News

​Get ready to celebrate Farm to School and Early Care and Education Month and the North Carolina Crunch! The #NCCrunch, co-hosted by the Farm to School Coalition of North Carolina and NC Farm to Preschool Network, is designed to celebrate agriculture, nutrition, and farm to school. Kids and adults can not only taste and learn about North Carolina grown fruits and vegetables as part of the NC Crunch but also recognize and thank all our #farmtoschool heroes involved in feeding kids and communities. New resources are available to help you celebrate!

Governor Cooper has proclaimed October 2021 as Farm to School and Early Care and Education Month in North Carolina. The Governor encourages kids and adults to taste and learn about North Carolina grown produce for the N.C. Crunch and to recognize and thank all those who contribute to feeding our kids and communities – from farmers, farm workers, and food hub distributors, to school and early care nutrition professionals, educators, garden coordinators, bus drivers, and transportation professionals.

In response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on our communities and schools, the Farm to School Coalition of North Carolina (F2SCNC) and the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) recently awarded $26,000 in farm to summer rapid response funding to thirteen Local Education Authorities (LEAs) and Community Organization Sponsors operating N.C. Summer Nutrition Programs to feed children in need. 

Four high school teams competed in the state’s first-ever virtual North Carolina Jr. Chef cook-off this spring to create unique school lunch entrée recipes. 

There is still time for high school CTE junior chefs to enter the virtual 2021 North Carolina Junior Chef Competition. High school CTE student teams work with their Family and Consumer Science teachers and School Nutrition Programs to create a school lunch entrée recipe with at least two North Carolina ingredients, meets federal nutrition guidelines and appeals to student taste preferences. Applications are due Feb. 1. 

Eighteen local education agencies (LEAs) were recently awarded Farm-to-School Rapid Response funding by the Farm to School Coalition of North Carolina. The funding is intended to support urgent needs and long-term capacity building for local food purchasing for school meals and local food educational programming in ways that increase the skills, knowledge, and connection to local foods for children and their families. 

The student culinary team from Apex High School in Wake County won first place for the second year running in the 2020 North Carolina Jr. Chef Competition, held Friday at Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte. 

 Eight finalist teams from Career and Technical Education food, nutrition, and culinary arts courses will compete in a cook-off Feb. 7 at Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte.