1.
Bringing Local Foods
to Schools:
By Land & By Sea
Taking Root
National Farm to
Cafeteria Conference
Detroit, MI
May 17-19

2.
Bringing Local Foods to School:
By Land and By Sea
AMY WINSTON, PH.D.
NATIONAL FARM TO SCHOOL NETWORK
& COASTAL ENTERPRISES, INC
ARW@CEIMAINE.ORG

3.
Atlantic Ocean
State of Maine Coastal Counties

4.
Settlement Pattern: A
Century of Growth in
Lincoln County,
1891-2007

5.
Agriculture
292 farms in
2002 (up 4%
from 1997)
30,618 acres
cultivated in
2002 (up 2%)
Avg. farm size
105 acres (down
1%)
Market Value
$7.5M (up 10%)
Avg. $25, 829
per farm (up
6%)

6.
Public Health
In Maine (CDC):
Obesity rates have risen 100% in 17 years (from 12% of
Mainers in 1990 to 26% in 2006).
59% of Maine residents overweight or obese.
About 25% of Maine high school students are overweight.
36% of Maine kindergartners have BMI in the 85th
percentile.
Maine Child Health Survey (MCHS)
Children entering kindergarten in 2003 Preliminary Data:
18% with BMIs 85-94% (“at risk for overweight”)
15% with BMIs greater than 95% (“overweight”)
33% have high BMIs!

7.
The Costs: Economic Impact of Chronic Disease
Over $2 billion in health care dollars every year in Maine (Chenoweth et al. 2006)
Adult obesity in Maine estimated to cost 11% of the State’s medical
expenditures
$6.7 billion in total health costs in Maine
$1.4 billion in direct treatment and $5.3 billion in indirect costs
Obesity raises individual health care costs by 36%/medication costs by
77%
Direct costs of obesity/physical inactivity account for 9.4% of U.S. health
care expenditures (2001, JAMA)
FMI: DeVol, Ross, and Armen Bedroussian, An Unhealthy America: The Economic Burden of Chronic Disease, Milken Inst., Oct. 2007 (chronicdiseaseimpact.org)
Farm to School Impacts:
Student Impacts (diet, knowledge, attitudes, behavior, choices)
Institutional Impacts
Impacts on School Food Service Viability
Increase in School Meal Participation
Increase in Local Food Procurement
Impacts on Farmers

8.
“Our future rests on our being able to take care of our kids, teach them how to
take care of the land, how to nourish themselves, and how to gather at the table.
That is where our culture is passed on to the next generation.” -Alice Waters

9.
“Farm - and Fish - to School as Economic Development”
Taking Root - Detroit, May 18 2010
Amy Winston, Ph.D.
Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI)
Northeast Regional Lead, National Farm to School Network
email: arw@ceimaine.org tel. 207/882-7552

10.
Bringing Local Foods to School:
By Land and By Sea
BRETT TOLLEY
NORTHWEST ATLANTIC MARINE ALLIANCE
BRETT@NAMANET.ORG

11.
Small
scale
vs.
large
scale
Figure 1. Schematic illustration of the duality of large and small scale fisheries prevailing in
most countries of the world (statistics are global). Adapted from graph in Pauly (2006).

12.
CSF
Drop
off

13.
Bringing Local Foods to School:
By Land and By Sea
AMANDA BEAL
MAINE’S EAT LOCAL FOODS COALITION
& CULTIVATING COMMUNITY
AMANDA@CULTIVATINGCOMMUNITY.ORG

14.
By Land & By Sea:
Connecting Maine’s Farming &
Fishing Communities
PARTNERS
PENOBSCOT EAST RESOURCE CENTER
NORTHWEST ATLANTIC MARINE ALLIANCE
ISLAND INSTITUTE
MAINE SEA GRANT/UNIVERSITY OF MAINE COOPERATIVE
EXTENSION
MAINE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
MAINE ORGANIC FARMERS AND GARDENERS ASSOCIATION
MAINE FARMLAND TRUST
FOOD FOR MAINE’S FUTURE
CULTIVATING COMMUNITY
PORTLAND MAINE PERMACULTURE
NEW ENGLAND ENVIRONMENTAL FINANCE CENTER,
MUSKIE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC SERVICE
MAINE COUNCIL OF CHURCHES
BELFAST CO-OP

15.
Why bridge silos between farmers &
fishermen?
Our food system includes farm
and aquatic products
Our foodshed and watershed
are interconnected
Our food security lies in resource
conservation – natural & human

16.
Goal & Process
The ultimate goal of By Land and By Sea is to
amplify the voices of our farmers and fishermen
and create a grassroots movement to advocate
for their recommendations.
Multi-level Discussions:
Farmers & Fishermen
NGOs, State Departments, Educational
Institutions and other Organizations
Policymakers
Wholesalers/distributers

17.
Topics of Exploration
Policy
Market Access/Marketing
Infrastructure/Processing/Transportation
Consumer Education

18.
Maine Food Access & Resource Maps

19.
By Land & By Sea: Outcomes
Outcomes in process:
A shared strategic plan between organizations
Better leveraging of resources, less duplication of efforts
Policy recommendations for the next Governor of Maine
Current impacts:
Overall communication web is expanding
Strategic conversations between farmers and fishermen,
and between organizations are happening
Policymaker connections are growing
Interest in other U.S. regions and other countries to learn
about and potentially replicate the process

20.
Recipes for Success
PARTNERS:
PORTLAND PUBLIC SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
CULTIVATING COMMUNITY
CUMBERLAND COUNTY COOPERATIVE EXTENSION
MAINE ORGANIC FARMERS & GARDENERS ASSOCIATION
PROP/COMMUNITIES PROMOTING HEALTH COALITION
LOCAL SPROUTS COOPERATIVE

21.
Building on a successful one day event:
The Maine Harvest Lunch

22.
How to move from one day event to year-round?
Challenges…
Seasonal availability
Finding farm and fish products
Processing – physical infrastructure, knowledge,
time
Budget
Administrative & staff buy-in

23.
Seeking solutions…
NESARE grant, allowing exploration:
Creating more links to local food producers
Building seasonal food processing capacity
Strawberries, Rhubarb, Carrots, Zuchinni
Recipe development & evaluation
Revenue building streams for school kitchen
Documentation & Toolkit to share with other
schools

24.
Building the Recipes for Success Toolkit

25.
Recipes for Success: Outcomes
Outcomes in process:
Wiki Toolkit in development for other schools
Exploring potential for Portland central kitchen to be a
regional processing hub for neighboring school districts
Other community partners utilizing kitchen in off hours for
fee
Current impacts:
Better control over nutritional content of foods
Favorable student response to evaluation
Connections with local farmers have expanded
Fish is on the radar!

26.
Q&A
THANK YOU!