Details:

Alternative Title:
Prev Chronic Dis
Publisher's site:
http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd10.130182
Personal Author:
Pinard, Courtney A. ; Smith, Teresa M. ; Carpenter, Leah R. ; Chapman, Mary ; Balluff, Mary ; ... More +
Pinard, Courtney A. ; Smith, Teresa M. ; Carpenter, Leah R. ; Chapman, Mary ; Balluff, Mary ; Yaroch, Amy L. Less -
Description:
Introduction

Schools are uniquely positioned to influence the dietary habits of children, and farm-to-school programs can increase fruit and vegetable consumption among school-aged children. We assessed the feasibility of, interest in, and barriers to implementing farm-to-school activities in 7 school districts in Douglas County, Nebraska.

Methods

We used a preassessment and postassessment survey to obtain data from 3 stakeholder groups: school food service directors, local food producers, and food distributors. We had a full-time farm-to-school coordinator who was able to engage multiple stakeholders and oversee the development and dissemination of a toolkit. We used descriptive statistics to make comparisons.

Results

Seven food service directors, 5 distributors identified by the food service directors, and 57 local producers (9 completed only the preassessment survey, 16 completed only the postassessment survey, and 32 completed both) completed various components of the assessment. Interest in pursuing farm-to-school activities to incorporate more local foods in the school lunch program increased during the 2-year project; mean interest in purchasing local foods by food service directors for their districts increased from 4.4 to 4.7 (on a scale of 1 to 5).

Conclusion

Implementing farm-to-school programming in Douglas County, Nebraska, is feasible, although food safety and distribution is a main concern among food service directors. Additional research on feasibility, infrastructure, and education is recommended.


Subject:
[+]
Administrative Personnel
Agriculture
Child
Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena
Community-Institutional Relations
Community Health Planning
Food Services
Food Supply
Humans
Lunch
Original Research
Program Evaluation
Schools

Source:
Prev Chronic Dis. 10.
Pubmed ID:
24355103
Pubmed Central ID:
PMC3869530
Document Type:
Journal Article
Funding:
FOA CDC-RFA-DP09-912ARRA09/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHS/United States
Place as Subject:
Nebraska
Collection(s):
Preventing Chronic Disease
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:11fe629d2cf72df8800bacd5feb6f8d3634ea03787bb7423f1cc5b7fa2dbcf46
File Type:

Supporting Files

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  	PCD-10-E210.nxml	txt
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  	PCD-10-E210s01.jpg	jpeg
  	PCD-10-E210s02.gif	gif
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