Jacey Wesley, Tyne Bankester and Pamela Hodson

The Seeds to Success team coordinates the annual Louisiana Farm to School Conference and looks forward to providing a venue to exchange successes, farm to school information and networking opportunities each year.

Through the years, the Louisiana Farm to School Conference has extended the reach of farm to school programming statewide, facilitating opportunities to share success stories and to expand networks, leading to long-term growth in the movement.

The farm to school movement in Louisiana had its first meeting of practitioners in 2015 through a Farm to School Conference grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Community Food Programs. The grant provided funds for a statewide meeting in Baton Rouge and regional meetings in New Orleans and Alexandria.

The initial meetings provided a forum for the exchange of information on successful programs in the state, as well as networking both regionally and statewide. In 2017, an agreement with the Louisiana Department of Education was reached to fund support for a statewide farm to school initiative, and an annual gathering was established. In successive years, the meeting highlights have been the keynote address, success stories from around the state and networking. Throughout the years, the keynote has addressed all aspects of farm to school, with producer and James Beard winner Ben Burkett, chef and restaurateur Dickie Brennan and retired school nutrition director Beverly Girard.

The Farm to School Program sponsored a virtual conference in 2020 during the pandemic. The conference occurred in two-hour sessions for two consecutive weeks with 219 attendees from across the state. In addition, the virtual conference reached outside Louisiana with attendees from 20 other states and two countries (Bahamas and Haiti).

Sessions included farm to school during COVID-19, local success stories, garden sustainability, Louisiana food heritage and discovering your role in the food system. The conference also included the first ever Harvest of the Month taste tests with Louisiana sweet potatoes and broccoli.

One attendee said, “The taste test sessions were so much fun. I thought they were a great way to invite people into farm to school with something they could do at home and functioned as a lesson within itself.”

All sessions from 2020 were recorded and are available for viewing on the Louisiana Farm to School Program YouTube channel.

The most recent conference in 2022 brought together more than 200 attendees from 39 Louisiana parishes, including 28 local farmers and representatives of various organizations and businesses.

Attendees included industry partners, state agencies, producers, school administrators, extension personnel and teachers. Topics discussed at the meeting included best practices on growing a farm to school program, connecting with students through agritourism and conducting classroom taste tests — all presented by farm to school champions found throughout Louisiana.

One attendee commented, “This was my first time attending the conference. It was an awesome experience, and I will utilize the information I gathered from this conference.”

In addition to breakout sessions and a keynote address, the gathering provided a venue for face-to-face networking between exhibitors and attendees. Exhibitors present at the 2022 conference included private businesses, state agencies, agricultural organizations, farms, nonprofits, commodity groups and volunteer organizations. They provided valuable educational resources to participants while gaining exposure and connecting with the farm to school community.

One exhibitor commented, “We were able to reach our intended audience and provided an outreach to people we otherwise wouldn't have been able to reach without the conference.”

The 2023 Louisiana Farm to School Conference will be Oct. 11 at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge.

Jacey Wesley is the communications director for Seeds to Success: The Louisiana Farm to School Program. Tyne Bankester is the program manager for curriculum integration and Market Maker for the program. Pamela Hodson is a program adviser.

The 2022 Farm to School Gathering attendees participated in a cheer celebrating the Louisiana Farm to School movement led by keynote speaker Beverly Girard of Culinary Solutions Centers LLC.