Today I ran a cross a little more fallout from the Hallmark/Westland beef recall. When clearing the articles from my RSS news reader I came across this article, "School Districts That Got Recalled Beef Are Listed". As has been reported in various articles most of the meat that was recalled had already been consumed, but for good measure the USDA just released the schools that had received the recalled beef. As I scrolled through the list (you can take the time if you like) I saw a lot of school districts in Iowa listed. And, I thought ... "boy I am glad my mom, the teacher, takes a sack lunch to school!" Okay, that isn't exactly what I thought, but it did cross my mind.Running across that list of schools who received the recalled beef really didn't mean much to me until I came across this article, "Food Program Brings Together Schools, Farmers," from a couple of days ago. Basically it tells about the "Farm to School Program" that helps connect local farmers with school districts in their area. Some farmers have formed co-ops to be able to supply the food that is needed while others have just expanded their operation or changed some of their focus.
I think this is a really cool program that probably deserves more publicity and even more adoption throughout the country. In fact it seems like a win - win. The farmers are able to sell their products locally so they don't have to deal with trucking or huge market swings and the students are able to eat fresh food instead of pre-packaged, pre-made, yuck! Of course it would take a change in the way school districts prepare their food, the article points this out also. This alone will probably keep many schools from jumping on board, but I think once people see it working in other places they may be more willing to try.
One thing did bother me though. According to the "Farm to School" website the State of Iowa only has 3 districts and 6 schools involved. I know that the Universities are involved and I was able to read about one school district on the website that is part of the program ... but, in the state of IOWA ... in the CORN BELT ... that is all we can come up with? I don't know where the disconnect is or why this isn't taking off in the state, but I plan on looking into it.
What better way to support our students and our farmers than by connecting them together. There is no reason for all of those districts listed on the USDA site to be buying beef from Hallmark/Westland (I know ... money is the issue) when Iowa can produce all the beef our school kids need. Of course there are many, many, many reasons that more schools aren't participating, and I know what many of the reasons are. But, that doesn't make it right.
Just something to think about on a Friday...
