Hello Farm to Fork Friends,
Happy March! This is always an exciting month because we are getting closer to sunny days and thawing soil. March 31st is also Cesar Chavez Day, when we honor his work as a community organizer for migrant farmworkers. You can learn more about his life and legacy here, and more about the United Farm Workers (which he co-founded with Dolores Huerta) here. UFW continues to do important work every day towards creating a safe and just food supply. If you ate today, thank a farmworker!
What to Harvest this Month
We’ve got a little bit of time before fresh greens appear (except for in our greenhouses). However, you can still make a delicious local meal with seasonal storage crops, like potatoes and other root vegetables, and local protein options, including eggs, meats, and cheeses. Check out our Harvest of the Season recipe for an Egg and Potato Breakfast Bowl (and you can eat it for lunch, too!).
Get Involved!
Strategic Planning Input Meetings
It’s time for our next round of strategic planning meetings! Based on the feedback you provided and the
priorities you identified in our visioning, root cause analysis, and regional summer workshops, our consultant has put together a draft plan that we are extremely excited to share with you. Now we need your insight once again. Please join us for an online workshop on Thursday, March 9th, from 5 pm-7 pm. You’ll need to register to receive the Zoom link.
Public Comment Period Open
USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service is proposing updates to the school nutrition standards in a few key areas. One proposed update is particularly important to the farm to school community: allowing schools to include “locally grown, raised, or caught” as a requirement for vendors bidding to provide unprocessed or minimally processed food for their school meal programs. Under the current geographic preference option, bids from a certain geographic area can receive extra points, but “local” cannot be used as a requirement for bids. Comments can be submitted through April 10, 2023 and will inform the final standards. We encourage you to submit a comment! Click here to do so (this also includes a link to the proposed standards).
Webinars and Trainings
TODAY! March 1st, 2:00 PM MT: How to Change Food Culture and Sourcing within Your Organization
Heather Frambach- founder of the California Farm to School Network, former sourcing manager for Blue Apron, and current food systems strategist working to link local and BIPOC producers to foodservice- will cover how shift the culture of food in your district or community. This webinar is sponsored by Charlie Cart, so part of the focus will be on using their (very cool) products, but it will still be valuable for anyone in school food service looking to make changes to their procurement system. Register here.
Improving Equity
Child Labor in America
A recent New York Times investigation found that migrant children are ending up in some of the most punishing jobs in the country, many of them in the food industry—slaughterhouses, packing lines, harvesting, and restaurant work. You can read the article here. The best way to minimize exploitation in the food you buy and serve is to buy food close to where it is grown, build genuine relationships with food producers, and clearly communicate your values as part of your procurement process. Breaking the cycle of child hunger requires us to engage with the whole food chain, not just the meals at the end.
Job Opportunities
4-H Club Instructors, USU Extension, Juab, Garfield, and San Juan Counties
USU Extension is seeking after school instructors for 4-H clubs in Juab, Garfield, and San Juan counties. This is a great part-time summer job for a student, especially if you participated in 4-H growing up! Learn more and apply here.
Outreach and Development Specialist VISTA, The Green Urban Lunch Box, Salt Lake City
The Green Urban Lunch Box is hiring an AmeriCorps VISTA through Harvest Against Hunger to work on community outreach and fundraising projects. Responsibilities include attending community events, speaking to the public to expand awareness about FruitShare, and increasing community engagement with fundraising. This position will play an integral role in developing outreach strategies for program awareness, volunteer recruitment, and donations procurement. Learn more and apply here.
Summer Youth Programs Instructors, Youth Garden Project, Moab
YGP is looking for individuals interested in working as instructors in a hands-on, outdoor setting to implement our nine-week Summer Camp program. YGP Summer Camp provides much needed hands-on, high-quality childcare for 1st – 6th graders during the summer break. This position pays $15/hour, 38 hours/week. Learn more and apply here.
Funding Opportunities
2023 LAMP Grants
The USDA’s Local Agriculture Market Program (LAMP) supports the development, coordination, and expansion of direct producer-to-consumer marketing; local and regional food markets and enterprises; and value-added agricultural products. Funding opportunities include the Farmers Market Promotion Program, Local Food Promotion Program, Regional Food System Partnerships Program, and Value-Added Producer Grants. Applications are due May 2nd. You can learn more here, but these grants are complicated, so if you’re interested in applying, please reach out to us so that we can connect you with additional resources.
Be sure to share your upcoming events, grant opportunities, and jobs with us so that we can share them here!
