The farm-to-table movement has been permeating schools from C&U to elementary for a few years. But at Monett R-1 School District in Monett, Missouri, students’ meals aren’t just local farm-to-school. They’re also on-campus-greenhouse-to-school, cattle-ranch-to-school and so much more.
For Food Service Director Ralph Meredith, it’s the only way to attain the true meaning of “fresh.”
“I can order fresh vegetables from my supplier, but when you open up the box, the cucumbers are coated in in wax so they'll last longer,” Meredith says, “That’s the process, and it can never be quite as fresh as we really wanted.”
Spurred by this shortfall, the Monett foodservice team has employed several initiatives to bring truly fresh produce and meat to students’ plates: a district-owned greenhouse, participation in a program that connects local ranchers with schools for beef donations, and soon possibly buying bulk produce from local Missouri farmers.
Lessons from the greenhouse
The greenhouse is the newest of these programs, and its evolution is still ongoing. Meredith and his team have learned several lessons about the process since FSD reported on the greenhouse’s launch last May.
Built by Amish artisans in Arkansas, the structure was built with help from a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) grant worth about $15,000. The district chipped in an extra approximately $5,000. One team member runs the greenhouse and the raised beds outside, which grow largely tomatoes and cucumbers in addition to lettuce, squash, zucchini, jalapenos, bell peppers and pumpkins.
“We reasoned that we’d be able to offset some of our costs when it comes to the meal offerings at different school levels,” Meredith says. The team serves about 1,800 meals to Monett’s preschool through high school students.
The greenhouse has provided leafy lettuce for Monett’s ever-popular chicken wraps, slicing tomatoes for burgers and cherry tomatoes for chef’s salads, jalapenos for taco day, and lots of miscellaneous variety for staff salad bars.
“We’ve saved probably a couple thousand dollars, easily,” Meredith says. “In our middle school and high school level, I don't think they bought lettuce for probably six months.”
Amid the successes, the team has also learned hard-won lessons.
For example: The greenhouse is built such that any excess water flows out of the structure. But this first winter, the team found that this setup allowed too much cold to seep in—and plants that weren’t as close to the single heater, like some lettuce heads and a squash plant, were lost. The team quickly blocked the cold and purchased a second heater.
Other investments have helped streamline time-consuming tasks. “Instead of standing out there trying to water everything,” Meredith says, they installed a digital timer system that can water four zones according to the unique schedules needed for those plants.
“We’re also creating spreadsheets and tracking systems to better understand what we grow, how much we grow and what’s going out where,” Meredith says.
Some of the initial plans—like a partnership with vocational school students to harvest produce, and recruiting graphic design students to create signage for use when greenhouse items are served in the cafeterias—haven’t yet come to pass. But as the program evolves, Meredith hopes to involve more students in the process.
“My best advice, other than exploring the many tools and technologies out there, is to start small,” he says. “You can always add on as you master something or learn more. Our first water timer allowed us to program only one or two zones—and then we expanded, so we now have one that waters four. As you grow, you’ll learn what works best.”
Tomatoes grow in the raised garden beds outside the greenhouse.
‘Our kids go absolutely crazy for it’
The greenhouse is “one of the best things we’ve ever added to our program, says Rachel Sullivan, kitchen manager for Monett Intermediate School. But what her fourth- and fifth-graders love most are special items using beef acquired through the local program Mo Beef Kids. The organization partners with local ranchers who donate beef to schools.
Monett, which has worked with Mo Beef since 2019, typically receives about five or six cattle over the school year. The district does pay to process the meat, which is turned into ground beef, brisket, and roast beef.
Sullivan and other kitchen managers use the products for all manner of meals—like hamburgers, birria tacos, and a highly popular smoked brisket sandwich that sells out in the high school and middle school each spring.
“Our kids, oh, our kids absolutely go crazy for it,” Sullivan says. “I feel like they can actually tell the difference.”
During last school year, the Mo Beef program expanded to include Mo Pork. Monett received a donated hog that became pork roast, bacon, and lots of sausage. The foodservice team has purchased an extra walk-in freezer that is solely dedicated to the Mo Beef/Mo Pork program.
“We really use every bit,” Meredith says. “After all the bacon and sausage was gone, we used the leftover bits to make sausage gravy—so great for controlling the amount of salt and sodium and that kind of thing. For six months our high schoolers got this delicious homemade sausage gravy instead of something out of a can.”
The farm- and greenhouse- and ranch-to-school approach has worked for Monett in several ways—from cutting costs to improving the diner experience.
“Especially for someone coming in new to this, I recommend teaming up with someone or at least asking another director who has been doing this,” Meredith says. “I had got the privilege speaking to others who had bought from local producers, and I also have a great team. Surround yourself with people who have the knowledge—then listen.”
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Get to know Monett R-1 School District’s Ralph Meredith
See what’s in store for Meredith’s operation, which was named FSD’s July Foodservice Operation of the Month.
Q: What is it that makes your operation excel?
Everyone gets on board and supports what is happening. I don't have anyone who says, “I don’t want to try it this new way.” They love to use our own products that we grow, and they support that mission. The team getting behind one another has made this program—and frankly, makes me look more successful than I personally feel like I am.
Ralph Meredith
Q: What are your goals for the operation in the coming year?
My goal is to be able to grow more products, get more people involved in growing products and use those products in a variety of ways.
We also hope to start programs like “Chef of the Day” for our younger students and get them in the kitchen to see how these meals are made. For the upper levels, we’re thinking about ways to get the kids excited about what they're having—versus just, “It’s chicken patty day.” There are opportunities with the fresh produce coming in from us and buying fresh produce from local growers—it's going to be able to help us succeed in getting this freshness in front of the kids and getting them excited.
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