Today’s the day! It’s time for action, and a time to WIN BIG for federal farm to school funding. Congress is at work right now on a new version of the Child Nutrition Act, the large bill that funds the USDA Farm to School Grant Program and many other important programs for kids. They were supposed to get it done by October 1, but they’ve fallen behind schedule. To ensure strong farm to school programs nationwide, we need to tell Congress: We need a new bill, and it needs to have stronger support for farm to school! 

Here’s how you can pledge your support to farm to school as we celebrate Farm to School Month and join together in the Big Day of Action:  

Share a photo of your school garden (or orchard, or greenhouse…) or a photo of students at lunch on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram with the statement:
Here’s #farmtoschool in action in [your community]! We support #moreF2SinCNR.

Feel free to add to and customize this statement! (Bonus points: tag your legislators on the post so they can see it too! You can find their handles by looking them up on Govtrack.)

Are you a farmer? Share a photo of your fields (or a selfie with your harvest!) on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram with the with the statement:
As a farmer, I believe in participating in #farmtoschool in [your community] because [your reasons here]. I support #moreF2SinCNR!

Feel free to add to and customize this statement! (Bonus points: tag your legislators on the post so they can see it too! You can find their handles by looking them up on Govtrack.)

Call your legislators and tell them what farm to school means to your kids, farmers and community – it takes less than five minutes and is so easy! Here’s how:

• Look up your legislators (everyone has two Senators and one Representative) on Govtrack; their DC office phone numbers will be listed.
• Take a deep breath, pick up the phone, dial the DC office number, and share a message like this one with the person who answers the phone:

“Hi! My name is [your name] and I’m a constituent [also let them know if you’re a farmer, a parent, a teacher, etc]. I’d like to share a message with [your legislator’s name], please. The message is: please support farm to school efforts in [your community] by supporting the inclusion of the Farm to School Act of 2015 in the Child Nutrition Act reauthorization! We are counting on you to stand with our community’s farmers and kids on this important issue.”

(We can’t say it enough: phone calls are FAST, EASY, and one of the BEST things you can do! Try it today!)

“Expansion of the Farm to School Program would be a tremendous benefit to the Northeast. Our region has been a leader in the Farm to School movement.” said Betsy Rosenbluth, Program Director at Vermont FEED and the Northeast Regional Lead for the National Farm to School Network. Let’s join farm to school advocates across the country in celebrating – and winning big – for farm to school!

For more information, read about the Farm to School Act of 2015

Re-blogged with permission from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
Photo Credit: National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition