To get locally-grown food onto a schoolchild's lunch tray, communities need supply chains that sort, process and package local farm products. They don't always exist.
Becca Jablonski, visiting associate professor at the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, part of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, contributed to a new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service (USDA ERS) that analyzed farm-to-school food procurement pathways. As part of Climate Week NYC, Jablonski will also present an interactive dashboard illustrating food procurement tradeoffs to administrators, researchers and policymakers from 2:35-3:35 p.m. on Sept. 24.
Schools participating in the USDA ERS report spent an estimated $1.8 billion on local food in 2022 and 2023. With more than half of U.S. schools participating in farm-to-school activities, it's become the most frequently enacted regional food policy. This practice has shown economic benefits to farmers, schools and the communities surrounding them, but research is still limited.
Read the full story on Cornell Business News.
Nina Collavo is a staff writer for the Cornell SC College of Business.
