Published: January 08, 2009 10:10 am      

State laws help schools feature fresh food

MAPLE CITY -- It wasn't easy at first to integrate fresh, local fruits and vegetables into daily lunches at Glen Lake Community Schools.

The district used to reheat processed foods for lunches, routine among school districts. To change it would require administrators to change their thinking.

So they hired a certified chef with an eye for ingredients and a commitment to scratch cooking, and began looking to serve local produce in meals.

"We could only do it around the fringes," said Joan Groening, superintendent of the rural Leelanau County district. "There were all sorts of barriers to move away from the old way."

Groening and other area school administrators are embracing new state laws that attempt to reduce complications for districts interested in purchasing food from local farmers.

Known as farm-to-school initiatives, the programs found support last month from Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who signed into law three bills that remove bidding restrictions and require the state to help schools start such efforts.

State law used to mandate that districts had to seek formal bids for any food purchases more than $20,000. The acts now allow informal bids, which can be as simple as calling farmers to ask their prices, up to $100,000.

And the state education and agriculture departments will have to offer training sessions, hire a statewide farm-to-school coordinator and set up a directory of farmers.

"If you look at the schools that have already started this, they've had to take a lot of time to develop those relationships," said Diane Conners, the farm-to-school coordinator with the Michigan Land Use Institute in Traverse City. "It'll be great to be giving a helping hand."

Four years ago, four area public districts, Grand Traverse Area Catholic Schools and the private Leelanau School in Glen Arbor had farm-to-school programs, Conners said. The number since has grown to more than 30 schools.

Several get asparagus from Empire, fruit from Leelanau County and tomatoes in Kingsley. Traverse City's Catholic schools, Benzie County, Frankfort-Elberta and Northport districts have purchased meat from Benzonia farmer Randy Rice.

"I'm hopeful that this will help promote and grow agriculture, so that people are more aware of it," said Rice, who raises grass-fed, hormone-free cattle.

If people buy locally, he said, "That money stays here."

In turn, the region's economy, with its strong agriculture base, will prosper, said Eric Hahn, president of Traverse City-based Cherry Capital Foods LLC.

The company serves as an intermediary distributor between area farmers and school districts, offering local onions, potatoes, fruit and other products.

"What we anticipate is that more schools would get involved," he said. "It will be a good benefit."

Traverse City Area Public Schools last year spent about $30,000 on local foods that under the old law required a formal bid, food service director Kristen Misiak said.

Eliminating the cap could elicit greater participation, she said, since the bidding process also will be easier for farmers.

"It's pretty exciting for us," Misiak said. "We're to the point where it's like a normal part of our purchasing."