Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience: Target Audiences: K-12 students, area residents (seniors, EBT customers), local producers, local retailers, and food business owners. Efforts to reach audiences were through extension and outreach, local food discussion events for producers and local community and business members, and workshops. Changes/Problems:While New Roots Community Farm has a strong farm education program, Sprouting Farms is closing temporarily due to a lack of operational funding. Sprouting Farms is seeking to transfer the bulk of the responsibility and remaining funding to New Roots, which can complete this grant. ? What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? A Local Food Meet and Greet on November 17th attracted twenty-five producers, retailers, and food businesses. This event convened local food system development advocates to discuss existing and expanding market opportunities, including farm-to-school wholesale markets. Curriculum development is underway to support teachers engaged in school gardening activities, facilitating the use of garden spaces for educational purposes. Planning is in progress for hosting a four-month supervised agricultural experience at NRCF, offering valuable hands-on training opportunities. Five school groups comprising 221 students and 25 teachers/parents visited NRCF to tour the production space and participate in agriculture-related lessons. On-campus pop-farmers markets were held at seven FCBOE elementary schools, serving 2,576 students and offering further experiential learning opportunities for students and teachers. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?A Local Food Meet and Greet on November 17th attracted twenty-five producers, retailers, and food businesses, providing a platform to discuss market opportunities, including farm-to-school wholesale markets. Collaboration with the FCBOE and the West Virginia University Center for Resilient Communities (WVU CRC) led to the hosting of a Nourishing Networks Workshop on September 17th. This initiative convened farm-to-school program partners to strategize on growing the positive impacts of the FCBOE's farm-to-school program. Follow-up conversations with Workshop attendees, including representatives from the WV Department of Education's Office of Child Nutrition and the WV Department of Agriculture, have been conducted to identify resources for increasing capacity to procure and distribute local food to Fayette County Campuses. Ongoing discussions and meetings between FCBOE and NCRF staff have been instrumental in refining programming and leveraging collective resources to optimize impact and identify additional support. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Focus efforts on creating a sustainable garden-based learning environment at New River Primary, recognizing it as a campus with the potential for impactful garden-based learning. Undertake planning for hosting a four-month supervised agricultural experience at NRCF. Continue to initiate and facilitate meetings with stakeholders interested in engaging next-generation producers, involving NRCF, WVU Extension, Fayette County producers, and parents of FCBOE students. Plan for Spring 2023 activities in collaboration with the FCBOE, which will involve: 1. Hosting thirteen on-farm school field days, expected to bring over 500 students to NRCF. 2. Facilitating and supporting produce procurement for nine on-campus pop-up farmers markets, estimated to serve approximately 2,780 students. 3. Supporting produce procurement for seven on-campus produce taste tests in partnership with WVU Extension-Fayette County.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Major goals of the project Growing F2S in the New River Gorge Region will support an alignment of local food assets in Summers and Fayette County, West Virginia. This project will mobilize local producers, aggregators, farmer support organizations, community health organizations, and the Fayette County Board of Education to strengthen farm-to-school programming. This project will facilitate local procurement, on-farm and in-school experiential education to create tangible economic and community health improvements. GOAL 1. Increase local food procurement in Fayette County Schools through farmer support activities. GOAL 2. Increase capacity for food, garden, and nutrition education through sustained planning efforts and expansion of Farm 2 School Americorps Service Members Program GOAL 3. Expand and improve current nutritional and agricultural education opportunities for students. What was accomplished under these goals? Goal 1: Seven pop-up markets were held at six FCBOE campuses, facilitating $19,560 of local purchasing and moving 18,793 lbs of local food to 2,599 students. Produce moved in a single quarter was greater than the 13,949 lbs of local and non-local food purchased and distributed at pop-up markets during the entire 2021 - 2022 school year by 34%. Goal 2: NRCF worked with the FCBOE and the West Virginia University Center for Resilient Communities (WVU CRC) to host a Nourishing Networks Workshop, convening farm-to-school program partners to discuss strategies for program growth. Planning was initiated for thirteen on-farm school field days, facilitating over 500 student visits to NRCF. Support for nine on-campus pop-up farmers markets, serving approximately 2,780 students, and seven on-campus produce taste tests in partnership with WVU Extension-Fayette County. This was followed by a second round of on-campus pop-farmers markets held at seven FCBOE elementary schools, serving 2,576 students. Development of the on-campus garden at New River Intermediate, facilitating year-round garden-based education activities. Goal 3: Five school groups comprising 221 students and 25 teachers/parents visited NRCF for tours and agriculturally related lessons. NRCF staff members recruited 57 parent volunteers by attending eight school open house events. For the Ansted Elementary School pop-up farmers market, FCBOE purchased 448 lbs of local, seasonal produce from NRCF, allowing for an average of 2.8 lbs of produce to be distributed to 157 students and families.

