Nebraska Harvest of the Month - For Farmers!

Buy Fresh Buy Local Nebraska Author

09/28/2020 Added

19 Plays

Description

Learn how to use Nebraska Harvest of the Month farm to school program to market your veggies and fruits.

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[00:00:02.120]Hello everyone.
[00:00:03.190]My name is Margaret Milligan
[00:00:04.810]and I work
[00:00:05.800]with buy fresh buy local Nebraska,
[00:00:08.420]a local food promotion program
[00:00:10.620]at the University of Nebraska Lincoln.
[00:00:13.750]Buy fresh buy local
[00:00:14.810]is dedicated to increasing the economic vitality
[00:00:18.140]of small family farms
[00:00:19.960]and strengthening regional food systems
[00:00:22.450]by expanding markets
[00:00:23.750]for locally produced foods.
[00:00:26.100]And you can head to buylocalnebraska.org to find out
[00:00:30.020]more about what we do at buy fresh buy local.
[00:00:34.310]This short presentation is to share information to farmers
[00:00:38.210]about Nebraska harvest of the month.
[00:00:41.920]A farm to school project
[00:00:43.430]from the Nebraska Department of Education
[00:00:46.300]and buy fresh buy local.
[00:00:48.150]And it is aimed at increasing the amount
[00:00:50.460]of locally produced foods
[00:00:52.600]in school meals.
[00:00:54.667]Harvest of the month is a statewide farm to school program
[00:00:58.841]that highlights a different Nebraska fruit or vegetable
[00:01:02.950]each month of the school year.
[00:01:05.810]So this program promotes sourcing of local produce
[00:01:09.080]and provides schools with resources
[00:01:11.990]to support sampling
[00:01:13.890]and serving these foods
[00:01:15.750]to students in their cafeterias.
[00:01:18.530]These supportive resources for schools
[00:01:21.550]were formed into a tool kit
[00:01:24.500]and the tool kit contains resources like
[00:01:27.090]institutional sized recipes,
[00:01:30.350]posters, taste test guides,
[00:01:33.670]educational materials, newsletter,
[00:01:37.000]and press release templates
[00:01:39.480]and schools across the state
[00:01:41.020]have received the harvest of the month tool kits.
[00:01:44.740]And those tool kits can be requested
[00:01:46.770]at the department of education's farm to school website.
[00:01:52.260]When schools requested tool kit
[00:01:54.050]they received binders full of recipes,
[00:01:58.210]taste test guides,
[00:02:00.078]communication and marketing strategies
[00:02:03.610]as well as beautiful posters
[00:02:06.470]of each harvest of the month items,
[00:02:09.470]stickers to use during taste tests
[00:02:12.060]and trivia cards for each item.
[00:02:14.650]All of the tool kit materials contain educational
[00:02:18.940]materials about the items.
[00:02:21.430]So, historical tidbits, nutritional information
[00:02:26.350]how these items are grown
[00:02:28.710]in Nebraska seasonality are all covered in the
[00:02:32.030]materials as well.
[00:02:35.307]There are 11 featured items
[00:02:38.130]in the harvest of the month program.
[00:02:40.710]Each item has a suggested month,
[00:02:43.550]but they can be featured in the schools during any month
[00:02:47.160]of the year.
[00:02:48.690]As long as they're available
[00:02:50.740]from a local source.
[00:02:52.780]The 11 featured items
[00:02:54.450]in the harvest of the month program
[00:02:56.350]were chosen based on feedback
[00:02:58.460]from produce growers in Nebraska.
[00:03:02.100]If you're a produce grower in Nebraska,
[00:03:04.360]it is likely that you're already growing
[00:03:07.090]at least some of these items
[00:03:09.550]and that you could potentially grow them,
[00:03:13.090]if you're not.
[00:03:15.770]We wanted to specifically talk with farmers
[00:03:18.960]about this program
[00:03:20.540]because it's a good opportunity to market your produce
[00:03:23.870]to local schools
[00:03:26.000]using those supportive resources
[00:03:28.370]of the tool kit
[00:03:29.920]to appeal to school food service directors.
[00:03:33.570]And we all know that farmers wear many hats
[00:03:36.550]not only do you grow great produce
[00:03:39.370]but you develop markets,
[00:03:41.310]you pursue business leads,
[00:03:43.920]you promote and market your farm business,
[00:03:47.010]and you educate your customers.
[00:03:50.012]Like many customers
[00:03:51.960]schools crave not only the
[00:03:54.210]local product itself
[00:03:56.470]but knowledge and useful tips
[00:03:58.420]about local food.
[00:04:00.820]So, the harvest of the month program
[00:04:03.060]provides a lot of those educational
[00:04:05.770]and supportive materials
[00:04:07.310]like recipes and guides,
[00:04:10.300]so that schools can more confidently
[00:04:13.290]and more easily
[00:04:14.350]use local products.
[00:04:16.820]That means that farmers can focus on growing
[00:04:20.660]healthy, beautiful, and safe produce.
[00:04:24.380]And, now that we've kind of talked about
[00:04:27.700]the program as a whole,
[00:04:30.170]let's take a look
[00:04:31.140]at the 11 featured items
[00:04:33.630]in harvest of the month.
[00:04:36.820]We have dried beans,
[00:04:40.440]asparagus,
[00:04:43.620]leafy greens
[00:04:45.250]and that could include a
[00:04:47.490]spinach, chard, kale
[00:04:51.538]different types of Asian greens like mizuna or bok choy.
[00:04:57.730]We also feature melons,
[00:05:01.780]cabbages,
[00:05:04.370]apples,
[00:05:06.930]carrots,
[00:05:09.800]turnips
[00:05:10.810]and that could be anything from
[00:05:13.310]a storage type purple top
[00:05:15.810]to a more
[00:05:19.150]delicate tasting salad turnip
[00:05:22.640]in the spring or fall months.
[00:05:26.640]We also feature winter squash,
[00:05:30.500]sweet potatoes,
[00:05:33.160]and finally potatoes.
[00:05:35.010]So those are the 11
[00:05:36.820]harvest of the month items
[00:05:38.690]that are featured.
[00:05:41.310]Again, they have monthly suggestions
[00:05:44.160]but those are
[00:05:45.760]our only suggestions.
[00:05:50.100]And, so our goal is to keep adding items.
[00:05:55.673]We added apples and carrots in 2020
[00:06:00.230]and we're hoping to keep adding items
[00:06:03.910]that are being grown
[00:06:05.750]by Nebraska farmers.
[00:06:08.520]So the amazing thing about Nebraska harvest of the month
[00:06:12.020]is the schools are provided
[00:06:14.270]with this tool kit
[00:06:15.520]that helps them find items locally,
[00:06:18.580]advertise their programs
[00:06:20.890]via newsletters, announcements, press releases
[00:06:25.360]and helps them conduct taste testing with students.
[00:06:29.970]Like I was saying again
[00:06:31.520]earlier, this tool kit comes with
[00:06:34.040]these beautiful posters,
[00:06:36.667]trivia cards, coloring pages,
[00:06:40.730]newsletter templates,
[00:06:42.580]taste test instructions,
[00:06:44.950]recipes, and more.
[00:06:47.180]And I wanted to show you all.
[00:06:49.820]And I.
[00:06:51.670]Some samples of these tool kit items
[00:06:54.640]so you'd have a better
[00:06:56.400]understanding of what
[00:06:58.100]schools are receiving
[00:06:59.310]and how they are using them.
[00:07:01.430]So, let's take a quick look
[00:07:03.490]at an example of some of these supportive resources
[00:07:06.880]that are found in the tool kit
[00:07:08.600]provided to schools
[00:07:10.460]and we'll use winter squash
[00:07:12.530]as an example.
[00:07:15.080]So, posters are included in the tool kit
[00:07:20.190]and they are being displayed
[00:07:23.130]in the lunch room or cafeteria
[00:07:25.350]during taste test events.
[00:07:27.920]And these posters include
[00:07:30.136]different varieties of the harvest of the month item
[00:07:34.500]and different educational
[00:07:37.470]information about that item.
