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Updated: Apr 27, 2026

Breakfast Habits among Schoolchildren in the City of Uruguaiana, Brazil
Published on: July 29, 2020
Farm to elementary school programming increases access to fruits and vegetables and increases their consumption among
Andrea B Bontrager Yoder1, Janice L Liebhart2, Daniel J McCarty3
1Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI.
Objective:
To assess the effectiveness of Wisconsin Farm to School (F2S) programs in increasing students' fruit and vegetable (FV) intake.
Design:
Quasi-experimental baseline and follow-up assessments: knowledge and attitudes survey, food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), and lunch tray photo observation.
Setting:
Wisconsin elementary schools: 1 urban and 8 rural.
Participants:
Children, grades 3-5 (n = 1,117; 53% male, 19% non-Caucasian).
Intervention(S):
Farm to School programming ranging from Harvest of the Month alone to comprehensive, including school garden, locally sourced produce in school meals, and classroom lessons.
Main Outcome Measures:
Knowledge, attitudes, exposure, liking, willingness; FFQ-derived (total), and photo-derived school lunch FV intake.
Analysis:
t tests and mixed modeling to assess baseline differences and academic-year change.
Results:
Higher willingness to try FV (+1%; P < .001) and knowledge of nutrition/agriculture (+1%; P < .001) (n = 888), and lunch FV availability (+6% to 17%; P ≤ .001) (n = 4,451 trays), both with increasing prior F2S program exposure and across the year. There was no effect on overall dietary patterns (FFQ; n = 305) but FV consumption increased among those with the lowest intakes (FFQ, baseline very low fruit intake, +135%, P < .001; photos: percentage of trays with no FV consumption for continuing programs decreased 3% to 10%, P ≤ .05).
Conclusions And Implications:
Farm to School programming improved mediators of FV consumption and decreased the proportion of children with unfavorable FV behaviors at school lunch. Longer-term data are needed to further assess F2S programs.
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