Publications

Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:The Target Audiences: Growing F2S in the New River Gorge was focused on reaching and improving various metrics for several unique target audiences. The two major audiences this project targeted were K12 students and local producers. Success for the project is indicated by the increase and expansion in F2S related programs and activities reaching the K12 students. For local producers success is indicated by increased procurement of local products, increased sales for producers, and increased communication with producers and K-12 students: Through the course of this project the total student population for Fayette County Schools were reached through one or several of the following activities: On Campus Pop Up Farmers Market, On campus Taste Tests, On Campus Gardening Activities, Off Campus Farm field Trips (includes taste tests), off campus internship program, off campus 4-H club program. The breakdown for students reached by these activities are listed below. Area residents (seniors, EBT customers): NRCF was able to reach area residents, specifically seniors, EBT, and WIC customers through outreach and promotion of voucher programs available to be utilized at NRCF's year round brick and mortar store that launched in April of 2023. The first year of operation vouchers accepted included EBT and WIC FMNP. In 2024 NRCF's Market accept EBT, SNAP STRETCH, WIC FMNP, and Senior vouchers. These voucher programs helped to support access to locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables. Local producers: Local producers were reached through food hub operations under Turnrow Appalachian Farm Collective from Unfortunately, food hub operations ceased shortly after the beginning of the project period. between August 2022-December 2022. Producers were reached through an outreach event in November of 2022 hosted by New Roots Community Farm. This outreach event highlighted market opportunities with Fayette cOunty Schools, and local retailers. NRCF facilitated demand projections for their new market set to be open in the spring, and shared information and contacts for other retailers, distributors and School Nutrition Directors. The Fayette County School Nutrition Director began working directly with producers after the closure of Turnrow. NRCF worked with the Nutrition Director to source local produce for the Pop Up Farmers Markets in 2023 and 2024. During the project period over x number of local producers sold products to Fayette county schools: Local retailers: Local retailers were reached through the meeting held in November of 2022. Three local retailers were presented and connected with local producers. Additionally NRCF works with Swift Level Fine Meats as a customer and partner. They serve as an aggregating partner for over 8 food and farm businesses in the Greenbrier Valley. NRCF is engaged in weekly aggregation, pick up, and delivery with this local food retailer. Food business owners: Food business owners were reached through this p Efforts to reach audiences were through extension and outreach, local food discussion events for producers and local community and business members, and workshops. Changes/Problems:The project Growing F2S in the New River Gorge faced several serious challenges. Despite these challenges many of the objectives were accomplished and functional pivots were made. The majority of these challenges were related to the leadership transition for Sprouting Farms at a pivotal moment in the life of the organization. Turnrow Appalachian Farm Collective was a division of Sprouting Farms. The leadership transition happened at a moment in which business planning, strategic direction, and entity transition was being pursued by SF leadership and managing partner organizations. Sales and geographic scope of the nascent food hub had expanded quickly from 2018 to 2021 and serious deliberation was taking place to determine its future from late 2021 to mid 2022. Its success and expansion was projected to increase and that increase was the basis for the outcomes projected in Goal 1 of this project. The Executive Director of SF and the Farm Director for the organization suddenly resigned in April of 2022 due to family health reasons. At the same time New Roots Community Farm had just made the transition from a county incubated project to an independent 501c3 non profit. During the resignation of the Executive Director of Sprouting Farms between April and the start of this project in September of 2022. NRCF took on new administrative responsibilities and the partners tasked with determining the direction of Turnrow had become taxed in capacity and in disagreement about next steps. Shortly after the start of this project in September the food hub operations had a large contract terminated and the lack of leadership created confusion, distrust, and greater uncertainty. By December of 2022 operations for Turnrow had ceased and partners close to the project could not commit to rebuilding at that time, especially as a new Director was onboarded. The management of sales, aggregation, and distribution dissolved and the Wholesale sales manager that remained at SF had resigned in 2023. Sprouting Farms Board of Directors worked with NIFA staff and determined that New Roots Community Farm and Fayette County Schools would continue to work towards project goals while Sprouting Farms ceased active farming operations. Despite the challenges New Roots has been able to make significant and impactful progress as a result of this grant. Turnrow had been servicing Fayette County Schools and a handful of other school districts regularly since fall of 2020. New Roots served as the local aggregation, distribution, and sales partner for Fayette County Schools, one of the largest customers in that category. A major challenge for this grant was how to increase sales or even maintain them after losing the sales platform used for ordering by all customers but importantly the Fayette County Schools Nutrition Director. The fallout from the closure of Turnrow left the nutrition Director to begin direct procurement with individual producers which required significant time. A new director was hired in December of 2022, but partners and producers had become disillusioned and plans to reopen the food hub operations in the spring failed. NRCF led coordination of production planning and outreach for the Pop Up Farmers Market, but struggled to actively support the Nutrition Director in navigating individual producer sales, aggregation, and distribution. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?A Local Food Meet and Greet on November 17th attracted twenty-five producers, retailers, and food businesses. This event convened local food system development advocates to discuss existing and expanding market opportunities, including farm-to-school wholesale markets. Curriculum development is underway to support teachers engaged in school gardening activities, facilitating the use of garden spaces for educational purposes. Five school groups comprising 221 students and 25 teachers/parents visited NRCF to tour the production space and participate in agriculture-related lessons. On-campus pop-farmers markets were held at seven FCBOE elementary schools, serving 2,576 students and offering further experiential learning opportunities for students and teachers. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?A Local Food Meet and Greet on November 17th attracted twenty-five producers, retailers, and food businesses, providing a platform to discuss market opportunities, including farm-to-school wholesale markets. Collaboration with the FCBOE and the West Virginia University Center for Resilient Communities (WVU CRC) led to the hosting of a Nourishing Networks Workshop on September 17th. This initiative convened farm-to-school program partners to strategize on growing the positive impacts of the FCBOE's farm-to-school program. Follow-up conversations with Workshop attendees, including representatives from the WV Department of Education's Office of Child Nutrition and the WV Department of Agriculture, have been conducted to identify resources for increasing capacity to procure and distribute local food to Fayette County Campuses. Ongoing discussions and meetings between FCBOE and NCRF staff have been instrumental in refining programming and leveraging collective resources to optimize impact and identify additional support. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? GOAL 1. Increase local food procurement in Fayette County Schools through farmer support activities. Objectives related to goal one were the most challenging aspects of the project due to the closure of Turnrow Appalachian Farm Collective. Despite these challenges the project team were able to pivot and continue purchasing local products during the project period. Local food was purchased for the National lunch and breakfast program, food of the month taste tests, and Pop up Farmers Markets. 15 producers selling into school districts per year ($300,000 sales): During the writing of this grant and the first quarter Turnorw played a pivotal role in providing market access and education to nearly 100 farmers. Total Local Food Sales During Project Period: $233,292.38 At the beginning of this grant producers were selling to the Fayette County Board of Education through the Turnrow Appalachian Farm Collective, a food hub operated by a group of organizations including Sprouting Farms and New Roots Community Farm. New Roots was supporting sales, aggregation, and delivery of those products during the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school year. Administrative operations were managed under Sprouting Farms. Turnrow Sales Manager and NRCF Farm Director met with the Nutrition Director in August of 2022 to review invoices and identify demand for products in the regular feeding program, to create production plans, and articulate market opportunity to producers in their network.In November of 2022 Tunrow ceased operations. Turnow was the aggregation and distribution hub for the Farm to School sales and was identified as the branch of Sprouting Farm that would support achieving the goals, objectives, and metrics of this grant related to increased procurement of local foods. During the writing of this grant and its first quarter, Turnrow collaborated with over 100 producers of varying scales. The grant focused its outcomes on direct efforts to collaborate with farmers for production planning and provide technical assistance to explore Farm to School Market opportunities. In 2021 almost 40 farmers experienced increased sales throughout the year and participated in production planning workshops resulting in planning agreements. Unfortunately, with Turnrow's closure, both Sprouting Farms and New Roots Farm have shifted their focus to local market outlets, and smaller program market opportunities that required less logistical, aggregation, and distribution support. This setback has had a direct impact, leading to decreased support for farmers in 2023 and 2024. Despite this setback NRCF has been working closely with Fayette County Board of Education Nutrition Director, a regional produce distributor, and the WVU CRC to continue to get local products into Fayette County Schools and evaluate lessons learned from the closure of the food hub, and work on surveying producers and repairing relationships. 