About Us

OUR MISSION  

To provide fresh nutritious produce to Northeast Georgia students while supporting our local farmers.

A LITTLE MORE ABOUT US:

As a branch of the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia, we work with school districts across the region (Banks, Barrow, Clarke, Franklin, Habersham, Hart, Jackson, Madison, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Rabun, Stephens, Towns, and White) to support Farm to School Programs bringing together Classroom, Cafeteria, Culinary and Community to provide local, fresh and nutritious food for our students, while economically supporting our local agriculture community.

• Classroom: Hands on learning is crucial to the Farm 2 School experience, and can be connected to most subjects and Georgia Performance Standards.
• Community: Farm to School programs teach our children that food comes from farmers and fields, not from the grocery store or plastic containers. Furthermore, such programs foster relationships between the schools and community. We need volunteers to assist with school garden activities, taste tests and farm field trips and encourage parents and others in our community to get involved.
• Culinary:  Students who grow and prepare garden fresh food are more likely to eat it and love it. We now have several local master cooks and chefs volunteering to help with fresh farm produce recipes and cooking classes.
• Cafeteria: Schools report up to a 16 percent increase in school meal participation when farm fresh food is served through Farm to School programs. We need farmers to be growers for our students and to assist in teaching them how to grow their own fresh produce.

WHY FARM 2 SCHOOL IN GEORGIA?

While our state is 4th largest producer of vegetables in the US, Georgia’s children are second most obese in the country. Farm to Schools programs are based on the research that students of all ages can and will choose tomatoes, radishes, broccoli and kale if they are involved in growing, harvesting and preparing these foods, and these fresh, locally grown products are provided on their cafeteria tray. For every dollar spent on local food in schools, $1-$3 circulates in the local economy.

THANK YOU TO THE PROJECT PARTNERS WHO MAKE NEGA FARM TO SCHOOL POSSIBLE: