As National Farm to School Month unfolds during October, the Connecticut River Valley puts the idea in action. Nationally observed since 2010, the month highlights the collaboration between farms and local schools.

Simply feeding children is the root of the concept. According to Mass Legal Services, in 2024, the federal poverty level for a family of four is $31,200. The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) reports that in the 2023-2024 school year, 42.2% of the state’s students live at or below the federal poverty line.

In Springfield, 85% of public school students in the city live at or below the federal poverty line. This means that for many children, school meals are the only reliable source of food they have. During the pandemic, the Massachusetts state legislature approved emergency school meals to feed all children, and the Springfield school district delivered over 10 million emergency meals. As emergency legislation ended in 2022, Governor Maura Healy signed the Universal School Meals legislation to continue feeding children at school, regardless of income.

Even before the pandemic, the cost and logistics of feeding almost 30,000 students at school daily was a massive financial and logistical undertaking for the Springfield school district. Economies of scale can result in the school meals many remember from childhood. Following contemporary business models, many public school systems across the country no longer cook food from scratch, but rather reassemble and reheat.

Springfield Public Schools chose to do something different by forging a partnership with Sodexo Food Services, under the name Home Grown Springfield. They began with breakfast in the classroom. In the 2015-2016 school year, Springfield had a 44% school breakfast participation rate, and breakfast in the classroom was a high priority.

“In 2019, Springfield Public Schools opened the Culinary Nutrition Center (CNC) on Cadwell Drive in Springfield,” explained Andrew Stratton, general manager for Home Grown Springfield. “We started out simply, just focusing on getting food to kids. Pretty quickly, we knew there was a better way to bring a nutritious breakfast to the students and started planning accordingly.”

Today, school breakfasts include over 26 varieties of whole grain muffins, egg and sausage calzones, and empanadas. As of September 2024, Springfield reached 85% of student participation in school breakfast across all grade levels.

Both breakfast and lunch menus incorporate fresh, local ingredients. Home Grown Springfield has built strong partnerships with local farms to ensure these ingredients are supplied each school year. Eliminating student hunger remains the district’s goal, and now Joe Czajkowski Farm, Atlas Farm, the Food Bank Farm, Marty’s Local and others are partners in that work.

“In February, we provide the farmers with ballpark figures of what we plan to use,” Stratton said. “We plan for carrot sticks, cucumbers, squash (which we use throughout the year) and potatoes.”

In many institutional settings, common foods like mashed potatoes are made with powdered instant mixes because they are inexpensive and quick. But at Home Grown Springfield, “we use Joe C’s potatoes for the entire district and make our own mashed potatoes fresh at the CNC,” Stratton said. “We also prepare a roasted root vegetable blend of squash, carrots, potatoes, and turnip that each school roasts on site. Centralizing food preparation at the CNC has allowed us to commit to Joe Czajkowski Farm and the Food Bank Farm.”

Funding the mission of feeding kids and improving the quality of their food comes from a mixture of federal and state resources. For the 2023-2024 school year, the USDA funded the Northeast Food for Schools (NFS) grant — a new, one-time fund for schools to spend on locally sourced foods. Springfield received $100,000 as part of this grant.

The NFS grant stretched district food budgets and increased local sourcing from the Valley and from farms and producers across the state and New England.

“The grant expanded our purchasing of Mi Tierra Tortillas, made right here in Springfield using Hadley corn,” said Stratton. “It also allowed us to work towards our goal of a locally sourced pizza. We use One Might Mill in Lynn for scratch-made pizza crusts, and mozzarella from a creamery in Rhode Island. The pizza sauce is made in collaboration with Commonwealth Kitchen in Boston, using tomatoes from western Mass. Atlas Farm was one of the farms that supplied tomatoes this year.”

Tasting fresh, delicious food on a school lunch tray nourishes young minds and bodies, but the district takes the Farm to School concept further, with 35 school gardens in a variety of buildings from elementary through secondary grades. The district plans to have a garden in all of the 67 schools in their system eventually.

Another way students immerse themselves in learning about their food is with field trips to Food Bank Farm. Andrew Morehouse, executive director of the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, and Gideon Porth, owner of Atlas Farm, planned farm visits to bring students to walk the land, see and harvest vegetables they eat, and meet their farmers. “It’s nice to see students engaged with farmers and understanding where their food comes [from],” Stratton said.

As the team reaches its goals, they set new benchmarks. Stratton says Home Grown Springfield hopes to increase local sourcing to 25% this school year. “Our next step is to incorporate local beef into our meatballs, even if it’s 10%. We’d like to source fluid milk locally, but the packaging process is expensive.”

Stratton grew up in Springfield and attended school in the city, and this is true for many of the people on his team. “We are committed to excellence because we’re from here, and these are our schools. When I see students smiling and enjoying their meals, it’s worth it. Our team works hard because the students are worth it.”

To learn more about Home Grown Springfield, see their website at Home Grownspringfield.org.

Lisa Goodrich is a Communications Coordinator with Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA).