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Call or Write Your State Representatives Today to Help K-12 Schools Serve More New York Grown Food to New York Kids

With your help, this year we have an important opportunity to put more schools on the path of purchasing and serving more fresh, healthy, local food to our children.

The  New York Farm to School grants program and the New York State Farm to School Purchasing Incentive, funded in the state budget, work hand in hand to bring more New York grown and raised food to students in K-12 schools. This year’s state budget is under negotiation right now, and the governor and the state Legislature are considering adjustments to these programs to ensure they help more schools buy food from New York farms to serve to our students.

We ask you to join us in raising your voice to ask the state to continue funding the Farm to School Reimbursement Incentive while expanding it to all school meals in future years and increase funding for the Farm to School grants program to build the support schools need now to purchase and serve more New York grown food to New York kids.

TAKE ACTION: Call or write your state representatives today to let them know you support strong funding for both of these critical programs which help schools put more healthy, local food on our children's plates while supporting our state's farmers! 

Not sure who to call? Find your state senator or assemblymember. Below is a suggested script to help you communicate with your representatives about the important opportunity before us:

“I am a constituent in your district, and this year I am calling to ask you to take three actions to support our state’s Farm to School programs. First, to maintain funding for the Farm to School Reimbursement Incentive at $10 million. Second, that you work to expand this program beyond lunch in future years to incentivize purchases of local food for all school meals. And finally, I ask you to support an increase in funding for the Farm to School grants program to $3 million to build a support network to help schools increase their purchases of New York grown food. Farm to School programs help grow our farm economy and strengthen our communities while improving the health of our kids. Thank you for considering these requests!“

With just one click on the “Take Action” button, enter your information and send a customized letter directly to your state representatives in support of strong funding for these critical programs which improve the health of our children and support our state’s farmers!

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ACT NOW!

Call or Write Your State Representatives Today to Help K-12 Schools Serve More New York Grown Food to New York Kids

NY State Senators and Representatives

Subject: Please Support Farm to School in the New York State Budget

Message:

Over the past two years, New York state has become a national leader in helping schools build successful Farm to School programs by creating the New York State Farm to School Reimbursement Incentive and increasing investment in the Farm to School Grants program—both funded in the state budget. These programs work hand in hand to help schools spend more food dollars at New York farms, supporting our farm economy while increasing access to fresh, healthy, local food for our children, addressing food insecurity, curbing the rise in childhood obesity, and helping our rural communities grow. This year, we have a critical opportunity to grow the impact of these programs—highlighted in the recently released “Growing Opportunities” report, which can be found at www.farmland.org/growingopportunity. This report revealed that if schools receive the right support now, their spending on food from New York farms could increase to $150 million by 2024, with over $210 million in economic impact statewide while costing the state of New York less than half that over the next four years. This would increase access to local food for over 700,000 students statewide. To accomplish these outcomes, this year I ask you for three things: First, please work to maintain funding for the Farm to School Reimbursement Incentive at $10 million in the state education budget. This program currently quadruples the per-lunch-meal reimbursement to 25 cents for schools that spend at least 30% of their lunch budget on food from New York farms. I also ask that you work to expand this program’s impact beyond lunch to all school meals in future years as the administrative burden of separating lunch has reduced this programs accessibility and its impact on the farm economy and student access to local food. Second, I ask that you to support an increase in funding for the Farm to School grants program from $1.5 million proposed by the Governor, to $3 million to meet current demand and build the support network necessary to help schools increase their purchase of New York grown food to reach 30%. Finally, I ask that you include language proposed in the Article Vll TED bill, page 262, in the final budget which would harmonize the state small purchase threshold to the federal threshold to increase the flexibility schools have to spend their food dollars at local farms. Thank you for your consideration of these requests. With your leadership, New York can take major strides forward in growing our Farm to School programs, a win-win for farmers and healthy kids!

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