Louisiana Harvest of the Month is designed to deliver fresh from the farm specialty crop fruits and vegetables one day each month to participating schools. The fruit or vegetable designated for that month will be highlighted with monthly educational materials and sticker to help promote tasting fruits and vegetables for the month.
Why Harvest of the Month?
Louisiana Harvest of the Month is a program that has been successful in sourcing more local items into schools in many states and school districts all over the country. The program is especially effective for beginning the process of procuring more items locally for school meals. It allows for a conversation between food service personnel and schools on how to connect fresh, healthy meals with students and parents. The program is easy to adapt and scalable so you can start simple and integrate more into school programming at a suitable rate.
Goals
• Increase access to Louisiana fruits and vegetables through the school meal program, farm-to-school programs, classrooms, school gardens, farmers’ markets, grocery stores, community gardens, worksites and other locations.
• Increase consumers’ preference for fruits and vegetables.
• Expand familiarity with Louisiana-grown fruits and vegetables, local farmers, the state’s rich agricultural bounty and how food travels from the farm to our plates.
Who We Reach
In January 2015 the pilot stage of the Louisiana Harvest of the Month program kicked off with the goal of expanding to more schools and districts across the state in January 2016. The pilot stage has been working with 3 different schools with diverse settings i.e. urban vs. rural, charter vs. public, garden v. no garden. This pilot has allowed for the development of materials, protocols, and recommendations for schools statewide to begin implementation. Using these resources, schools across the state will easily be able to integrate the Louisiana Harvest of the Month Program into school programs.
Contact Dr. Carl Motsenbocker or 225-578-1036 for more information.
This publication (or project) was supported by the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program at the U.S. Department of Agriculture through grant agreement number 14-SCBGP-LA-0022. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the USDA.
