Georgia to receive $7.2 million through pilot USDA school lunch program
Staff Photo: Alan Mauldin
By Alan Mauldin
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ALBANY — A Dougherty County School System campus was the site of the Monday announcement for a federal school nutrition pilot program that will put locally grown produce in schools and provide opportunities for farmers to participate.
Officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff and U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, both Georgia Democrats, ate lunch with students and took a tour of the garden area at the International Studies Elementary Charter School in east Albany during the event.
Through the pilot program, the state of Georgia will receive $7.17 million out of $200 million allocated nationally. The Georgia Department of Education has signed a cooperative agreement for the Local Foods for Schools program with the USDA.
“We live in the breadbasket of our state, and agriculture is the economic engine of our state,” Bishop said. “It’s important we make sure our local farmers are able to share this success. We know that school meals are important. Sixty percent of students in the state and America get their primary meals through the school nutrition program.”
Schools throughout the Dougherty County School System have garden areas on their campuses, and students at the Commodore Conyers College & Career Academy are constructing a hydroponics greenhouse that will be able to produce 800 heads of lettuce each week, Schools Superintendent Kenneth Dyer said.
“We’ve been committed to this for a long time, which is evidenced by this garden,” Dyer said.
The Local Foods program also will provide a boost for traditionally underserved farmers, Jenny Lester Moffitt, the USDA under secretary for marketing and regulatory programs, said.
“We know that when rural America thrives, all of America thrives,” she said.
For Ossoff, the signing represents a “historic agreement” that will provide locally grown, fresh fruits and vegetables to schools, which also will be a boost for agriculture.”
“This just makes sense, because with this agreement not only are kids having access to fresh, healthy food, but the Georgia farmers are providing that fresh, healthy food,” Ossoff said. “Farmers are empowered to produce the fresh, healthy food children need.”
Alan Mauldin
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