Pasadena USD 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: Pasadena Unified School District will implement a farm to school program to benefit 18,965 students in a mid‐size urban school district in Los Angeles County, California. Nearly 69% of students are eligible for free and reduced lunch, less than 30% meet the state’s Physical Fitness Test minimum requirements, and over 20% are obese. While there is a growing interest in urban agriculture and locally grown organic food within the greater Pasadena area, many of these resources are not broadly reaching the low‐income children and families served by its public schools. This grant will help us broaden this reach by convening stakeholders who will develop an implementation plan for increasing the accessibility, availability, quality, and consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables for our students and community. Key activities include establishing policies and practices that support procurement of locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables, providing training for food services staff to increase scratch cooking and use of local produce, developing farm to school curriculum, and conducting outreach and education efforts aimed at students, parents, and families.