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Bringing the Farm to School

A Training Program for Agricultural Producers

In 2019, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) established a three-year cooperative agreement with the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) and the National Farm to School Network (NFSN) to develop a farm to school training program for agricultural producers.

Program Goal: To give agricultural producers training and tools to build their capacity to launch or grow efforts to market to schools, therefore increasing sales to schools for farmers while expanding farm to school activities for students in schools and communities across the nation.
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Using a tiered, train-the-trainer model, the Bringing the Farm to School training program prepares State agencies and other representatives with the knowledge, resources and skills necessary to offer trainings to local producers in their states. Learn more in our one-pager overview, and find details more below.

Explore the Training Materials

Resources for Facilitators

Bringing the Farm to School offers facilitators multiple resources that can be used to plan and implement your Local Producer Training, which uses the Agricultural Producers' Toolkit curriculum. Click below to explore these resources.

facilitator resources

Resources for Producers

Bringing the Farm to School offers agricultural producers a trining curriculum, skill-building activities and other resources to expand marketing efforts to schools. These are offered through Local Producer Trainings. Click below to learn more.

producer resources

Case Studies

Bringing the Farm to School includes numerous case studies (in written, video and podcast format) that highlight how farmers have applied key concepts on their own farms or business operations. Click below to explore these case studies.

case studies

Learn More About Bringing the Farm to School

This Bringing the Farm to School: Agricultural Producers' Toolkit workbook is to be used by producers during the Bringing the Farm to School: Local Producer Training. It is intended to be used in conjunction with the curriculum slide decks, to support producers in following along with and relating content back to their farm or operation. This workbook can be customize by choosing which worksheets best fit your audience and time allowance.

The program includes four phases:

  • Needs Assessment - see highlights from the needs assessment, which informed the development of curriculum, here.
  • Curriculum Development - the curriculum is called the Agricultural Producers' Toolkit. {Coming Soon}
  • Regional Facilitator Workshops - facilitators will gather together regionally to learn how to use the curriculum in their states.
  • Local Producer Trainings - producers will receive training from local facilitators on the Agricultural Producers' Toolkit.

Program Partners

Bringing the Farm to School program partners include

  • New York University, and
  • An Advisory Council, which includes: Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems - Wisconsin ; Community Alliance with Family Farmers; Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Science; Farmer Veteran Coalition; Georgia Organics; Intertribal Agriculture Council; Michigan State University; National Farmers Union Foundation; National Young Farmers Coalition; North Dakota Department of Public Instruction; State of Washington Department of Agriculture; and, Western Montana Growers Cooperative.

Have Questions?

Contact Tomas Delgado, NFSN Program Manager, tomas@farmtoschool.org, or Tammy Howard, NCAT Agricultural Specialist, tammyh@ncat.org.

This project has been funded in part by federal funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service through an agreement with the National Center for Appropriate Technology in partnership with the National Farm to School Network. The contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. government.