Passion for schools and kids procuring, serving, and even growing healthy food — as well as appreciating farming and farmers — was high on April 29 at the Upper Valley Farm to School Regional Gathering.
Over 40 people gathered in Sharon Elementary School’s mighty “gymeteria” (multipurpose gym and cafeteria), from 19 Vermont towns, mainly in Orange and Windsor counties. They represented various roles within the food system, including school administrators, farmers, school nutrition teams, non-profit organizations providing support to schools, PreK–12 teachers, students, food shelf staff, and families. This diverse group of people fostered deep, collaborative conversations throughout the evening. Hosted by the Vermont Farm to School & Early Childhood Network and the Upper Valley Farm to School Network with funding from the Vermont Agency of Education, the event included participants from Vital Communities; KidsGardening; The Upper Valley Super Compost Project; Woodstock Union HS/MS CRAFT Program; Sharon Elementary; and White River Supervisory Union Community Schools.
In planning the event, our planning team (made up of school administration, teachers, and non-profits) wanted to give the community a welcoming, in-person setting to connect with community partners they might not otherwise connect with. We wanted an agenda with light facilitation to foster conversations attendees wanted to have.
The evening started out with yummy snacks (provided by Mischa Johnson with the White River Valley Supervisory Union) and unstructured connection time. Then, after acknowledgements and a short “who’s in the room” activity, we launched into Open Space, followed by dinner provided by Moon and Stars, a local organization.
Open Space is a self-organizing meeting method where participants create and lead an agenda around a central theme, in this case Farm to School. As a group, we came up with the following topics and broke out into small groups to talk about them.
- Is there enough programming for farm to school? How can non-profits actually support you?
- Do we see improved student attendance and improved student behaviors when they are “doing” farm to school? How do we get students engaged?
- Building momentum for early farm to school programs – low hanging fruit, “easy” connections, activities, field trips, etc.
- Food is abundant in the summer and less in the winter. How can we connect the dots between processing it, storing it, and eating it?
- Strategies for engaging school community in the composting process.
- Navigating getting more local food into schools.
These conversations led to immediate collaborations, such as farms connecting with schools on food procurement and nonprofits connecting with administration on the importance of farm to school initiatives. Some quotes from participants include:
“I appreciated meeting new people, gaining ideas and validating that I’m not alone in the quest to promote and educate about Farm to School and the benefits to students’ lives and outcomes.”
“It feels very hopeful that so many different folks are invested in farm to school and are making so many wonderful connections with students, food, and community.”
“Events like this go a long way to solving common pitfalls and breaking down barriers to getting fresh food into our schools. I made some great connections and enjoyed incredible brainstorming with my peers.”
The strongest feedback we received was to host more spaces for in-person connections on farm to school in the Upper Valley! With unpredictable funding sources, high turnover in schools, and other stressors in our lives, people need spaces in which to connect. In response, Vital Communities is putting together a proposal for funders to support events like this happening twice a year in the Upper Valley.
Published 6/15/25
