CIAS houses the Great Lakes Region Farm to School Network, one of eight regional lead agencies of the National Farm to School Program.

The National Farm to School Program is a collaborative program of the Center for Food and Justice (CFJ), a division of the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College and the Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC). Its mission is to institutionalize and catalyze farm to school programs in order to provide viable models for improving the economic sustainability of family-scale farmers and supporting child nutrition efforts.

The National Farm to School Program emerged as a result of a research project initiated by the Center for Food and Justice in 2000 that helped support the development of farm to school programs around the country. Realizing that a stronger network would be necessary for the long-term success of these local efforts, the project soon began to look at farm to school at the national level.

The national network officially emerged in 2007 to support state and national policy efforts for farm to school programs; to increase visibility and momentum about farm to school programs; to update and revise existing informational resources on farm to school; to develop networking systems among existing farm to school programs; and to provide training and technical assistance to school administrators, food service, parents, farmers, community members, and others interested at the state, regional and national level. To achieve these goals, the national network has created eight regional lead agencies to organize communication and aid in the development of farm to school programs in sub-regions of the United States.

The Great Lakes Region is comprised of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Farm to school efforts in the region are wide ranging and vary greatly. At least fifty different projects aimed at getting locally grown, healthy foods into school lunches are going on in the region today, and we are learning about more of them every day!

For more information, contact regional coordinator Sara Tedeschi or the contact person for Farm to School in your state.

Great Lakes Farm Region to School Network Coordinator:
Sara Tedeschi
Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems
University of Wisconsin, Madison
1535 Observatory Drive
Madison, WI 53706-1215
Phone: (608) 513-3980
E-mail: smtedeschi@wisc.edu

State Contacts:

Illinois:
Gary Cuneen
Executive Director
Seven Generations Ahead
P.O. Box 3125
Oak Park, IL 60303
Phone: 708 660-9909
Email: gary@sevengenerationsahead.org

Jean Saunders
School Wellness Director
Healthy Schools Campaign
175 N. Franklin, Third Floor
Chicago, Illinois 60606
Phone: 312.419.1810
Email: jean@healthyschoolscampaign.org

Indiana:
Annie Schmelzer
Indiana State Department of Agriculture
101 W. Ohio St., Suite 1200
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Email: aschmelzer@isda.in.gov

Michigan:
Colleen Matts
Michigan State University
303 Natural Resources
East Lansing, MI 48824-1222
Phone: (517) 432-0310
Email: matts@msu.edu

Diane Connors
Senior Policy Specialist
Entrepreneurial Agriculture
148 E. Front St., Suite 301
Traverse City, MI
49684-5725
Phone: 231-941-6584 ext. 16
Email: diane@mlui.org

Minnesota:
Joanne Berkenkamp
Local Foods Director
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
2105 First Avenue South
Minneapolis MN 55404 USA
Phone: (612) 870-3410
Email: jberkenkamp@iatp.org

Lynn Mader
103 W. Ashmore Avenue
Montevideo, MN 56265
Phone: (320) 269-2943
Phone: (612) 708-8635
Email: LynnMader@charter.net

Ohio:
Noreen Warnock
Local Matters
Director Programs and Community Outreach
2929 North High Street, Suite A
Columbus, Ohio 43202
Phone: 614.263.5662
Email: noreen.warnock@gmail.com

Wisconsin:
Doug Wubben
Project Coordinator
Wisconsin Homegrown Lunch
REAP Food Group
PO Box 5632
Madison, WI 53705
Phone: 608-310-7833
Email: dwubben@wisc.edu

Do you know of other Farm to School projects? Please complete the online survey and let us know about it!