Farm to School Conference and Workshops: Creating an Easier Path to Farm Fresh Food

Thursday, January 4, 2018, in Wheeler Hall, SUNY Cobleskill, Cobleskill NY

Geared to those whose schools that have not yet begun a Farm to School Program or are in the early stages of its development, as well as farmers that are on the fence about the need for their own Farm Food Safety Plans to allow them to make sales to institutions.

Are you a school food service manager that’s heard about Farm to School but can’t find the time to delve into it in any meaningful way? Are you a farmer that enjoys direct to consumer sales but is hesitant to take the additional steps needed to begin augmenting your farm income with institutional sales? Are you a school administrator that has not yet connected with the vision of what Farm to School could mean to your school? Are you a parent with elementary school aged children that wants to see fresh local foods on your children’s lunch tray, but have no idea how best to help get that started at your school?

These workshops are designed to empower each and everyone one of you to take a definitive step - or two - toward the direction of starting up, or improving, your own Farm to School Programs. However, this will be different than most conferences! Instead of throwing everything that WE know at you, we have selected several early must do’s that, once implemented, will place you on the path to delivering farm fresh foods to the students of the schools in your communities!

What’s in it for you?

Get the “big picture” (on the topics like the Community Economic Impact of Farm to School, and the national obesity crisis and child nutrition with its relationship to learning, etc.) so that you can provide the information to others that you will need to influence in order to help you... hear from those who had the same fears and face the same obstacles as you, but are succeeding in adopting a Farm to School and Farm to Institution concept... bring your menus to the ‘hands on’ workshop and work out the changes that need to be made in order to drive the implementation of Farm to School from once a year event to an every month action... or bring your farm food safety plan and walk through it with the experts to be sure you meet the intent of the plan in the absence of a GAP certification... get in depth guidance on how to maneuver through several “procurement” or buying regulations that will give local foods “a leg up”... and then tie it all together with new Buyer-Seller contacts at the post-conference Networking Mixer beginning at 4:30pm.

Conference fee includes Lunch... and the Buyer-Seller Networking Mixer (bring your business and/or rack cards)... both to be located in Champlin Hall on the SUNY Cobleskill Campus. 6 CEU have been approved by the NYS School Nutrition Association, and 6 CEU applied for from the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics.

THEN ... sign up for the February Conference Call to get any questions that arose once you returned home, answered by our esteemed panel of experts at no additional charge!

More Questions: Email Regina Tillman at rmt37@cornell.edu, or call at 518-229-1548. Go to Conference Website for a copy of the Program Agenda, info on the faculty, mail-in registration form, and more: www.svFarmtoSchool.net

Admission:

Reserve your place early and receive a deep discount of 26% off on the general admission ticket, only through December 18th! (ATTENTION! EARLY BIRD EXTENDED TO DECEMBER 20TH FOR ONLINE REGISTRATIONS!) EARLY BIRD TICKET price is $42.99, inclusive of processing fees.

((Please note that there is also discount pricing on tickets for SUNY Cobleskill staff/student and CCE Staff/Volunteer for the duration of ticket sales, except at the door. ID’s must be presented at arrival at conference sign-in on January 4th.))

After December 18th the conference and workshop price returns to general admission of $58.37, and continues available here for online payment. At the door the day of, the ticket price is $65.

A Mail-in registration form is also available at www.svFarmtoSchool.net for those preferring to pay by check along with suggestions on hotels and things to do in the area.

ATTENTION FARMERS! ... Call Cornell Cooperative Extension at the Cobleskill NY Office (518-234-4303) or email at schoharie@cornell.edu, to ask for the Special Farmer/Producer Conference Rate Ticket, available thru call-in/mail-in registrations and check payment only. Pre-Registrations must be received on or before December 29, 2018 to hold this price even if paying at the door with cash or check.

Access:

SUNY Cobleskill campus buildings and parking areas for the conference are indicated on the campus map located online at www.svFarmtoSchool.net. There is some walking required outside between buildings and you are advised to dress as the weather dictates. You are asked to park in F-Lot behind Champlin Hall unless you will need to use your car to go to back and forth to the lunch and to the Mixer. Those needing their car can park in one of the few parking spots on the side of Wheeler Hall. We will also have a 6 passenger van available to us. All the buildings are handicap accessible and have elevators. If you require further assistance, please call the Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Cobleskill NY office at 518-234-4303.

About:

This conference is provided through a NYS Farm to School Grant (2016 – 2018), administered through the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets, and awarded to Regina Tillman, Schoharie Valley Farm to School Project Director under the auspices of Cornell Cooperative Extension Schoharie & Otsego Counties. The grant’s short term objectives being sought through these workshops are to achieve increases in knowledge, skills, and awareness, along with aspirations, in order to move schools toward a heightened acceptance of their capacity to implement a Farm to School concept. Thus, it is hoped that we can begin to generate a market demand for locally grown specialty crops and other farm produced products for use in school lunches, breakfasts and snacks... and that local farmers have been made ready to met that demand.

Additional Conference co-sponsors: NYS School Nutrition Association, SUNY Cobleskill, and NY Apple Country.