Farm Fresh Initiative Is Putting Texas-Grown Products Into Local Cafeterias
In partnership with: Texas Department of Agriculture
As part of the first group of schools actively participating in the Texas Department of Agriculture’s (TDA) Farm Fresh Initiative, Florence Independent School District (ISD) quickly partnered with several farmers to add local produce, herbs and meats to their menus.
“We’ve gotten all kinds of heritage tomatoes, microgreens, squashes and melons,” says Lillian Barnett, Florence ISD child nutrition director.
The Farm Fresh Network connects producers with area schools and child and adult care centers to get home-grown products into local cafeterias. One Florence ISD connection, Fifth Branch Farms, was already teaching nutrition education in the district’s after-school program when Barnett began sourcing produce from Fifth Branch.
“It’s interesting to watch kids come through the cafeteria line and see them realize exactly where that food is coming from,” Barnett says. “One week we served collard greens on Wednesday that had just been picked on Tuesday.”
Bison for Lunch
The district’s newest relationship is with the Texas Tribal Buffalo Project. This woman-led nonprofit seeks to reconnect Lipan Apache descendants and other Indigenous nations with bison, the animal of their ancestors, and to provide bison and bison products to native and non-native peoples.
“We are not in the meat industry,” says Lucille Contreras, Texas Tribal Buffalo Project CEO and founder. “We are in the bison caretaking industry.”
She says the nonprofit balances the need for operational income with a holistic approach to raising animals in the ways of their ancestors as well as reconnecting Texas communities to bison, which once roamed the Southern Plains and provided Native Americans living in Texas with the essentials for living. Cultural and educational tours sharing the story of bison and the meat’s benefits are two aspects of the organization’s mission.
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As a Farm Fresh Network member, the Texas Tribal Buffalo Project’s sale of bison meat to Florence ISD “is the epitome of our mission and goals, which is to put bison meat, which we feel is medicine, into the bellies of everybody who lives in Texas,” Contreras says.
The meat was utilized in a delicious bison and sorghum soup recipe Barnett developed.
“The kids keep asking when we are going to do it again,” Barnett says of the dish. “We also made a carne guisada with bison stew meat. We are hoping to work more with the Texas Tribal Buffalo Project.”
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Loving Local
“Serving a unique food like bison is a way to engage students in eating school meals, inspire healthy eating habits and showcase local agriculture,” says Kelli Wise, director of program advancement for TDA.
“The Florence ISD relationship with Texas Tribal Buffalo Project has been a great addition to their efforts and has introduced an innovative new opportunity for the Farm Fresh Network,” Wise says, noting Florence ISD worked with the Texas Tribal Buffalo Project to purchase the bison meat using Local Food for Schools (LFS) funds. LFS is a federal grant administered by TDA through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service to support local and regional food systems.
“It’s interesting to watch kids come through the cafeteria line and see them realize exactly where that food is coming from.”
– Lillian Barnett, Florence ISD child nutrition director
The Farm Fresh Network has become a community of local agricultural producers that schools and childcare providers can turn to, Wise says, and Barnett agrees.
“At least three farms can count on us,” Barnett says of the Farm Fresh Initiative’s ability to get Texas products into cafeterias, helping boost the local economy and ensuring children are served local, nutritious, quality foods.