ROGUE VALLEY FARM TO SCHOOL
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Mission Statement
Rogue Valley Farm to School educates children about our food system through hands-on farm and garden programs, and by increasing local foods in school meals. We inspire an appreciation of local agriculture that improves the economy and environment of our community and the health of its members.
About This Cause
The organization's founders were parents, teachers, and community members who were interested in improving the health of their children and their community by connecting local farms with schools. It all started as a small pumpkin patch in 2001 named Eagle Mill Farm Project. The vision of Eagle Mill was to provide elementary school students with a hands-on interactive farm experience and couple it with a lesson surrounding local food systems. Then, seeing this program's popularity and the desire to provide more students with a more profound education that would include gardening, nutrition, and cooking, all while still connecting them to their local food system, Rogue Valley Farm to School emerged. While today the Farm to School movement is well known during 2009, when this change in our organization took place, it was just starting. In its early years, Rogue Valley Farm to School (RVF2S) focused on providing school garden programs. and nutrition education in Ashland schools. However, as the organization grew, it expanded its programs to include weekly school garden programs, nutrition education, farm field trips, professional learning communities, and farm-to-school procurement. RVF2S also supports local farmers by helping them access new markets and providing technical assistance. Rogue Valley Farm to School proudly serves as southern Oregon’s Regional Hub for Education and Procurement. Under the leadership of the Oregon Farm to School and School Garden Network, we work across the state with regional leaders to discuss best practices in the farm to school movement, policy and funding initiatives, annual gatherings, and more. Over the years, Rogue Valley Farm to School has received numerous awards and recognitions for its work, including being named a 2020 Oregon Community Food System Resilience Award winner. The organization continues to lead the farm- to-school movement and is a valuable resource for schools, farmers, and communities in the Rogue Valley region. In 2021, RVF2S completed an in-depth evaluation of our Digging Deeper Program and discovered that the program had many positive benefits that rippled out beyond the classes we served directly. Benefits include increasing communication between teachers, creating a focal point of health through cultivating a thriving garden, and successfully supporting school nutrition programs in sourcing more fresh produce to serve in school meals. In 2023, RVF2S is working with Providence to identify metrics that can be used to measure the program's impact over time. Our Target population currently is elementary school-aged children in Jackson and Josephine Counties. Now, we serve over 3,000 students through our partnership programs with the Talent, Phoenix, and Central Point elementary schools and over 6,500 students in Jackson and Josephine counties through our procurement efforts. Rogue Valley Farm to School currently serves all eight elementary schools in Central Point, Phoenix, and Talent, all of which have 95% or more of the student body eligible for free or reduced lunch. Unfortunately, many of these students and families do not have access to fresh, nutritious foods or have been provided the opportunities to learn about proper nutrition. Rogue Valley Farm to School strives to reach these populations by providing nutrition and garden education to build the foundations of health and skills to grow their produce and understand their local food systems. Many of our educators are bilingual in Spanish, and all the printed materials we send to students' families are written in English and Spanish. We have found a great way to reach these underserved populations through the public school system, advocating for more nutritious meals and snacks featuring an array of seasonal fresh fruits and vegetables. Many of the students at the schools we serve eat 2 - 3 meals per day on campus and receive the majority of their nutrition through the cafeteria offerings; for this reason, we feel passionately it is a matter of health equity and justice to better the food being served to these students. We also provide garden education for migrant ed classes during summer school in Phoenix.