Rural Southwest Virginia 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: A combination of project activities will expand the existing network and programs to all schools in Floyd County, Virginia, and develop and implement promotional campaigns in support of farm to school initiatives while creating a model for rural communities that face particular challenges in food procurement and experiential food‐based education. At the end of the project period, all county schools will be integrated into the system to increase local food purchases, a central storage facility and a hydroponic winter growing system will be in place, and a functioning, replicable model will be operating for all programs. Partnerships will be formed with neighboring county buying partners looking to expand the model regionally.