Legislature Passes Local Farms-Healthy Kids Bill

It may not make school lunch taste any better, but the Legislature approved a bill Tuesday that will put Washington-grown produce on the menu in school cafeterias around the state.
Senate Bill 6483 relaxes food-purchasing regulations to allow schools and state-run institutions to buy fresh produce and meats from Washington farmers -- even if locally grown products cost a little more than their processed or canned counterparts.
Additionally, the measure creates a number of pilot programs and grants that would allow food banks to accept local produce, allow farmers markets to accept food-stamp cards, and pay for Washington-grown fruits and vegetables to be served at schools where more than half of students get free or reduced lunch.

School Lunches May Get to Go Local!

The Local Farms-Healthy Kids legislation passed the State of Washington House of Representatives yesterday due, in no small part, to support from concerned citizens around the state.

Michael Bennett, President of Pacific Prepak, a local food processing and distribution company, wrote a great Op-Ed with Joan Crooks of the Washington Environmental Council on the bill: Local Farms — Healthy Kids a hearty investment.

Mad Cows, Bad Enforcement

The first outbreak of mad cow disease in the US occurred in Yakima, WA. Hence, Washingtonians have a stake in the the federal oversight of food safety.

Local Farms-Healthy Kids still needs funding

The Local Farms-Healthy Kids legislation has passed the first critical tests in the Washington Legislature. The policy has passed both the House and the Senate with nearly unanimous support. The next challenge will be attaching the funds to the program.

Diane Urbani de la Paz of the Peninsula Daily News asks whether there is enough support for Local Farms-Healthy Kids to pass the budget test.

If you'd like to have your voice heard on the issue, you can contact the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000 this week and ask your Senators to fully fund Local Farms-Healthy Kids.

Local Farms, Healthy Kids Passes House!

The Local Farms-Healthy Kids Bill is moving along through our state legislature.
The Washington House of Representatives passed the Local Farms-Healthy Kids bill 95-1 on February 15. There are still many hurdles ahead.

To learn more about the bill, see Jennifer Langston's article in the Seattle P-I: Bill aims to put more farm-fresh foods on school lunch menus. She describes some challenges to farm to school programs, and provides some insight into how the Local Farms-Healthy Kids bill addresses them. From the article:

"I don't think there's another state that's putting together such a
comprehensive soup-to-nuts package," said Thomas Forster, policy director for
the national Community Food Security Coalition.

We Are What We Eat

If you still need an argument for going organic, this may be the ticket.

A year-long study of Mercer Island children finds that the urine and saliva of children eating a variety of conventional foods contained biological markers of organophosphates, the family of pesticides spawned by the creation of nerve gas agents in World War II.

When the same children ate organic fruits, vegetables and juices, signs of pesticides were not found. Food for thought...


“We need to move food back to the center of a well-lived life” ~ Michael Pollan

Local Produce goes to Olympia

Published January 27, 2008

Hi all, Rebecca here again...this is an exciting time to be a part of farm to school, because things are heating up!

The momentum for the farm to school bill, Local Farms-Healthy Kids keeps building! The bill had two very successful hearings last week in the House and Senate and support keeps growing. GoSkagit.com provides a perspective on the bill from a Mt. Vernon meeting hosted by the Washington Sustainable Food and Farming Network. The discussion was the second in a speaker series called Healthy Farms, Healthy Puget Sound, put on by the network, People for a Healthy Puget Sound and the food co-op.

Alongside the efforts to get nutritious food into our kid's lunches, others are catching on to the local food movement. Check out John Dodge's Olympian article about what the South Puget Sound Community College culinary-arts program is up to, right next door to the state Capitol:

Within a stone's throw of the House and Senate hearing rooms where the Local
Farms-Healthy Kids and Communities Act was unveiled last week, the Fresh
Measures cafeteria operated by the South Puget Sound Community College
culinary-arts program was preparing dishes with fruits and vegetables supplied
by Lewis and Thurston County organic farmers.