S.D. Farm to School Team Attends Regional Summit
Participants toured Montana Marinara, a value-added product that combines USDA Foods and local ingredients for Montana schools.
Malisa Niles, SDSPA Farm to School contractor, recently had the opportunity to attend the Mountain Plains Farm To School Regional Summit in Missoula, MT, with 12 other South Dakota leaders in the area of Farm to School. The event was organized by the Montana Farm to School, a team comprised of the Montana Office of Public Instruction and Montana Team Nutrition, recently hosted the Mountain Plains Region Farm to CNP Sum
mit of “Procureboration.” A term coined by co-host Jay Stagg to mean, the act of working to procure as a team, sourcing together, group acquisition, cooperative purchasing, and team buying.
This event brought together State Agency staff, University Extension staff, and other stakeholders from the greater food system to experience the farm to school innovations happening around the Mountain Plains Region and throughout the country.
The first day provided a detailed view of Montana Marinara, a value-added product that combines USDA Foods and local ingredients for Montana schools. The tour offered a chance to hear from the folks who originally conceived of the idea, a producer who grows carrots for the marinara, the processing co-op that prepares it, and various other partners and State Agency staff involved in getting the product from the farm to the school (no pun intended).
During the conference states shared their recent local procurement strategies and highlights.
The second day featured an inspirational keynote address by Cassandra Bull (NFSN) focused on scaled-up local food procurement innovations from across the nation. Then each state shared their own recent local procurement strategies and highlights in a “lightning talk” format. A Farm to School Supply Chain Successful Strategies panel, facilitated by Elliott Smith (Kitchen Sync Strategies), followed. Finally, a “deep dive” workshop where state teams had a chance to pull together all their newfound knowledge and experience around large-scale procurement to brainstorm a unique state-level procurement goal, strategy, and ‘procureboration’ product plan.
The S.D. delegation used the information gathered from the listening sessions the S.D. Farm to School Core Team hosted over the summer. The team brainstormed solutions and developed a 3-year plan to overcome one of the issues.
Malisa Niles used the conference to develop a workplan to promote and develop producer connections to schools. The plan includes direct communication links, surveys, technical assistance, and resources.
Attendees participated in the ‘Crunch Off’, a competition celebrating “crunches” into local produce to celebrate Farm to School Month.
Cassandra Bull, National Farm to School Network keynote speaker said, “The Mountain Plains Summit was incredibly intentional in its design. I have never been to a conference where the through line was so clear. The central thesis revolved around one theme: how state-level actors can change systems to truly move the needle on farm to school procurement. Every part of the program took a unique perspective at addressing this subject. The field trip to explore Montana Marinara, from field, to packing raw ingredients, to processing, beautifully showcased how many players it takes to take something from an idea to reality. The final day asked participants to think big and develop a procurement innovation of their own. These final presentations were inspirational, grounded in the rich context of each state, and bursting with humor. I left with deep enthusiasm and hope for the farm to school movement.”