Cecilia Stevens
Act 404 was signed into law in 2016, requiring the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry to develop and implement a farm to school (F2S) program. F2S promotes the use of locally grown and raised agricultural products in school nutrition programs. Seeds to Success: The Louisiana Farm to School Program strives to enrich the connection between fresh, healthy food and local food producers by changing food purchasing and education practices at schools and preschools. Seeds to Success acts as an umbrella for Louisiana F2S programming and is made possible through an agreement between the LSU AgCenter and the Louisiana Department of Education Division of Nutrition Support and is funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Seeds to Success launched the Louisiana F2S Institute this spring to help school districts develop sustainable F2S programs and to increase the effect of the program statewide. Four Louisiana school district teams — Calcasieu, Concordia, East Baton Rouge and Iberville — applied and were selected to be members of the 2024-25 cohort. A kickoff planning retreat for the teams was held April 30-May 3 at the Wesley Retreat Center in Woodworth.
The Louisiana F2S Institute has been in planning since June 2023 when two Seeds to Success team members attended the Northeast Farm to School Institute at Shelbourne Farm Educational Center in Burlington, Vermont. The Seeds to Success team members along with participants from five other states were trained as part of the Vermont Food Education Every Day (FEED) adapter program. The pair observed the farm to school institute professional development model in action, participated throughout the year in team planning and professional development with Vermont FEED, and worked to lead the entire Seeds to Success team in planning the 2024-25 Louisiana F2S Institute.
The Louisiana F2S Institute is modeled after the Northeast F2S Institute professional development model conducted since 2010 by Vermont FEED. Both institutes featured a team retreat followed by yearlong coaching of school district teams, quarterly professional development calls and special programming topics throughout the year.
“Our goal with the retreat was to create a learning and sharing space so that the teams could design a F2S program unique to each parish,” said Celeste Finney, former program manager of school nutrition and procurement for Seeds to Success.
A central element of the F2S Institute is the coach facilitation model. Coaches were recruited from the participating teams’ parishes and were trained prior to the team retreat on Seeds to Success program goals and resources. The LSU College of Agriculture Agricultural and Extension Education and Evaluation Department and the LSU AgCenter collaborated to provide training focused on facilitation, team building, goal setting and action planning.
At the retreat, team coaches were introduced to parish teams and tasked with leading the teams in developing sustainable F2S action plans. The parish teams sent 35 representatives including classroom teachers, administrators, farmers, child nutrition directors and food service representatives.
The institute retreat’s theme, “Louisiana Is Setting the Table,” exemplifies the institute’s purpose — to provide the space, time and resources for school districts to analyze their current F2S programs and to plan for program, system and environmental change within their respective parishes. The LSU AgCenter is uniquely suited to support such F2S programming because of the diversity of expertise available to assist school districts with implementation of local food system work within the educational setting.
Activities during the team retreat included action planning, educational sessions on Seeds to Success resources, panel discussions and workshops on various horticultural and environmental topics. Workshop topics included gardening as a mode to heal trauma, Louisiana landforms and hydrology, the development of the Louisiana tea growing industry, bread making, connecting the outdoor world to the classroom, Louisiana livestock production, and sustainable garden practices for classroom and school gardens.
The importance of the connection between F2S practices and the local food system was a major focus of the F2S institute. A values panel on this topic was held with Rene Brown of Mt. Zion First Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, Jamie Dardar of the United Houma Nation and Carl Motsenbocker, executive director of Seeds to Success. Speakers shared their thoughts on the importance of local agriculture, nutrition education and F2S initiatives. School team members then had the opportunity to develop their own speaking points through the “What’s Your WHY for Farm to School” activity.
Throughout the week, school district team members shared their views on F2S programming. Chef James Porter of East Baton Rouge Parish’s farm to school team said, “After seeing the work planned here this week, I am excited to see how much Louisiana’s entire F2S program can grow over the next three to five years.”
Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected throughout the week and will be used in planning quarterly team training and the 2025-26 institute.
Cecilia Stevens is a program manager for Seeds to Success: The Louisiana Farm to School Program from the LSU AgCenter.
This article appears in the summer 2024 issue of Louisiana Agriculture.
Participants in the Louisiana Farm to School Institute knead bread dough during a hands-on baking lesson. Photo by Kyle Peveto
A Louisiana Farm to School Institute participant transfers seeds to bags so school personnel can plant them at their campuses. Photo by Kyle Peveto
A Louisiana Farm to School Institute attendee organizes plans for his school's farm to school activities for the next year. Photo by Kyle Peveto
Celeste Finney, former school nutrition and procurement program manager for Seeds to Success, leads school teams in a planning session during the Louisiana Farm to School Institute. Photo by Kyle Peveto