Does school size affect interest for purchasing local foods in the midwest?

Area of Science:

• Agricultural economics
• Public health nutrition
• Food service management

Background:

• Growing environmental awareness and childhood obesity fuel Farm to School program interest.
• Many schools do not fully leverage Farm to School benefits.
• Barriers include staff knowledge gaps and school size impacting local food purchasing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate school food service employees' perceptions of Farm to School program benefits and obstacles.
• To understand attitudes towards purchasing and serving local foods in schools.
• To identify factors influencing local food procurement in educational settings.

Main Methods:

• Convenience sampling of school food service employees in southern Illinois.
• Self-administered questionnaire to collect data on perceptions and attitudes.
• Data collected from 151 employees across 60 schools in December 2009.

Main Results:

• Larger schools perceived "knowing product sources" as a greater benefit.
• Obstacles like "cost," "volume," "supply reliability," "payment," and "packing" were more significant in larger schools (p<0.05).
• Food service employees expressed interest in training for preparing and serving local foods.

Conclusions:

• Continued education and training are crucial for school food service purchasers.
• Addressing specific obstacles is necessary to increase local food procurement.
• Findings support meeting the 2020 legislation requiring schools to purchase at least 10% local foods.