West Michigan farmers, schools discuss getting local produce to student lunches- Mlive

West Michigan farmers, schools discuss getting local produce to student lunches- Mlive

GRAND RAPIDS -- While fresh fruits and vegetables are fed daily to area students, few of those items are local.

But that's not because Paul Baumgartner and other school food service directors are opposed to serving West Michigan produce.

"Everybody talks about farm-to-school. Where are the farmers?" said Baumgartner, director of nutrition services at Grand Rapids Public Schools. "Nobody's knocking on my door.

"I've got demand, but where's my pea grower?"

Baumgartner this week took part in a panel discussion, sponsored by Michigan State University's Farm to School program, about how local farmers can get products into campus cafeterias. The consensus was that school food service directors are open and eager to hear a sales pitch from farmers.

"(We're) always thinking six months in advance," Baumgartner said. "Right now, I'm thinking about summer programming. This is the time to talk about (next school year). Don't come to us in the fall."

Gavin Orchards has started selling farm-direct apples to Grand Rapids and Fruitport schools. The biggest challenge is the time it takes to deliver low-volume orders, said Mike Gavin, who runs the 240-acre farm near Coopersville with his brother, Dave.

Still, "any sale this year is a welcome sale," he said.

"They pay as good as anybody else," Gavin said. "It helps keep a consistent income in our operation, even though it's a small part of it.

"Down the road, the more exposure I can get in the schools is going to benefit my retail operation as well."

That's why Coca-Cola wants to be in schools, said Pat McGee, food service director at Fruitport Community Schools, north of Grand Haven. Fruit and vegetable growers should have the same mindset, she said.

"We just put (Gavin's) apples out there, and the kids noticed right away," McGee said. "The taste difference was incredible. Our apple consumption went straight up.

"This is a way of creating more consumers for that market in the long run."

MSU has identified about 50 examples of farm-to-school programs in the state, said Colleen Matts, outreach specialist.

More large food service firms also are offering an increasing variety of local produce to schools, but "there's a lot more education that needs to be done on both sides" of the transaction, she said.

"The important thing is not to sell kids short on what they might like or what they might try," Matts said. "It has to be about more than price."

But competitive pricing and ease of distribution are key to making economic sense out of local purchasing, food service directors said.

"Do they have it in the packaging that I need to give to my kids?" said Stacey L. Wykoski, food service director for Hudsonville and Jenison schools. "(Celery and carrots in bags at the store) won't work for me. I need them in sticks. I need it in a form that makes it easy to put out."