Mississippi school food service directors’ interest and experience with local food procurement and farm to school activities

Authors: Thomson, Jessica; LANDRY, ALICIA - University Of Central Arkansas; Walls, Tameka

Submitted to: Health Promotion Practice
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/28/2023
Publication Date: 6/21/2023
Citation: Thomson, J.L., Landry, A.S., Walls, T.I. 2023. Mississippi school food service directors’ interest and experience with local food procurement and farm to school activities. Health Promotion Practice. https://doi.org/10.1177/15248399231178543.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/15248399231178543

Interpretive Summary: Farm to school (F2S) includes a wide range of programs and activities designed to change the food purchasing and education practices of schools. One F2S core element, procurement, involves purchasing, promoting, and serving local foods in school meals. Hence, F2S can benefit not only the nutritional health and education of school children but also the economic viability of local, small farmers. Yet more and updated knowledge about school food service procurement practices, particularly local foods, is needed for F2S to continue to expand and positively impact school children’s health. Therefore, this study’s purpose was to collect updated school food service purchasing practices from K-12 public school food service directors (FSD) in Mississippi and to determine their current abilities, experiences, and desires to engage in F2S activities. Invitations for study participation were sent via emails with an online survey link. Additionally, email reminders were sent, and telephone calls were made to encourage study participation. The survey response rate was 71% (122 completed out of 173 sent). Mean school/district size was 2,311 students with a range of 9 to 18,629 students. Approximately half of the schools/districts had between 76-100% of students participating in free or reduced-price school lunch. The most common fresh fruit and vegetable purchasing practices included USDA Department of Defense Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, produce vendor, and food hub/distributor. Only four school FSD purchased fresh fruits and vegetables from local farmers. Common challenges reported for purchasing from farmers included no relationship with farmers and food safety regulations. Encouragingly, over 60% of school FSD indicated an interest in F2S activities. In summary, most school FSD do not purchase local foods directly from farmers and approximately half do not purchase any local foods regardless of source. To facilitate successful and mutually beneficial relationships between school FSD and small farmers, work is needed to increase their awareness of existing resources for making connections that will result in rewarding partnerships.

Technical Abstract: Background: The purpose of this study was to collect updated school food service purchasing practices from K-12 public school food service directors (SFSD) in Mississippi and to determine their current abilities, experiences, and desires to engage in Farm to School (F2S) activities. Methods: The online survey was created using questionnaire items from existing F2S surveys. The survey opened in October 2021 and closed in January 2022. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data. Results: Of the 173 SFSD sent email invitations, 122 (71%) completed the survey. The most common fresh fruit and vegetable purchasing practices included Department of Defense Fresh Program (65%) and produce vendor (64%). Forty-three percent of SFSD purchased at least one locally sourced fruit and 40% purchased at least one locally sourced vegetable, while 46% did not purchase any locally sourced foods. The most common challenges for purchasing from farmers included no relationship with farmers (50%) and food safety regulations (39%). Sixty-four percent of SFSD were interested in at least one F2S activity. Conclusions: Most SFSD do not purchase local foods directly from farmers and almost half do not purchase any local foods regardless of source. Lack of connection with local farmers is a significant challenge to F2S. Recently proposed framework by USDA for shoring up the food supply chain and transforming the food system may help reduce or remove ongoing challenges to F2S participation.