Farm to Cafeteria programs connect farms to fork bringing local, nutritious and sustainably produced foods into public agencies – places where we learn, work, are healed and play. Farm to School, Farm to University, and Farm to Hospital are all Farm to Cafeteria programs (differentiated primarily by their settings). These programs are an essential component of strong, resilient, and sustainable, regional food systems – systems that contribute to the health of people, place, and the planet. All Farm to Cafeteria programs share a common goal: to increase access to fresh, locally and sustainably grown, nutritious, safe, and culturally appropriate foods in public agencies. And all aspire to a common set of objectives:
- to close the distance between the farm and the tray;
- to support the production, processing and delivery of local foods for public agencies using sustainable practices;
- to increase the amount of local foods purchased by public agencies;
- to increase the consumption of local foods within public agencies;
- to improve knowledge about local foods, the local food system, and healthy eating;
- to improve skills in the areas of food production, preservation, purchasing and serving as well as the disposal of food
wastes; to contribute to the health of the environment; to adopt supportive food policy.
Farm to Cafeteria Canada