a summary of our farm to school plan funded by a 2014 USDA Farm to School Program grant: The East Baton Rouge Parish School System farm to school program will provide opportunities for students and parents that live in food deserts in North and Old South Baton Rouge the opportunity to sample fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables. Activities at the four selected elementary schools (Baton Rouge Foreign Language Academic Immersion Magnet, Buchannan, Ryan, and Winbourne Elementary Schools) will include “tastings” of locally produced fruits and vegetables for students and parents, visits from a local mobile farmers market, and “Sprouting Healthy Kids” programs such as cooking and gardening. In conjunction with members of Mayor Holden’s Healthy City Initiative, Big River Economic and Agriculture Department Alliance, Slow Food Baton Rouge, and East Baton Rouge Parish School System’s Child Nutrition Program, we will examine the most effective methods for increasing the amount of local food in East Baton Rouge public schools.