More announcements

Hi all,

Here are a few farm to school related announcements:

USDA Farm to School Webinar: Opportunities to Increase Local Food in School Meals. The USDA Farm to School Team is holding its first Webinar on March 10^th from 3-4 PM. They will discuss the Farm to School Team's mission and goals for 2010, available resources, grant opportunities, and answer questions about Farm to School. To participate in this webinar, register online by March 8th!

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity Webinar Series for 2010 focuses on “Making Schools the Model for Healthier Environments." Register for any or all of the four webinars in this series: 

• March 11: Sowing Seeds: Improving Food Quality with Farm-to-School Programs
• March 25: Setting the Standard: What Schools Are Doing about Competitive Foods
• April 8: Let’s Get Physical: Being Active to Reverse Child Obesity

Farm to School & School Garden Research Consortium Posters detailing work related to the conference theme are being accepted for the 5^th National Farm to Cafeteria Conference until March 19^th.  The posters will be on display throughout the conference, and there will be two sessions during which time the poster presenters are requested to be available near the poster for questions. Posters can be submitted here.

The Cooking Up Change: National Healthy Cooking Contest and the Real Food Is…National Video Contest were just announced as part of the National Farm to Cafeteria Conference, which will be held in Detroit in May.

• The Cooking Up Change: National Healthy Cooking Contest is open to high school and college teams, and healthy school lunch recipes are due by March 26^th. Three teams from each division will receive all expenses paid trips to the National Farm to Cafeteria Conference where they will compete, preparing and presenting their meals to a panel of judges. Click here for more information.
• The Real Food Is… National Video Contest is open to students of all ages, from kindergarten to college. The challenge is to “produce a 30 second to 3 minute video that informs, inspires, and encourages student advocacy to restore connections to community, food, land, and place through Farm to Cafeteria programs.” Two winners will receive $1,000 for their cafeteria food project, and one representative and one chaperone from each winning video entry will receive all expenses paid trips to the National Farm to Cafeteria Conference. The deadline for submissions is March 29^th! Click here to find the official rules.

Seven Generations Ahead is sponsoring a Fresh from the Farm Teacher Training Workshop for educators, parents and community members. Attached is the Fresh from the Farm teacher training flier and registration form describing the training sessions in more detail. Click here to learn more about these new farm to school curriculum activities!

Enjoy the weekend,

Colleen Matts

Farm to Institution Specialist

CS Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems

Michigan State University

303 Natural Resources Building

East Lansing, MI 48824-1222

517.432.0310

www.mifarmtoschool.msu.edu