Whether you're a farmer, nutrition specialist, food service director, or community member these resources can help you get local foods into your community's institutions.
Please contact Grace (grace [at] rtcinfo [dot] org) with questions about how your school or farm can navigate the complexities of Farm to School in your community. She is available to provide practical assistance to attendees of our Farm to School events through August 2020.
Farm to School
- Curriculum resources as compiled by University of Minnesota Extension
- National Farm to School Network Resource Database curricula and other resources can be searched by keyword, setting, etc.
- Key guides and resources as compiled by the Minnesota Department of Education
- Tools and best practices as complied by University of Minnesota Extension (categorized by topic including school gardens)
- Farm to School Resources as complied by USDA's Food and Nutrition Services (building your team, purchasing, etc.)
General Resources
- Bringing Local Food to Local Institutions This guide provides a broad overview of the farm to institution model along with case studies of successful institutions.
- A Guide to Food Regulations for Food Entrepreneurs This Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture's (MISA) report provides an overview of the regulatory framework in the state, followed with explanations of trends in different local food entrepreneurial activities (eg farmers markets, food trucks etc.)
- Commercial Kitchen Guide This guide provided by the MISA is geared towards those interested in preparing food in or opening a community commercial kitchen.
- Community and Local Food Resource Website This website by the University of Minnesota Extension aggregates a number of resources on local food growing, distributing and purchasing.
- Setting the Table for Success: Increasing Local Food Purchasing by Institutional Food Service Management A toolkit developed by Farm to Institution New England
Resources for Food Service Professionals
- Procuring Local Foods for Child Nutrition Programs This comprehensive guide published by the United States Department of Agriculture is specifically for school food professionals interested in learning how to utilize local foods in the National School Lunch or School Breakfast Program. (note: the file is large)
- Farm to School: Serving Local Foods in Minnesota Developed by Minnesota Department of Education
- Serving Locally Grown Produce in Food Facilities Developed by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA), the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), and the University of Minnesota Extension, this Q&A explains how institutions can legally and safely purchase or receive donated food directly from farms and farmers markets.
- On-Farm Food Safety information for Food Service Personnel This document provides a list of questions about on-farm food safety practices that food service personnel can use when talking with farmers from whom they are considering purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables.
- Canning as Retail in Minnesota This quick two pager by the MDH provides an overview of Minnesota health and safety regulations for canning in retail food businesses.
- Receiving Food Products This one pager by the MDH covers safety guidelines and best practices for receiving food deliveries.
- Approved Sources of Meat and Poultry for Food Facilities This four page guide provides key definitions and explanations of regulations and inspections of meat and poultry food sourcing at food facilities by the MDA, and University of Minnesota Extension.
- Sale of Locally Raised Eggs to Food Facilities This fact sheet provides an overview of legal and safety issues for sourcing local eggs.
Resources for Farmers
- Marketing Local Foods This guide by the MISA features farmer stories, marketing best practices, and other tips and tricks for navigating local food markets.
- University of Minnesota GAPs Education Program has templates for food safety plans, fact sheets, how-to-videos and workshops for farmers to learn more about GAPs and on-farm food safety
- Minnesota Department of Agriculture's page of fruit and vegetable inspections.
- Harvest to Sale Vegetable Handling Fact Sheet on Respiration, produced by MISA.
- Harvest to Sale Vegetable Handling Fact Sheet on Food Safety, produced by MISA.
- Sale of Locally Home or Farm Raised Poultry Short fact sheet on safety and legal issues for selling poultry by the MDA, and University of Minnesota Extension,
Recursos en español (Spanish Resources)