10 production plans in place for F2S: Very little progress was made on production planning due to the closure of Turnrow Operations and staff transitions at Sprouting Farms. 7 new food safety plans in place: Due to the sudden closure of Turnrow, trust and report has been diminished with producers and interest from both producers and buyers for food safety plans has not been emphasized. No progress has been made on this outcome. GOAL 2. Increase capacity for food, garden, and nutrition education through sustained planning efforts and expansion of Farm 2 School Americorps Service Members Program Efforts to increase capacity for Farm to School Activities focused on deeper engagement and convening of partners through Nourishing Networks, regular Farm to School partner meetings and working groups focused on planning, implementation, and coordination, outreach and engagement with teachers regarding needs and barriers, outreach and resource disseminations to parents, operation of Farm to School Americorps Member program, development of long term planning documents, and continued fundraising and leveraging of resources for ongoing farm to school programming and operations. Workshop: NRCF worked with the FCBOE and the West Virginia University Center for Resilient Communities (WVU CRC) to host a Nourishing Networks Workshop on September 17th, 2022. School partners:NRCF, FCBOE, and WVU Extension have engaged and support the following school personnel for F2S programming and procurement. Teachers: Aleah Denny and Karen Hall. Food Service Personnel: Tressa Critchley. 1000 students and families receiving resources about accessing local, healthy foods: In total, NRCF has been able to reach 2,776 students through the course of the grant period. Throughout the project period, project partners were able to leverage funds to increase capacity, expand programs, and sustain project activities past the project period. $636,135 total funds were leveraged to support Farm to School efforts in the region. GOAL 3. Students receiving nutrition based education through Pop Up Farmers Market: During the project period 30 Pop Up Farmers Markets were conducted and total students served included 10,327. This number does not reflect the actual amount of students served as most students were served 3-4 times depending on the grade they were in when the project started. NRCF does not have access to individual student information, but can access enrollment numbers for the day when markets were conducted. 10 school staff members connected with support partners: NRCF, FCBOE, and WVU Extension have engaged and support the following school personnel for F2S programming and procurement. Teachers: Aleah Denny, and Karen Hall Food Service Personnel Tressa Critchley. In February Teachers whose classes participate in Pop Up Farmers Markets were surveyed regarding the program. Results of the survey were discussed with project partners. 1000 hours of student participation in a variety of gardening/ farming based activities: Total Number of Student Participation Hours are: 2129, Total Number of Students reached: 684 On Campus Gardening Activities In Spring of 2022 efforts had been focused on creating school gardens at 7 schools in the district. These curricula have been used at 4 of the on campus gardens during the fall of 2022 and spring of 2023 school year. 10 participants in pilot year SAE / 100 hours of placement based learning through SAE: Two Interns completed 354 hours. Planning for the Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) began in early 2023. However, it became clear that our original vision would need to be adjusted due to the Future Farmers of America's lack of presence in our county. Our AmeriCorps team member, Tyler Bauer. coordinated with Aleah Denny, a local health teacher at Oak Hill High School, to present to her students about our internship program, our farm, and food systems. Tyler spoke to approximately 220 students, encouraging them to apply for the internship. As a result of his efforts, two current interns were recruited directly from this event, demonstrating the significant impact of his outreach. While we are eager to accommodate up to ten students in this program, we believe that maintaining a high standard of quality in its initial year is of utmost importance. That said, we can only accommodate two students per summer. Our primary focus is to provide each student with the appropriate recommendations, mentorship, and support, ensuring a high-quality experience and a meaningful impact.

