How Local Partnerships Are Transforming School Food

Partnerships for Local Agriculture & Nutrition Transformation in Schools (PLANTS) aims to strengthen partnerships between school districts and regional food system stakeholders to increase scratch cooking in schools and expand market access for smaller-scale producers. In May 2024, the Chef Ann Foundation awarded PLANTS grants to eight collaborative projects across the United States to advance these goals. 

What does this look like? In rural Washington, a school’s quest for better quesadillas ran into a familiar challenge: their small order size meant limited options from big suppliers. Down the road, a family-owned tortilleria was looking to grow its business, but had never navigated the world of school food regulations. When these two connected, it revealed the key ingredient to school food system transformation: cultivating innovative partnerships between school districts and regional food systems stakeholders.

This type of relationship-building looks different for each community, and no one model will work for everyone. PLANTS grantees are building trust between farmers, schools, and communities to find ways that healthy, local food can benefit everyone’s interests, from economics to education. 

Understanding, fostering, and creating new relationships are part of our unique assessment and technical assistance model, which supports grantees in building the networks and pathways that lead to innovative ways of getting more quality and local foods into schools.

In the kitchen, school food professionals are experts who do their best with limited resources. Sometimes, an equipment upgrade, an additional staff member, or a simple resource like a sample purchase order from our free online resource library, The Lunch Box, can unlock significant efficiency. Other times, it can mean digging into complicated topics like financial reports, process mapping, and procurement opportunities. Our technical support goes beyond isolated interventions, addressing the entire ecosystem of school food production.

Building a custom road map for each project

• Our culinary, procurement, and regional food systems experts conduct comprehensive on-site assessments to understand each district’s unique landscape.
• We meet with district leadership, school food professionals, farmers, distributors, and food product companies.
• Our Scratch Cooking Assessment & Learning Evaluation (SCALE) questionnaire and Kitchen Sync Strategies Collaborative’s Three C’s Assessment help generate a customized roadmap for increasing scratch cooking, local procurement, and other unique project goals. 

Critically, our partnership with Kitchen Sync Strategies Collaborative extends this approach by creating a bridge between schools and local food producers. While we focus on transforming school kitchens, they work directly with local farmers, distributors, and food entrepreneurs to help them adapt to institutional sales requirements. This collaborative model ensures that as schools develop scratch-cooking operations, local producers simultaneously learn to serve institutional buyers. This strategic alliance addresses both sides of the farm-to-school equation.

As with any project, challenges can arise: sometimes, people move on to different roles or have limited capacity for project work on top of their normal duties. Our systems-based approach to technical assistance ensures a strong foundation is built so the school food system is resilient and can adapt to upheavals along the way In order to do that, we roll up our sleeves and dig in with spreadsheets and data, lease agreements, and labor regulations, among other things. Our experience in school food can help guide intricate processes, streamline administrative systems, and ultimately free up time for people to accomplish more. That is the work that builds capacity for communities to make the real magic happen. And the real magic happens through meaningful person-to-person connections. 

Building Relationships 

Tortillas

Abby Miller is the nutrition services director for Northeast Washington ESD 101, which serves Spokane and surrounding areas, and the lead administrator for the Washington PLANTS project. One complaint she often hears from students and staff is about the quesadillas. Usually a favorite, the students in her region were not big fans of the tortillas. 

Flour

In addition, another local, family-owned flour mill is producing exciting new products, including pizza dough and rolls. A field trip to the mill is in the works, allowing students to learn about food production in their community firsthand and seeding future relationship-building in the region.  

Weaving a Stronger Local Food Web

This early success in the PLANTS program demonstrates how investing in deep community partnerships can transform school food systems. 

Abby Miller’s work in Washington illustrates the ripple effects of thoughtful collaboration: a local tortilleria developing school-compliant products, a rural bakery finding new markets, and a family mill connecting with schools to provide nourishing organic flour and education. 

These partnerships go beyond simply getting local food into cafeterias – they’re creating economic opportunities, engaging students in their food system, and building lasting relationships that benefit entire communities. Taking the time to cultivate these connections doesn’t just improve the quality of school meals; it helps weave a stronger, more resilient local food web that can sustain positive change for years to come.

This project is part of the Partnerships for Local Agriculture & Nutrition Transformation in Schools (PLANTS) Grant program, which is funded by the USDA Food & Service Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative and is administered by Chef Ann Foundation in partnership with Kitchen Sync Strategies Collaborative, the Center for Nutrition and Health Impact, and National Farm to School Network. The contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the view or policies of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the Chef Ann Foundation, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.