eval report cover.indd - New Jersey Farm to School Network Wiki

►►►and vegetables amongst students. Farm to school’s positive impacts on schoolfood service staff could potentially be a selling point for sustaining long-lastingand systemic changes in the school food environment.Despite being another side of the farm to school equation, concrete data on monetaryand other benefits to farmers is scarce. Some data from specifi c programsis available on this outcome, though generalizations are inappropriate due towide variations in types of products, quantities, and scale of local products soldthrough each program. More resources need to be invested to delve deeper intothe impacts of direct marketing programs such as farm to school for small andmid size farmers. Data on the economic development benefits of farm to schoolfor a city, county or state is currently not available and could provide the muchneeded impetus for local governments to invest in a farm to school approach.Few studies cited in this report document farm to school impacts from the parentperspective, though there is enough anecdotal evidence that supports thisintended outcome. Increasingly, parent education is becoming a key componentof farm to school, and its impacts need to be studied further to understand thepositive ripple effects of farm to school on families and communities.Th o ugh farm to school has the potential to affect communities at large, muchmore concrete data and information is needed to understand the role of farmto school in community dynamics and connections. It is hypothesized that farmto school programs have a role in creating and maintaining strong, vibrant communitiesthat support a local/regional food system, but little if any evaluationwork has focused on this aspect.Emerging farm to school programs should consider conducting a thorough evaluationof the various aspects of program implementation, as feasible. The tools and resourcesneeded for conducting an evaluation may be already available through previously conductedevaluations or may be adapted to meet the specifi c needs of a program. Programevaluators who have conducted the studies cited in this report, as well as other nutritionand health researchers, are eager and available to assist new farm to school programevaluations.Conclusions and Recommendationswww.farmtoschool.org 55