Celebrate Oregon Farm to School Month with us! Across Oregon, there are many ways to get involved in bringing schools and local dairy farming together. Check out these resources from ODNC and our partners!

Oregon Department of Education has been instrumental in providing resources and grant funding for schools to continue serving more local foods from all food groups-fruits, vegetables, grains, proteins such as meat and fish and dairy foods. Kids learn more about nutrition, food systems and try new foods along the way! 

The Oregon Farm to School and School Garden Network has helped local schools with over $10 million in grants for farm to school and school garden programs. It also helps schools find funding to buy food from local farms since 2006. The Network also has resources for educators and food producers and those who want to volunteer. 

Oregon Agriculture-In-The-Classroom and Oregon Ag-Link bring agriculture to kid’s classrooms with fun science projects, field trips and their Adopt-A-Farmer Program, which connects middle school students with a farmer, like farmer Bobbi Frost from Harrold’s Dairy, in their area for a closer look at agriculture.

Teachers can organize trips to local farmer markets with Oregon Taste’s new farmer’s market locator. Your class will find fresh produce and dairy products as well as the farm teams that create them.

Learn more about agriculture with the Oregon Dairy Women! Their Dairy Princess Ambassador Program provides free 20-30 minute educational presentations for students in grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12 on topics that include sustainability, farming practices and dairy technology through history. They also offer virtual classroom resources.

Fuel Up To Play 60 offers virtual dairy farm tours, learning plans and classroom-ready resources for teachers and students  focusing on STEM, Agriculture and SEL topics.

Oregon Harvest for Schools connects dairy processors and farmers, ranchers and fisheries to Child Nutrition programs in schools across Oregon. Dairy products, meat, seafood, and fruits and vegetables are found in meal and snack programs during the school year and summer months, reaching children of all ages and returning more than $20 million to the local economy.

Looking for more ways to help bring agriculture to Oregon classrooms? Contact Crista Hawkins at chawkins@odncouncil.org.