Farm To School

"Connecting Children, Farms, and Food" REAP's Farm to School Program is working to: Increase access to fresh, local, and sustainably produced foods for Wisconsin school children through school meal and snack programs. Explore opportunities to build reliable markets for local sustainable farmers and food processors within school food services. Connect children with food and farmers by providing hands-on educational opportunities focused on the local food system and the connections between health, food, farms, and the environment.

	Cooking Local in the Classroom - With fewer households cooking from scratch these days, kids are often missing even the most basic food preparation skills. Recognizing that knowing how to cook is a life skill that can help lead to healthier choices, REAP’s Farm to School program has developed this Cooking Local in the Classroom manual. This Cooking Local in the Classroom manual was born from REAP’s successful Chef in the Classroom Program. It is designed to make a seasonal local foods cooking program accessible to all teachers – you don’t need a guest chef to have a successful local foods cooking program!
	Snack Program - REAP supplies schools with reasonably priced, fresh, locally produced fruits and vegetables such as sweet potatoes, heirloom cherry tomatoes, green beans, apples, kohlrabi, and carrot sticks. Kids love our snacks; teachers love the educational “Snack Bites” materials that come with delivery; and farmers love knowing their produce is providing healthy snacks for kids.
	Chef in the Classroom - Students in middle and high schools join local chefs to learn to cook fresh food. Classroom cooking lessons are integrated with education about making healthy choices and where the food was grown.
	Classroom Education - REAP's AmeriCorps Educators offer farm fresh educational programming that enhances students' understanding of where our food comes from.  Guest farmer educators and field trips to farms, along with repeated opportunities to taste local food bring hands-on (and mouths-on) experiences students remember.
	School Fundraiser - Parents fed up with selling wrapping paper, overpriced candy and tins of stale popcorn are thrilled to have a new fundraising option.  REAP coordinates an annual fundraiser which includes a wide selection of locally-made, hand-crafted and fairly-traded items such as: chocolate covered Door County cherries; maple syrup; jams, crackers and cheeses; naturally scented soaps; and much much more.

Our Supporters

As a project of a non-profit organization, Farm to School relies on the financial support of a variety of foundations, individuals, and other groups. We extend our thanks to those whose generous support has helped us achieve so much since our beginning:

American Girl Fund for Children
Attic Angel Foundation
Blooming Prairie Foundation
Bradshaw Knight Foundation
Brico Fund, LLC
L’Etoile Restaurant
Love 4 One Another Charities
Madison Community Foundation
RP's Pasta Co.
Whole Foods Market
Farm to School’s incredible farmer educators
Farm to School’s many generous private donors & volunteers
Heartland Credit Union
Weary Traveler Freehouse
Williamson Street Grocery Cooperative
Wisconsin Environmental Education Board (WEEB)
Wisconsin Speciality Crop Block Grant
USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SARE)