SUNBURY — Many Valley school districts are ahead of a USDA initiative aimed at encouraging the use of local farm products in school meals.
The idea will let schools give preference to locally grown and locally raised agricultural products as they purchase food for the National School Lunch, School Breakfast, Fresh Fruit and Vegetable and Summer Food Service programs.
The initiative is also intended to give a much-needed boost to local farmers and agricultural producers.
But Valley farms and companies already harvest business from area school districts.
Said Matt Mitchell, food service director in the Shikellamy School District: “We live here. We try to buy here.”
Buying produce locally benefits students by being “as fresh as it can possibly be,” Mitchell said. “We buy locally as much as we can for that reason. But we also want to support the local economy.”
The district buys produce from Martin’s in Shamokin Dam; bread products from Butter-Krust in Sunbury; and a variety of food products from Rinehart Food Service in Coal Township.
Kevin Oswald, food service director in the Selinsgrove Area School District, also purchases heavily from Valley farms and businesses.
“We buy all our produce from Martin’s and other foods from Rinehart,” he said.
But Oswald also buys apples from a Valley orchard — he declined to identify it — and potato chips from Middleswarth in Middleburg.
“There have not been any rules stating that we had to buy locally,” Oswald said. “It has always been our intention to do so. Now, USDA agrees with us. That’s gratifying.”
Like Oswald and Mitchell, Renee Frederick, food services director for the Warrior Run School District, buys as much as she can locally.
“We have such a great number of choices around here,” she said.
Frederick buys “99 percent of her produce from Whitenight Wholesale Produce in Riverside.”
She also buys from Butter-Krust and uses Feesers Food Distributors, of Harrisburg, for her other needs.
“I’ve been buying food for the district for 10 years,” she said. “And the one thing I’m absolutely certain of — eating fresh is better.”
Officials at the Nutrition Group, of Irwin, who operate the food service for the Line Mountain School District, did not return phone calls.
The push to buy locally is part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 signed into law by President Obama and one of the key provisions to bolster farm-to school programs across the country. It also supports USDA’s “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” initiative, which emphasizes the need for a fundamental and critical reconnection between producers and consumers.
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act is the legislative centerpiece of first lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative.
Meanwhile, Mark O’Neill, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau in Camp Hill, said: “Pennsylvania farmers are encouraged by programs that promote the purchase of locally grown fruits, vegetables and other agricultural products for school students. The diets of school students can vary widely, so we support programs that increase the access of healthy food items to our youth.
“We also back the ‘Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food’ program,” he said, because it includes an educational component designed to teach students about farming and reconnects consumers with farmers to learn more about how food is produced and what it takes to get food to the public.
“We hope this program can buttress existing programs initiated by Pennsylvania Farm Bureau,” he said, which brings the message of agriculture to schools across Pennsylvania through six mobile agriculture education science labs and our Ag-in-the-Classroom programs.”
— Email comments to rdandes@dailyitem.com
News
Related Photos
-
Colton Bethge, 14, a ninth-grade student at Line Mountain High School, makes a salad Thursday. Liz Rohde/The Daily Item
Discussion
School districts buy local products for meals
- News
-
-
Scammer: This is not a scam
Residents from Danville to Beavertown are reporting they’ve been receiving “exciting news!” via postcards in their mailboxes.
“We are holding $100 in gift cards for YOU — good at Walmart and Target — your choice!” Just call a toll-free phone number and claim your reward.
-
BBs damage car on Route 15
An incident that began along Route 15 near Allenwood ended Wednesday at the Watsontown borough building, with police arresting one man for numerous charges, after they say he shot a BB gun at another man while threatening him.
-
Penn State report reviews women's status at university
STATE COLLEGE — Women at Penn State either haven't made progress or have lost ground when it comes to being represented in several key areas, including leadership positions and enrollment, according to report from a university commission.
-
State unemployment rate drops slightly in April
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate declined slightly last month, but remains above the national rate.
-
State attorney general says she opposes decriminalization of marijuana
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane says she opposes legislation to decriminalize marijuana.
-
Texas residents missing after tornadoes are found safe
GRANBURY, Texas — People who were missing in the wake of the destructive tornadoes in North Texas have been found safe, officials said Friday, but they didn’t indicate when residents of one hard-hit neighborhood will be allowed to return to survey damage to their homes.
-
Today's Top Videos
-
Police Log
A daily roundup of police news from around the region.
-
Hartleton police chief faces felony theft and conspiracy counts
HARTLETON — Donald “Larry” Zerbe, Hartleton police chief for more than 30 years, was charged Thursday in Union County with theft and conspiracy for allegedly funneling traffic citation fines to a community playground fund.
-
Trial to be scheduled for Mifflinburg businessman
MIFFLINBURG — A Union County businessman waived his right to a preliminary hearing Thursday on charges that he spent $241,000 for personal debt and expenses instead of investing it in a storage facility partnership in West Buffalo Township as he told 10 clients he would.
-
Restaurant owner: 0.05 percent DUI level is too low
SELINSGROVE — The National Transportation Safety Board announced Tueday that states should shrink the standard from the current 0.08 percent blood alcohol content to 0.05 percent - and that doesn’t sit well to many Valley business owners.
-
Danville's Mill Street to be featured in new TV series
DANVILLE - For the premier episode of the Pennsylvania Cable Network’s “Discover Main Street PA” program, viewers will see the sights and sounds of Danville’s Mill Street.
-
OJ back in court for Day 4 in bid for new Vegas trial
LAS VEGAS — The lead defense attorney in O.J. Simpson’s armed robbery trial had a conflict of interest because he could have been a witness in the case, a lawyer who worked on Simpson’s unsuccessful appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court testified Thursday.
-
Sen. Bob Casey defends Pennsylvania military bases from cuts
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Bob Casey is asking a Senate committee to forgo the process of looking at potential closures of military installations.
-
New study: Fracking hasn’t polluted Arkansas water
PITTSBURGH — A new study has found that natural gas drilling, or fracking, hasn’t contaminated drinking water wells in Arkansas. But researchers say the geology there is more of a natural barrier to pollution than in other areas of shale gas drilling, such as Pennsylvania.
-
Obama: No special prosecutor to investigate IRS
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama today dismissed the idea of a special prosecutor to investigate the Internal Revenue Service, saying probes by Congress and the Justice Department should be able to figure out who was responsible for improperly targeting tea party groups when they applied for tax-exempt status.
-
No Powerball winner; jackpot soars to $475 million
So you didn’t win Wednesday’s $360 million Powerball jackpot? Make that you and everyone else.
-
At least 6 confirmed dead in Texas tornadoes
A rash of tornados slammed into several small communities in North Texas overnight, leaving at least six people dead, dozens more injured and hundreds homeless. The violent spring storm scattered bodies, flattened homes, threw trailers onto cars.
- More News Headlines
-
Scammer: This is not a scam
