Farm to School Program

The New York State Farm-to-School Program was created to connect schools with local farms and food producers to strengthen local agriculture, improve student health, and promote regional food systems awareness.

The Department provides financial assistance to New York State schools through New York State’s Farm-to-School program. It also provides technical and promotional assistance to schools, farms, distributors and other supporting organizations to bring more local, nutritious, seasonally-varied meals to New York students.

Harvest of the Month

Harvest of the Month is a Farm-to-School initiative that promotes a different locally grown food in the school cafeteria each month.  In 2022, Cornell Cooperative Extension launched a Harvest of the Month Pilot program, that took place over 4 months, with three separate school districts highlighting four Sullivan County Farms and their harvest products. Recipes, Nutrition, Growing and Harvest Information were shared with students in the lunchrooms to highlight the experience.

Farm & Recipe of the Month 

February - Potatoes 

March - Maple Syrup

April - Corn 

May - Leafy Greens 

Further statewide resources for promoting your Harvest of the Month program can be found through Cornell Cooperative Extension Harvest NY resources page 

New York Thursdays 

New York Thursdays is a locally sourced meal initiative that brings farm-fresh New York State foods to schools and institutions on one or more Thursdays a month throughout the year

• This would essentially – a full meal sourced from NYS on Thursdays of each month – once a month or more. This helps highlight the products, experience, while keeping costs within reach for SFA’s while increasing local sourced products.
• We hope to launch this 2022/2023 with some regional coordination in our neighboring counties. 

Last updated August 1, 2022