School food service directors and culinary staff from across the region met at the Imperial Valley Food Bank on Nov. 12 for a workshop highlighting locally grown fruits and vegetables and how to incorporate them into school menus. The event was held in partnership with the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Farm to School Program and the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. Read more about the event in Imperial Valley Press.
Farm Smart personnel, UCCE advisors, CalFresh Healthy Living, UCCE educators and UC Master Gardeners staffed a resource table with information about upcoming events related to their current CDFA Farm to School project.
The $349,213 project is a collaboration among Imperial Valley Home School Academy, Imperial County Office of Education, El Centro Elementary School District and University of California Desert Research and Extension Center to increase teacher and school educators’ capacity to implement Farm-to-School activities to foster students’ knowledge in food, nutrition and agriculture. This project will provide teacher training, local farm tours, student-teacher field trips, farmer-teacher networking and peer mentoring opportunities, workshops on nutrition and food safety, and UC Master Food Preserver and UC Master Gardener workshops.
On Friday, Jan. 23, Desert REC will host a CDFA Farm to School Conference. Registration for the one-day event is at https://forms.gle/jgj6ioek4NRBq1A78.
“It's a conference tailored specifically to Imperial Valley school teachers and food service staff focused on providing resources to bring food, agriculture and nutrition into their classrooms,” said Mariana Gonzalez Castro, Farm Smart community education supervisor. The conference will feature a tour of a local farm and hands-on workshops.”
On Saturday, Jan. 31, from 9 a.m.-1 p.m., Desert REC will host a CDFA Farm to School Resource Fair open to the public.
“It will be an opportunity to network and get to know the types of workshops our partners will provide throughout the year such as the UC Master Gardeners Program and the Master Food Preservers Program,” Gonzalez said. This resource fair event will be hosted at Desert REC as well.