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Abstract
Excerpts from the Executive Summary: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) supports a growing range of farm to school activities in which schools work with local or regional producers to serve locally produced foods in school cafeterias and to expose students to food and agricultural education experiences. Farm to school activities might include local and regional food procurement efforts; hands-on learning activities such as school gardening, farm visits, and culinary classes; or integration of food-related education into the regular curriculum. The USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) contracted with Abt Associates to design and conduct the Farm to School Census and Comprehensive Review, a three-year study to examine and describe the multiple facets of farm to school across the country. This study includes a review of published research on farm to school since the 2010 reauthorization of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act; a review of the USDA Farm to School Grant Program; a set of interviews with food distributors to capture their experiences and perspectives; and the 2019 Farm to School Census of public, charter, and private school food authorities (SFAs) that participate in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) in all States and territories. This document summarizes the results of the review of literature relating to farm to school activities published in English from 2010 to 2019. Publications selected for inclusion in the review addressed research questions under one (or more) of three study objectives for the Farm to School Census and Comprehensive Review listed below. • Objective 1: Identify and describe the economic contribution of farm to school and procurement processes across various geographies; • Objective 2: Assess the impacts of farm to school efforts on food growing, serving, and purchasing on schools, districts or SFAs; and • Objective 3: Identify and describe how farm to school programs and activities have impacted changes in policy.