ABOUT THE INITIATIVE
Canada’s First National Farm to School Initiative
Farm to School: Canada Digs In! (Canada Digs In) is a multi-sectoral partnership designed to prevent chronic disease. Launched in 2017, Canada Digs In has set out to improve student nutrition and food literacy while building community and strengthening local food systems.
This interactive report tells the story of the first three years of this initiative. It celebrates the champions who made it possible, provides links to practical resources developed along the way, and showcases the project’s immediate impacts.
What is Farm to School?
Farm to school gets students eating, cooking, growing, and embracing healthy, local food. Through farm to school activities students connect with their communities and develop food literacy, all while strengthening vibrant, sustainable, economically viable regional food systems.
The Farm to School Approach
Project Goals
The goal of Canada Digs In is to scale Canada’s farm to school movement and enable students to develop the life-long knowledge, skills, and habits to support their wellbeing, their communities, and the planet.
The project works to:
- Implement farm to school programs across Canada in elementary, middle, and secondary schools through the Farm to School Canada Grants program, and on campuses through the Good Food Challenge.
- Build capacity by providing training, resources, and knowledge-sharing activities to school communities.
- Evaluate the initiative, providing the first-ever empirical evidence of the impacts of farm to school in Canada.
The Power of Partnerships
Farm to School: Canada Digs In! is a wonderful example of what is possible when multiple partners who have aligned values, and a diversity of experiences and knowledge, come together at the same table to advance a common aim.
Canada Digs In project partners came together to get more healthy, local food on the minds and plates of students to promote healthy living and prevent chronic disease.
The Public Health Agency of Canada’s $2.0M investment in Canada Digs In is the largest federal investment in school food in Canada to date. With this initial investment, Canada Digs In has been matched by an additional $2.5 M of cash and in-kind contributions from its 10 additional project partners.
The project implementation team includes representatives from each of the provincial partner organizations and Farm to Cafeteria Canada. This group meets regularly as a community of practice.
“There is real strength in connecting with — and sharing information with — leads in other provinces. We have a lot to share and also to learn from them.”
“F2CC has created a network of like-minded people and organizations across Canada and there is enormous value for our local organization, and nationally, by bringing us all together.”
IMPLEMENTATION
Farm to School Canada Grants
Farm to School Canada Grants provides grants of up to $10,000 each directly to K-12 schools to deliver farm to school programs by:
- Serving local food in a farm to school salad bar; and
- Engaging students in hands-on learning by growing, preparing and enjoying healthy, local food.
Whole Kids Foundation provides the funding for the grants. Farm to Cafeteria Canada administers the program. Regional partners provide on-the ground resources and support participating schools.
Read more about the Farm to School Canada Grants program.
Campus Good Food Challenge
This on-campus campaign empowers post-secondary students to work with their university or college to provide food that is accessible, community-based, ecologically sound, socially just, and humane.
Campuses sign the Good Food Campus Commitment to show leadership and innovation in the food system and accountability to the well-being of their student community. By signing the commitment, they agree to increase their procurement of Good Food to 20% by 2025 and make Good Food more affordable and accessible for all students.
Learn more about Farm to Campus and the Good Food Challenge.
CAPACITY BUILDING
To support participating schools and campuses, we developed resources and offered training and knowledge-sharing opportunities. Designated Regional Leads in each province were responsible for coordinating and supporting schools.
A total of 163 representatives from the 86 participating K-12 schools received training on implementing and sustaining farm to school salad bars and food literacy. This training, which included presentations from chefs, farmers, local knowledge keepers and past grant participants, shared how to:
Source local food for the salad bar
Prepare and serve the salad bar smoothly
Engage students in hands-on food literacy activities including growing, preparing and serving food
Promote the salad bar and more!
The project offered additional training and supports between
September 2018 and June 2020 including:
Regular regional community of practice meetings
Webinars
Visits to schools by the regional leads
1:1 phone and email supports
Sharing of school stories
Private regional Facebook groups
Regional Leads:
CLAUDIA PÁEZ
British Columbia
CAROLYN WEBB
Ontario
GENEVIÈVE CHATELAIN
Québec
MÉLANIE CORMIER
New Brunswick
SUZANNE HAWKINS
Newfoundland & Labrador
10 Resources were developed
3 National Farm to School Month celebrations were held
$13,500 in seed grants were awarded
Farm to School Month in Canada is celebrated each October. It invites school communities, from pre-school to campus, to “Dig In” to farm to school. It is intended to showcase the many diverse farm and local food to school activities happening across the country, while inspiring others to join the movement.
Learn more about Farm to School Month in Canada.
Canada’s first National Farm to School Conference was held
2019 Farm to School Conference
300 delegates
from students and teachers, to academics and policy makers from across Canada and the United States gathered in Victoria, BC in May, 2019, to INSPIRE, INNOVATE & organize for IMPACT to close the distance between farm and fork and bring more healthy, local & sustainable foods to the minds & plates of students.
View the conference proceedings report here.
EVALUATION
Canada Digs In led the first-ever comprehensive evaluation of farm to school in Canada. Between June 2017 and June 2020 our project team planned and delivered the following evaluation activities:
The results are in, and demonstrate that farm to school benefits:
Public Health
Students gain the skills and habits needed for a lifetime of healthy eating when they participate in farm to school programs.
Education & Learning
Farm to school brings curriculum to life and enables hands-on student learning.
Community Economic Development
Farm to school connects schools with farmers and increases local food procurement.
Vibrant School Communities
Farm to school supports student wellbeing and connection to their community.
For more impacts access the full series of info-sheets:
GROWING FARM TO SCHOOL
Growing healthy, resilient, sustainable communities
Farm to school builds resilient, connected communities that benefit the health of people and planet.
Momentum is growing!
34 more schools
(12,900 students) in
9 provinces and
1 territory
begin their Farm to School Canada Grants journey in September 2020
Read Past Stories
1230 schools
have self-reported farm to school activities on Canada’s National Farm to School Map
See our map!
We’re developing an
Evaluation Framework
for Farm to School in Canada to better understand the short, medium and long-term impacts
Read MoreJoin the movement to bring more healthy,
local food to the minds and plates of students.
Help us achieve a future where farm to school is in every school. One where
Every child
Every farmer
Every community
experiences the JOY
of farm to school!
CONTACT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Farm to school is a movement without borders. This initiative would not have been possible without the dedicated partnership of a diverse group of individuals and organizations. We’d like to extend sincere thanks to the passionate school and campus-based teams and the countless community supporters who continue to champion farm to school, including:
STUDENTS
Teachers & Professors
Principals
Parents
Food service staff
Community partners
Community volunteers
Chefs, farmers, fishers, hunters, foragers, elders
Public health practitioners (dietitians, nurses, health inspectors)
Contributors
This report was prepared by
- Jesse Veenstra, National Director
- Tracey O’Neil, Design & Communications
- Carolyn Webb, Regional Lead ON
- Danielle Côté, Advisor
- Jyotika Dangwal, Program Coordinator
- Monica Petek, Researcher, SPARC BC
See the full list of project partners and team members here.