Publications

Progress 09/01/22 to 04/05/24

Outputs
Target Audience:Target Audiences: K-12 students, area residents (seniors, EBT customers), local producers, local retailers, and food business owners. Efforts to reach audiences were through extension and outreach, local food discussion events for producers and local community and business members, and workshops. Changes/Problems:While New Roots Community Farm has a strong farm education program, Sprouting Farms is closing temporarily due to a lack of operational funding. Sprouting Farms seeks to transfer the bulk of the responsibility and remaining funding to New Roots, which can complete this grant.Discussions are currently underway with NIFA-FASLP program leadership to explore ways to do so. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?A Local Food Meet and Greet on November 17th attracted twenty-five producers, retailers, and food businesses. This event convened local food system development advocates to discuss existing and expanding market opportunities, including farm-to-school wholesale markets. Curriculum development is underway to support teachers engaged in school gardening activities, facilitating using garden spaces for educational purposes. Planning is underway to host a four-month supervised agricultural experience at NRCF, offering valuable hands-on training opportunities. Five school groups comprising 221 students and 25 teachers/parents visited NRCF to tour the production space and participate in agriculture-related lessons. On-campus pop-farmers markets were held at seven FCBOE elementary schools, serving 2,576 students and offering further experiential learning opportunities for students and teachers. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?A Local Food Meet and Greet on November 17th attracted twenty-five producers, retailers, and food businesses, providing a platform to discuss market opportunities, including farm-to-school wholesale markets. Collaboration with the FCBOE and the West Virginia University Center for Resilient Communities (WVU CRC) led to the hosting of a Nourishing Networks Workshop on September 17th. This initiative convened farm-to-school program partners to strategize on growing the positive impacts of the FCBOE's farm-to-school program. Follow-up conversations with Workshop attendees, including representatives from the WV Department of Education's Office of Child Nutrition and the WV Department of Agriculture, have been conducted to identify resources for increasing capacity to procure and distribute local food to Fayette County Campuses. Ongoing discussions and meetings between FCBOE and NCRF staff have been instrumental in refining programming and leveraging collective resources to optimize impact and identify additional support. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Focus efforts on creating a sustainable garden-based learning environment at New River Primary, recognizing it as a campus with the potential for impactful garden-based learning. Undertake planning for hosting a four-month supervised agricultural experience at NRCF. Continue to initiate and facilitate meetings with stakeholders interested in engaging next-generation producers, involving NRCF, WVU Extension, Fayette County producers, and parents of FCBOE students. Plan for Spring 2023 activities in collaboration with the FCBOE, which will involve: 1. Hosting thirteen on-farm school field days, expected to bring over 500 students to NRCF. 2. Facilitating and supporting produce procurement for nine on-campus pop-up farmers markets, estimated to serve approximately 2,780 students. 3. Supporting produce procurement for seven on-campus produce taste tests in partnership with WVU Extension-Fayette County.?

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Goal 1: Seven pop-up markets were held at six FCBOE campuses, facilitating $19,560 of local purchasing and moving 18,793 lbs of local food to 2,599 students. Produce moved in a single quarter was greater than the 13,949 lbs of local and non-local food purchased and distributed at pop-up markets during the 2021 - 2022 school year by 34%. Goal 2: NRCF worked with the FCBOE and the West Virginia University Center for Resilient Communities (WVU CRC) to host a Nourishing Networks Workshop, convening farm-to-school program partners to discuss strategies for program growth. Planning was initiated for thirteen on-farm school field days, facilitating over 500 student visits to NRCF. Support for nine on-campus pop-up farmers markets, serving approximately 2,780 students, and seven on-campus produce taste tests in partnership with WVU Extension-Fayette County. This was followed by a second round of on-campus pop-farmers markets held at seven FCBOE elementary schools, serving 2,576 students. Development of the on-campus garden at New River Intermediate, facilitating year-round garden-based education activities. Goal 3: Five school groups comprising 221 students and 25 teachers/parents visited NRCF for tours and agriculturally related lessons. NRCF staff members recruited 57 parent volunteers by attending eight school open house events. For the Ansted Elementary School pop-up farmers market, FCBOE purchased 448 lbs of local, seasonal produce from NRCF, allowing an average of 2.8 lbs of produce to be distributed to 157 students and families.