[00:07:39.930]So, on the
[00:07:43.060]winter squash poster it has,
[00:07:45.900]some historical tidbits
[00:07:47.800]and some other factoids to,
[00:07:53.450]to allow students to
[00:07:55.320]get to know this vegetable a little bit better.
[00:08:00.170]Coloring sheets with
[00:08:02.610]fun facts about each items
[00:08:05.440]are also included
[00:08:06.900]and they're aimed at giving
[00:08:09.000]fun and interesting educational
[00:08:12.010]material to kids
[00:08:13.400]and get them excited about
[00:08:16.610]trying and tasting and eating
[00:08:18.930]healthy local produce.
[00:08:21.940]Trivia cards are also
[00:08:24.044]included in the tool kit.
[00:08:26.770]And, these are a fun way
[00:08:29.910]again, to engage students and staff,
[00:08:33.210]and sometimes parents
[00:08:36.210]about different information about these
[00:08:39.990]Nebraska grown items.
[00:08:41.780]So this could be
[00:08:43.140]information about the variety or
[00:08:47.100]what is a winter squa.
[00:08:48.157]What's the difference between a winter squash
[00:08:50.470]and a summer squash?
[00:08:51.870]Or, how many pounds of,
[00:08:55.580]of carrots does the average American eat?
[00:08:58.760]Or how, how are
[00:09:00.930]watermelon pollinated?
[00:09:03.560]So, the trivia cards are a fun
[00:09:06.750]kind of game aspect
[00:09:09.150]to the tool kit.
[00:09:11.750]Stickers are also included.
[00:09:13.500]And that kind of goes
[00:09:15.840]along with the taste test strategy the,
[00:09:21.310]that we're using in this tool kit.
[00:09:23.950]So if kids
[00:09:25.910]try a recipe including
[00:09:28.610]one of the featured items,
[00:09:30.460]they'll receive a
[00:09:31.870]fun sticker and like a
[00:09:34.220]food service director said,
[00:09:37.620]it's surprising what a child will do to get a sticker.
[00:09:42.490]They'll try almost anything including turnips.
[00:09:45.950]So, stickers are also included in the tool kit.
[00:09:50.800]Recipe guides for sampling each item.
[00:09:54.040]And these, these are institutional size recipes.
[00:09:57.270]The food service directors and staff can really easily
[00:10:02.026]use in their kitchens.
[00:10:05.330]The tool kit also includes a taste test guide
[00:10:08.840]that walks the school through
[00:10:10.270]how to successfully offer a taste test.
[00:10:13.680]And, it has
[00:10:15.490]strategies for student engagement
[00:10:19.250]and much more.
[00:10:23.300]So the, the tool kit also includes a commun
[00:10:27.230]communication guide or tool kit
[00:10:30.370]and that includes
[00:10:32.980]samples, social media posts,
[00:10:35.510]ideas for community outreach and involvement,
[00:10:41.290]a guide for using the
[00:10:42.910]harvest of the month branding
[00:10:46.302]and different press release
[00:10:49.060]and PA announcement templates
[00:10:51.960]that schools can just
[00:10:55.140]easily insert their information into these templates
[00:10:59.590]and make an announcement over the PA system,
[00:11:04.160]send out a newsletter to families,
[00:11:08.430]get the whole school community
[00:11:10.830]excited about this program.
[00:11:15.481]The tool kit also comes with
[00:11:17.960]two page newsletters
[00:11:19.470]for each item
[00:11:21.010]that can be sent via email
[00:11:23.290]or printed off for students and families.
[00:11:26.460]And then each of these newsletters
[00:11:28.480]provides information about,
[00:11:30.900]about the item
[00:11:33.060]when it's grown in Nebraska,
[00:11:35.820]information about selection,
[00:11:38.370]storage and cooking,
[00:11:40.490]you know what its nutritional value is,
[00:11:45.290]some fun activities
[00:11:46.990]for households or families to participate in together to,
[00:11:52.060]to incorporate some of these
[00:11:54.240]harvest of the month items.
[00:11:56.980]And, also a home cooking friendly recipe.
[00:12:01.580]So those are the items in the tool kit.
