Idaho hosts ‘Farm to School' conference

NAMPA, Idaho — The main message of a Feb. 6 farm to school conference was that Idaho school districts are hungry for more local food products.

“If you’re a grower, I want to talk with you,” Angie Baumann, child nutrition director for the Gooding and Shoshone school districts, said during the conference, the first of four events designed to increase the amount of local food consumed in Idaho schools.

The Middleton School District is already spending about $4,000 a week on local produce, but is always looking for more local food products, said food-service director Barbara Bumgardner.

“If you have something you think we’d be able to use, we’d be happy to talk with you,” she said.

The day-long event drew about 30 people from 15 farms and organizations and provided farmers with the opportunity to learn about the process school food-service personnel have to follow to purchase local food.

Three two-day conferences in June — in Sandpoint, Weiser and Burley — will be held to help food-service personnel learn about the challenges farmers face and will include a full day of farm tours.

The events are supported by an $18,000 grant the Idaho State Department of Agriculture received from USDA.

The goal of the conferences is to help the two sides understand each other better, said Leah Clark, who manages ISDA’s farm to school program.