Green Bay School District prepares to serve healthier foods

Oct. 9—Bringing fresh food from farms to school cafeterias isn’t as easy as it sounds.

Schools feed thousands of students each day, which means small local farmers may not be able to provide the tomatoes, cucumbers or fruit required for each meal. Farm-fresh deliveries also mean hours of cleaning, chopping, cooking and storing foods, requiring additional staff time and training.

Eight local school districts — Green Bay, Ashwaubenon, Oneida, De Pere, Pulaski, West De Pere, Howard-Suamico and Wrightstown — have signed on to farm-to-school programs in the past two years. They are working with Live54218, an advocacy organization which aims to promote healthy lifestyles in Brown County.