[00:12:04.450]Again, schools across the state can request a tool kit
[00:12:08.000]by going to the Nebraska Department of Education's
[00:12:10.830]farm to school webpage.
[00:12:13.120]And, we'll provide that web address
[00:12:15.530]at the end of this presentation.
[00:12:19.110]So, as a farmer,
[00:12:20.840]you can serve as a catalyst
[00:12:23.910]for the program
[00:12:25.470]by encouraging schools in your district to participate
[00:12:29.650]and harvest of the month is a great way to establish
[00:12:33.620]a relationship with a school.
[00:12:36.106]So you're probably already growing at least one of the
[00:12:38.930]harvest of the month items
[00:12:40.840]and schools have a ready to go set of recipes,
[00:12:44.970]taste test strategies, trivia cards,
[00:12:48.550]newsletters, stickers, et cetera,
[00:12:51.480]to go along with each one of the
[00:12:53.550]associated harvest of the month items
[00:12:56.570]and those tools and resources make it easier
[00:13:00.030]to incorporate local produce
[00:13:02.200]into the weekly school lunch menu.
[00:13:05.330]We know of schools who have participated
[00:13:07.300]in the harvest of the month program taste testing
[00:13:11.010]who now incorporate
[00:13:12.920]those recipes into their regular menus.
[00:13:16.720]So they've gone from offering a
[00:13:19.930]taste test to students
[00:13:21.880]who then sometimes rank,
[00:13:25.200]rank the recipes
[00:13:26.870]and kind of let,
[00:13:29.959]let their schools know
[00:13:31.730]which recipes they liked,
[00:13:33.630]which ones maybe they didn't
[00:13:35.630]like so much.
[00:13:37.390]And based on that feedback
[00:13:39.690]and the feedback from food service staff,
[00:13:43.570]some of these schools have been rolled
[00:13:46.030]those taste test recipes
[00:13:48.100]into a featured
[00:13:50.800]a regular regularly featured menu item.
[00:13:55.400]So that would then
[00:13:58.320]mean that they would be purchasing
[00:14:00.590]from a local producer more regularly
[00:14:04.230]after they've incorporated that into their menu.
[00:14:07.950]So, when you connect
[00:14:09.830]with a school nutrition director you can
[00:14:12.230]use harvest of the month to
[00:14:14.760]market your product.
[00:14:20.130]So, you know
[00:14:22.690]selling to schools is
[00:14:25.590]similar and different than other markets.
[00:14:29.500]There's a, there's a steep
[00:14:32.520]learning curve I would say
[00:14:34.420]to selling to schools,
[00:14:36.170]there's just different considerations that a
[00:14:38.930]farmer needs to take into account.
[00:14:41.860]And, you know
[00:14:44.170]it could sound very simple
[00:14:48.160]to start selling to a school
[00:14:49.580]and sometimes it is but,
[00:14:52.020]sometimes there, there are just some,
[00:14:56.070]some questions or considerations that
[00:15:00.040]kind of come up
[00:15:02.150]again and again when we talk about selling to,
[00:15:05.840]selling to schools in Nebraska.
[00:15:08.770]So, buy fresh buy local,
[00:15:12.100]along with the Nebraska Department of Education has,
[00:15:15.890]we've partnered to create some
[00:15:18.140]Nebraska specific resources
[00:15:21.310]to make it easier
[00:15:22.740]for you, the farmer
[00:15:24.300]to start selling to schools
[00:15:26.330]or start forming that
[00:15:28.430]relationship with schools.
[00:15:30.970]So, I'd like to take a
[00:15:33.293]a couple minutes to go over some of those resources
[00:15:37.410]that we've created
[00:15:39.457]and we will do that now.
[00:15:42.920]So, we have created a
[00:15:45.240]Nebraska harvest of the month farmer info sheet.
[00:15:49.650]And, I will say that all of these resources
[00:15:52.790]can be downloaded
[00:15:54.520]from buy fresh buy locals webs, web page,
[00:15:58.390]as well as Nebraska department of
[00:16:01.220]education's farm to school webpage.
[00:16:03.710]And we'll put the
[00:16:05.670]links to those websites
[00:16:07.780]at the end of the presentation here.
