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Event Recap – Farm-to-School Partnerships: Expanding Market Opportunities for Farmers and Food Producers 

On October 16th, the USDA Southwest Regional Food Business Center held its second webinar as part of its quarterly series. The webinar, “Farm-to-School Partnerships: Expanding Market Opportunities for Farmers and Food Producers,” featured speakers from Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, California Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF), and USDA Food and Nutrition Service (USDA FNS). Speakers provided insights into farm to school programs and initiatives taking place across regional, state, and national levels.

Highlighted programs and initiatives include:

  • Movement Building Workshops led by Utah Farm to Fork, to help interested farmers, ranchers, and producers connect to their region network and gain resources and training related to participating in farm to school;
  • Direct service assistance for procurement and conducting statewide events such as the California Crunch Day led by CAFF, who has been supporting and leading Farm to school programs for 20 years; and
  • The USDA FNS Patrick Leahy Farm to School Program, which aims to assists child nutrition program operators incorporate local foods through grant funding, technical assistance, training, and more.

view the recording

Presentation

Register for the Southwest Center’s Upcoming Webinar

Join the USDA Southwest Regional Food Business Center on January 15th from 3-4PM PST for our third webinar focused on institutional procurement.

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About Valley Vision and the Southwest Regional Food Business Center

Valley Vision leads coordination, communication, and network development efforts for the Southwest Regional Food Business Center. The quarterly webinar series is part of Valley Vision’s efforts to share best practices and to foster a collaborative network among Center partners and other participants. 

The Southwest Regional Food Business Center, representing Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah, is one of twelve USDA Regional Food Business Centers nationwide developed in 2023 to provide coordination, technical assistance, and capacity building to help farmers, ranchers, and other food businesses access new markets and initiatives, as well as navigate federal, state and local funding and resources. With an extensive network of partners from academic, government, and community-based organizations, the Southwest RFBC is dedicated to prioritizing historically underrepresented communities and small to mid-tier businesses.

For more information about the USDA Southwest Regional Food Business Center and its initiatives, visit www.swfoodbiz.org. To stay updated on future webinars and events, be sure to subscribe to the Center’s newsletter: http://bit.ly/SWRFBC-Newsletter. 

USDA disclosures and guidance can be found at https://bit.ly/USDAdisclosures.

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