Publications

Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/23

Outputs
Target Audience:Target Audiences: K-12 students, area residents (seniors, EBT customers), local producers, local retailers, and food business owners. Efforts to reach audiences were through extension and outreach, local food discussion events for producers and local community and business members, and workshops. Changes/Problems:While New Roots Community Farm has a strong farm education program, Sprouting Farms is closing temporarily due to a lack of operational funding. Sprouting Farms is seeking to transfer the bulk of the responsibility and remaining funding to New Roots, which can complete this grant. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?A Local Food Meet and Greet on November 17th attracted twenty-five producers, retailers, and food businesses. This event convened local food system development advocates to discuss existing and expanding market opportunities, including farm-to-school wholesale markets. Curriculum development is underway to support teachers engaged in school gardening activities, facilitating using garden spaces for educational purposes. Planning is underway to host a four-month supervised agricultural experience at NRCF, offering valuable hands-on training opportunities. Five school groups comprising 221 students and 25 teachers/parents visited NRCF to tour the production space and participate in agriculture-related lessons. On-campus pop-farmers markets were held at seven FCBOE elementary schools, serving 2,576 students and offering further experiential learning opportunities for students and teachers.? How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?A Local Food Meet and Greet on November 17th attracted twenty-five producers, retailers, and food businesses, providing a platform to discuss market opportunities, including farm-to-school wholesale markets. Collaboration with the FCBOE and the West Virginia University Center for Resilient Communities (WVU CRC) led to the hosting of a Nourishing Networks Workshop on September 17th. This initiative convened farm-to-school program partners to strategize on growing the positive impacts of the FCBOE's farm-to-school program. Follow-up conversations with Workshop attendees, including representatives from the WV Department of Education's Office of Child Nutrition and the WV Department of Agriculture, have been conducted to identify resources for increasing capacity to procure and distribute local food to Fayette County Campuses. Ongoing discussions and meetings between FCBOE and NCRF staff have been instrumental in refining programming and leveraging collective resources to optimize impact and identify additional support. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Focus efforts on creating a sustainable garden-based learning environment at New River Primary, recognizing it as a campus with the potential for impactful garden-based learning. Undertake planning for hosting a four-month supervised agricultural experience at NRCF. Continue to initiate and facilitate meetings with stakeholders interested in engaging next-generation producers, involving NRCF, WVU Extension, Fayette County producers, and parents of FCBOE students. Plan for Spring 2023 activities in collaboration with the FCBOE, which will involve: 1. Hosting thirteen on-farm school field days, expected to bring over 500 students to NRCF. 2. Facilitating and supporting produce procurement for nine on-campus pop-up farmers markets, estimated to serve approximately 2,780 students. 3. Supporting produce procurement for seven on-campus produce taste tests in partnership with WVU Extension-Fayette County.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Goal 1: Seven pop-up markets were held at six FCBOE campuses, facilitating $19,560 of local purchasing and moving 18,793 lbs of local food to 2,599 students. Produce moved in a single quarter was greater than the 13,949 lbs of local and non-local food purchased and distributed at pop-up markets during the full 2021 - 2022 school year by 34%. Goal 2: NRCF worked with the FCBOE and the West Virginia University Center for Resilient Communities (WVU CRC) to host a Nourishing Networks Workshop, convening farm-to-school program partners to discuss strategies for program growth. Planning was initiated for thirteen on-farm school field days, facilitating over 500 student visits to NRCF. Support for nine on-campus pop-up farmers markets, serving approximately 2,780 students, and seven on-campus produce taste tests in partnership with WVU Extension-Fayette County. This was followed by a second round of on-campus pop-farmers markets held at seven FCBOE elementary schools, serving 2,576 students. Development of the on-campus garden at New River Intermediate, facilitating year-round garden-based education activities. Goal 3: Five school groups comprising 221 students and 25 teachers/parents visited NRCF for tours and agriculturally related lessons. NRCF staff members recruited 57 parent volunteers by attending eight school open house events. For the Ansted Elementary School pop-up farmers market, FCBOE purchased 448 lbs of local, seasonal produce from NRCF, allowing an average of 2.8 lbs of produce to be distributed to 157 students and families.

Publications