[00:16:10.590]So, this info sheet kind of describes the,
[00:16:14.650]the harvest of the month program.
[00:16:16.690]Why a farmer might want to
[00:16:18.710]know about the program
[00:16:20.650]and use the program to market their, their products.
[00:16:26.100]And it also references some other resources
[00:16:29.010]that we'll go over here just shortly.
[00:16:33.240]We've also created a flowchart
[00:16:35.810]for farmers who are interested in getting started with
[00:16:40.010]farm to school in Nebraska.
[00:16:42.710]And it kind of
[00:16:44.780]outlines the flow of this process
[00:16:47.850]from finding a school food service director
[00:16:52.250]to meeting with them.
[00:16:56.220]To considering some of those
[00:16:58.426]maybe unique circumstances
[00:17:03.020]of selling to schools.
[00:17:04.750]And then, the final piece of the flow chart,
[00:17:08.950]the ending that we're all interested in
[00:17:11.240]is happy kids eating Nebraska food.
[00:17:15.670]So that is also available for download.
[00:17:20.730]We've created a
[00:17:23.350]Q and A resource
[00:17:26.950]selling to schools for farmers.
[00:17:29.620]And this kind of covers
[00:17:31.280]a lot of the very common questions that
[00:17:35.680]come up when
[00:17:37.600]when farmers are
[00:17:39.100]in the process of selling to schools.
[00:17:41.280]So for instance,
[00:17:44.040]we're asking the Nebraska Department of Education,
[00:17:48.100]what does local foods mean?
[00:17:50.700]Also you know,
[00:17:51.810]can you sell certain items?
[00:17:54.170]Can you?
[00:17:55.003]What are the rules about selling meat
[00:17:56.870]or eggs or produce to,
[00:18:00.260]to local schools?
[00:18:02.180]Don't do.
[00:18:03.013]Do producers need to be GAP certified to sell to schools?
[00:18:06.820]There are some of the questions that are covered
[00:18:09.590]in this resource document.
[00:18:14.370]We've also develop a checklist for a
[00:18:18.050]meeting with the Nebraska food service director.
[00:18:21.490]And those are the people who are
[00:18:24.840]in charge of the
[00:18:26.120]nutrition services at a school.
[00:18:28.410]So these are the people who are
[00:18:30.730]setting menus and managing the kitchens.
[00:18:34.316]And, they're the ones that you
[00:18:37.120]likely will want to talk to when you
[00:18:41.660]start selling to schools.
[00:18:43.800]So this checklist goes through
[00:18:47.760]what might need to happen before
[00:18:50.240]what you might need to consider
[00:18:51.820]before you set up a meeting with a,
[00:18:54.550]with a school food service director
[00:18:57.760]and what may
[00:18:59.210]might take place during that meeting
[00:19:02.770]some of the information that you might be asked to provide
[00:19:07.600]and how to follow up afterwards.
[00:19:11.666]It also contains a lot of
[00:19:14.700]questions that might come up
[00:19:17.010]so that you can
[00:19:18.130]start thinking about those before you meet with them.
[00:19:21.800]Just so you'll be a little bit more prepared for,
[00:19:25.650]for potential questions that do come up
[00:19:28.980]in your meeting.
[00:19:32.320]We've also developed a fillable PDF
[00:19:36.590]that you can either
[00:19:38.040]fill out online or print it off and hand write
[00:19:42.100]to let the food service director know
[00:19:45.170]what your product availability and pricing,
[00:19:51.290]information are.
[00:19:52.720]And, so this is a document
[00:19:55.780]that you could fill out seasonally.
[00:19:58.411]You could fill it out with all of your information
[00:20:03.170]of what you grow,
[00:20:04.550]how much it costs typically,
[00:20:07.120]the season that it's available,
[00:20:11.070]it has information about variety or, you know,
[00:20:16.850]count per case,
[00:20:18.780]the amounts that you sell them in.
[00:20:21.220]So this is all really great information
[00:20:23.230]for schools to have
[00:20:24.700]so they can,
[00:20:28.810]work it into their budgets
[00:20:30.840]to buy from you.
