Interest in serving locally grown foods at schools and early care centers has never been greater, and the University of Minnesota Extension and the Minnesota Department of Education are partnering to offer an exciting statewide series of “Farm to School Roadshow” workshops to help these local connections flourish.

The workshops feature in-depth training for vegetable producers to help them develop a crop plan, learn about controlling pests, washing, meeting wholesale customer demands and more.

The afternoon will feature networking opportunities for buyers and farmers to share contact information and learn about how to make farm to school programs succeed.

“It is critical that we help all farmers understand how to sell into new wholesale accounts like schools,” said Natalie Hoidal, Extension educator at the University of Minnesota, Vegetable Production. “We are excited to work with Minnesota’s vegetable farmers to help them continue to take advantage of these sales opportunities and meet the volume, quality and consistency requirements of schools and other wholesale buyers so students can enjoy fresh Minnesota-grown produce year-round.”

All training sessions have a half-day or full-day option. The training is free with lunch support from the Minnesota Farmers Union and the NCR Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program. Major funding support for the training is from the Minnesota Department of Education and the USDA Patrick Leahy Farm to School program.

• February 11- Prairie Wetlands Learning Center (Fergus Falls)

• February 12- Sprout MN (Little Falls)

•  February 13- Cloquet Public Library (Cloquet)

• February 18 – The Minnesota Department of Education (Minneapolis)

• February 26 – Aune Hall at Graham Park (Rochester)

• February 28 – New Ulm Civic Center (New Ulm)

“Sourcing and using locally grown food makes sense for schools and early care providers in Minnesota,” said Jayme Anderson, Minnesota Department of Education. “These food service professionals are looking for sources of locally grown food to include in their menus. Partnering with Extension to bring local farms and buyers together for these trainings is a critical step and will help improve access to healthful, Minnesota grown products among schools and early care providers.”

To register visit z.umn.edu/F2SRoadshows