{"id":2294,"date":"2024-10-30T21:56:30","date_gmt":"2024-10-30T21:56:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.cdfa.ca.gov\/CDFAInspectionServicesBlog\/?p=2294"},"modified":"2024-10-30T21:56:30","modified_gmt":"2024-10-30T21:56:30","slug":"cdfa-farm-to-school-regional-staff-help-expand-network-connect-farmers-to-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cdfa.ca.gov\/CDFAInspectionServicesBlog\/index.php\/2024\/10\/30\/cdfa-farm-to-school-regional-staff-help-expand-network-connect-farmers-to-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"CDFA Farm to School regional staff help expand network, connect farmers to schools"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

October is National Farm to School Month. CDFA encourages educators, school food service employees, farmers and farm to school enthusiasts across California to join in the celebration. Visit <\/em>https:\/\/www.farmtoschool.org\/<\/em><\/a> for more information.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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(Top) CDFA Farm to School Network San Joaquin Regional Lead Jane Alvarado Banister (red dress) joins Sanger Unified officials at the Fairmont Ag Complex ribbon cutting. (Bottom) CDFA Farm to School Central Regional Producer Engagement Specialist Michael Ackley-Grady (third from right) joins Fresno Unified School District staff on a tour of local farms for possible inclusion of their culturally diverse foods into school meals.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Did you know CDFA\u2019s Farm to School Program has regional staff throughout California available to foster farm to school participation and connect producers with local school districts?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farm to School Network Regional Leads are working to facilitate relationships with partners across the school food ecosystem and more. For example, Farm to School Network San Joaquin Regional Lead Jane Alvarado Banister recently worked with Sanger Unified School District to connect their educational initiatives with the school meal program. In the accompanying photo, Jane joins Sanger Unified officials at the ribbon cutting for the Fairmont Ag Complex, an agricultural education hub for the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farm to School Regional Producer Engagement Specialists are working to provide value chain coordination for producers looking to sell foods to school districts with a focus on small and midsize farms and ranches. For example, Farm to School Central Regional Producer Engagement Specialist Michael Ackley-Grady recently helped the Asian Business Institute and Resource Center (ABIRC) connect Fresno Unified School District (FUSD) with local, ethnically diverse farmers so that the school may incorporate new crops into school meals that are culturally appropriate for many of the students. In the accompanying photo, Michael joins FUSD officials and others on an ABIRC-led tour and taste-test of ethnically diverse micro farms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are eight California Farm to School Regions. Reach out to contact the regional staff in your area!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Superior Region<\/strong>
Jennifer Rogge, Farm to School Network Regional Lead, Jennifer.Rogge@cdfa.ca.gov<\/a>
Mike Whamond, Farm to School Regional Producer Engagement Specialist, Michael.Whamond@cdfa.ca.gov<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

North Coast Region<\/strong>
Pamela Lee, Farm to School Network Regional Lead, Pamela.Lee<\/a>
Meerae Park, Farm to School Regional Producer Engagement Specialist, Meerae.Park@cdfa.ca.gov<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bay Area Region<\/strong>
Lizzy Elliott, Farm to School Network Regional Lead, Lizzy.Elliott@cdfa.ca.gov<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Central Region<\/strong>
Michael Ackley-Grady, Farm to School Regional Producer Engagement Specialist, Michael.Ackley-Grady@cdfa.ca.gov<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Joaquin Region<\/strong>
Jane Alvarado-Banister, Farm to School Network Regional Lead, Jane.Banister@cdfa.ca.gov<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Coast Region<\/strong>
Jacqueline Day, Farm to School Network Regional Lead, Jacqueline.Day@cdfa.ca.gov<\/a>
Chris Massa, Farm to School Regional Producer Engagement Specialist, Chris.Massa@cdfa.ca.gov<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greater Los Angeles Region<\/strong>
Sophia Riemer Bopp, Farm to School Network Regional Lead, Sophia.Bopp@cdfa.ca.gov<\/a>
Tracey Kimura, Farm to School Regional Producer Engagement Specialist, Tracey.Kimura@cdfa.ca.gov<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Southern Region<\/strong>
Molly Jones, Farm to School Network Regional Lead, Molly.Jones@cdfa.ca.gov<\/a>
Jennifer Huang, Farm to School Regional Producer Engagement Specialist, Jennifer.Huang@cdfa.ca.gov<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here<\/a> to view this original post on CDFA’s Planting Seeds blog. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

October is National Farm to School Month. CDFA encourages educators, school food service employees, farmers and farm to school enthusiasts across California to join in the celebration. Visit https:\/\/www.farmtoschool.org\/ for more information. Did you know CDFA\u2019s Farm to School Program has regional … Continue reading <\/i><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,40,12,23],"tags":[37,71,39,4],"class_list":["post-2294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-farm-to-school","category-cdfa-farm-to-school-program","category-cdfa-inspection-services-division","category-cdfa-f2f","tag-california-farm-to-school-network","tag-california-farm-to-school-program","tag-cdfa-office-of-farm-to-fork","tag-farm-to-school"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cdfa.ca.gov\/CDFAInspectionServicesBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cdfa.ca.gov\/CDFAInspectionServicesBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cdfa.ca.gov\/CDFAInspectionServicesBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cdfa.ca.gov\/CDFAInspectionServicesBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cdfa.ca.gov\/CDFAInspectionServicesBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2294"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cdfa.ca.gov\/CDFAInspectionServicesBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2298,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cdfa.ca.gov\/CDFAInspectionServicesBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2294\/revisions\/2298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cdfa.ca.gov\/CDFAInspectionServicesBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cdfa.ca.gov\/CDFAInspectionServicesBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cdfa.ca.gov\/CDFAInspectionServicesBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}