[00:20:32.760]We've also created a farm bio
[00:20:36.290]for farmers to fill out
[00:20:38.660]and this again is something you could print out and,
[00:20:42.840]and fill out by hand,
[00:20:44.070]or you can fill it out.
[00:20:46.768]It's a fillable PDF form.
[00:20:50.100]And this just kind of is an introduction
[00:20:53.010]introductory document that you could fill out
[00:20:58.640]and provide to a school so that they have,
[00:21:02.750]they have something on file
[00:21:04.750]something that they can read through to
[00:21:07.150]get a sense of who you are,
[00:21:09.810]what you provide,
[00:21:11.510]when you provide it
[00:21:13.060]and how to get in touch with you.
[00:21:16.570]So those were the
[00:21:18.291]those were the
[00:21:20.210]producer resources that we developed.
[00:21:22.530]And again, you can find them at
[00:21:25.209]Nebraska Department of Ed's farm to school page.
[00:21:28.490]You can download them there.
[00:21:30.306]You can also download them
[00:21:32.120]at buy fresh buy local Nebraska's webpage.
[00:21:36.502]I just wanted to,
[00:21:38.330]to touch a little bit about
[00:21:40.620]action items that
[00:21:43.940]you could take
[00:21:46.670]to complete that next step
[00:21:48.920]in the process if you're interested in selling to schools.
[00:21:52.820]So I would say the action steps
[00:21:54.690]for farmers would be
[00:21:56.540]to download the harvest of the month tool kit
[00:21:59.720]so that you kind of
[00:22:01.080]can go through it at your own pace and see how
[00:22:04.780]awesome it is
[00:22:05.950]and how it could fit into,
[00:22:08.540]into your farm business and,
[00:22:11.680]if you're growing any of these items.
[00:22:14.657]So definitely download the harvest of the month tool kit.
[00:22:19.450]I would then
[00:22:20.640]explore the farm to school resources for farmers that are
[00:22:24.950]that we just went through
[00:22:26.740]and that are found on buy fresh buy local's web site,
[00:22:29.910]as well as the Department of Ed's.
[00:22:33.597]And like, play around with those.
[00:22:36.040]See if you can use the templates,
[00:22:39.600]read through the flow chart,
[00:22:42.820]read through the checklist,
[00:22:46.150]you can even
[00:22:47.270]check off the boxes on that checklist
[00:22:50.440]that helps me
[00:22:52.530]know that I've completed a task.
[00:22:56.360]So, I would definitely recommend
[00:22:58.190]downloading those resources.
[00:23:01.230]And then also talk to schools in your area
[00:23:03.510]about the harvest of the month program.
[00:23:08.010]And, you can potentially use it to market your,
[00:23:13.270]your produce if you're growing those items.
[00:23:17.130]It's a really nice way
[00:23:19.290]for schools to feel supportive and confident
[00:23:24.184]that they have a plan
[00:23:26.810]of what they're gonna do
[00:23:28.330]when they get all this great produce.
[00:23:32.330]I would also say that
[00:23:34.490]if you have questions about farm to school in Nebraska
[00:23:38.870]that get in touch with buy fresh buy local
[00:23:42.640]or the Nebraska Department of Education.
[00:23:46.460]We would be happy to help answer
[00:23:48.750]any of those questions that you might have
[00:23:51.520]about this process.
[00:23:53.660]So, here is the
[00:23:58.370]the spot that you can download
[00:24:01.670]those farmer resources
[00:24:05.540]through either the Department of Ed's website
[00:24:07.840]or buy fresh buy local's website.
[00:24:11.900]And again, if you have any questions
[00:24:14.640]or wanna talk about
[00:24:17.500]any issues or successes
[00:24:19.690]that you found with farm to school in Nebraska,
[00:24:23.010]please contact either buy fresh buy local
[00:24:26.910]or the Nebraska Department of Ed and,
[00:24:29.530]we'd be happy to assist you
[00:24:32.110]with whatever we can.
[00:24:34.047]I hope you have found
[00:24:37.970]some information that you can use
[00:24:40.590]in this presentation.
[00:24:42.513]And, good luck with your farm to school adventure.

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Nebraska Harvest of the Month - For Farmers!

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