Farm to School Program Looking for Farms to Supply Local Foods to Schools
CCE Harvest NY's Regional Farm to School Coordinator Program is working with NYS Department of Education to support schools participating in the USDA Agriculture and Marketing Services Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. Local Foods for Schools is a USDA funded program intended to help schools deal with the challenges of supply chain disruptions brought on by the pandemic. The program is designed to strengthen the food system for schools by helping to build a fair, competitive, and resilient local food chain, and expand local and regional markets with an emphasis on purchasing from historically underserved producers and processors. Schools must use funds received through this program to purchase unprocessed or minimally processed domestic, locally grown foods from local producers, small businesses, and socially disadvantaged farmers/producers for use in the school meals programs. In NY State the program is administered by NYS Department of Education. Cornell Cooperative Extension - Harvest NY is the technical assistance provider.
If you would like your farm or food business information shared with schools, please complete the survey linked below by Monday, November 14th. The survey asks about your business, the products you grow, raise, produce, or distribute, and what part(s) of the state your products are available, and should take about 5 minutes to complete.
Survey link: https://cornell.ca1.qualtrics....
Questions about the program can be directed to Cheryl Bilinski at cbt32@cornell.edu
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Upcoming Events
Is Grazing Sheep Beneath Solar Arrays and Opportunity for Your Future?
September 25, 2023
Mt. Morris, NY
Grazing sheep beneath utility-scale solar arrays can build wealth of present and future sheep farmers as vegetation management service providers and access to additional pasture. The Cornell Cooperative Enterprise Program (CEP) conducted a survey earlier this year completed by over 600 farmers. Farmers identified barriers to grazing sheep under solar arrays and weighed in on need for a producer-led organization to negotiate contracts on their behalf, coordinate logistics of multiple flocks, provide transport of sheep to and from the site, care for sheep while on-site, and provide supplemental mowing. Additional questions focused on processing and marketing needs.
Technology for Grazing Dairies Webinar
September 27, 2023
Join us for this free webinar! Brought to you by the dairy specialists of CCE NWNY and SWNY Dairy, Livestock and Field Crops Programs.
Protecting Against Murphy's Law: A FREE Live Seminar for Veterans.
October 4, 2023
What Can Go Wrong, Will Go Wrong!
Good ole' Murphy's Law is probably the best description of what it's like to be a farmer that there is! Join Cornell Cooperative Extension Farm Business Management Specialist, Katelyn Walley-Stoll, to learn more about the 5 areas of risk on farms and how to develop strategies to manage those risks. Participants will have the opportunity to identify areas of risk on their own farms and brainstorm ways to (try to) prevent the inevitable!
Registration is REQUIRED by visiting https://tinyurl.com/CCERisk or call Kelly at 585-268-7644.
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