Boy taking food items in a school cafeteria lunch line

CDC Photo #18501
Image by CDC/Amanda Mills

Farm-to-Cafeteria provides farm fresh choices for institutional food consumers.

Farm to school month 2017 apples
Image by Marie Anselm

Geneva Central School District sources local apples year round.

farm to school training 2017
Image by Marie Anselm

School food service staff train in preparing Farm to School meals.

Farm to School

Farm to School is a program that puts food from local farms directly into school lunchrooms, providing student with fresh nutritious foods and educating them about where their food comes from. Farm to School connects the community to agricultural producers, benefiting students and farmers alike.

In Ontario County, several school districts and farms participate in Farm to School programming. Cornell Cooperative Extension Ontario County has participated in the past in a Farm to School project in partnership with Wayne-Finger Lakes (WFL) BOCES, the New York Wine & Culinary Center, and the following school districts: Geneva, Penn Yan, Dundee and Romulus. Together, we worked to increase the amount of locally grown food in schools to support local farms and feed healthy meals to students. 

Last updated August 8, 2023