Community Food Systems + Farm to School and Early Care Conference 2024
The 2024 Community Food Systems + Farm to School & Early Care Conference was held in June and included educational Farm tours the day before the conference.
The Johnson County Historical Poor Farm visit combined the history of the Historical Poor Farm with how the land is used today:
- Community plots through Global Food Project
- GROW: Johnson County to supply local food banks with fresh produce
- Maintaining the land by removing invasive species and restoring native landscapes that help clean the water as it works its way to streams
- Education on farming and the historical usage of the Historical Poor Farm
Camp Creek Farm in Kalona, IA showed us:
- The hard work of starting up a farm in fields that had been unused recently
- Existing infrastructure for long term micro green production
- Creating compost to use in the fields from yard waste and farm waste
- The variety of produce that consumers expect from Consumer Supported Agriculture and farmer’s markets
Camp Creek Farm is creating connections not only through farming and local food hub distribution but sharing greenhouse and storage space with other local farmers.
While the farm visits reminded me of the hard work it takes to grow the food we eat everyday, the conference opened my eyes to the barriers that prevent fresh, local food from being available to schools and early care sites everyday. Timing of when crops are ready in the fields and when children are in the classroom. Funding and sourcing enough food for an entire school or district. Budgets and time for the people needed to prepare the food. And kids’ tastes, what will they actually eat from year to year? I learned about established and well run programs in place or starting up that help fund fresh local food. The conference brought together educators, food service workers, chefs and local farmers to further understand the systems already in place, uncover challenges and create connections to keep pushing forward to get fresh, local food into school and early care sites that kids will eat. The kindness, connections, collaboration and education that I experienced at the conference has me energized to continue the adventure!
