Farm to School: Supply Chain Analysis of Producers, seeks to establish a baseline of producer
participating in Farm to School (F2S) in Central NY, as well as identify opportunities for
strengthening producer participation and matchmaking.
The project was a regional collaboration between seven organizations working to address the potential for increasing F2S activities and producer participation in Central NY and the surrounding regions. The organizations involved were Cornell
Cooperative Extension (CCE) Cortland, CCE Harvest NY, CCE Madison, CCE Jefferson, Syracuse City School District, Syracuse-Onondaga Food Systems Alliance, and Syracuse University.
Through phone call surveys with 142 producers in Central NY and the surrounding regions, several barriers and potential solutions emerged. The most common reason producers gave as an obstacle to participating in Farm to School was a perception that their operation is too small. Surveys with meat producers and aggregators found aggregation of products as an answer to this barrier, seeing great success in the region for this sector. Half of the producers interviewed were willing to partner with other farms to meet the demands of school districts. Existing aggregation options are available through nine food hubs across NY state that are actively selling to school markets as well as other processors and producers that aggregate
products from multiple farms. Existing state grants such as the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Grant and the Regional School Food Infrastructure Grant address aggregation and processing of local farm products. Continuing to fund these activities in the local food supply chain will strengthen access to school food markets by producers of all sizes and scales.
Other opportunities for strengthening producer participation identified in the report include financial incentives for schools to buy local which exist in the form of the NYS 30% Initiative and Local Foods for School grant. Trainings and technical assistance were requested, especially on bidding and the requirements to sell to schools. Matchmaking events to meet the Food Service
Directors were also requested.
If you are a producer looking to get involved in selling to school districts please reach out to Lizzy Cooper, Regional Farm to School Coordinator, at ec795@cornell.edu and look out for an upcoming information session in early 2025.