Connecting local farm and food businesses to school cafeterias.


Rogue Valley Farm to School’s Procurement and Nutrition Program works to increase locally grown food in school cafeterias. Serving both Jackson and Josephine Counties, they support school nutrition staff, regional farmers, food businesses, distributors, and other supporting organizations through the Harvest of the Month Program, a Weekly Availability List, and annual Gatherings and Trainings. They also provide direct technical assistance supporting the farm's readiness and process of selling to schools and assisting nutrition staff in their menu planning and utilization of state grant funds to offer seasonal, local foods.

WHO WE ARE

Bella Grubb - Procurement & Nutrition Program Manager

Bella manages our Procurement and Nutrition program and is the main point of contact for support with buying from local producers.   She is also the procurement regional hub lead for the OR Farm to School Network.  Reach out if you need support with local procurement grant info, connecting with local producers, procurement gatherings, resources or any other technical assistance.

Deanna Waters-Senf - Farm 2 Cafeteria Coordinator

Deanna works to keep the pulse of what's happening in our farming community and helping connect to schools.  She's also an extraordinary chef and supports our team with recipe development and creativity in making the most of local products.  Reach out with requests for specific products, how to incorporate them in school meals and any help you need with out-of-the-box thinking.

Lela Miatke - Tasting Table Coordinator

Lela coordinates our monthly Tasting Table program at 11 elementary schools in 4 districts. Each month, we feature a new Harvest of the Month item, and the students have the opportunity to taste these items in their school cafeterias.

Ellie Thompson - Education Program Manager

Ellie coordinates the development of our Harvest of the Month educational materials, places orders for schools and sends out our weekly availability list.  Please reach out to her about placing an order or questions about the items on the availability list.

Rebecca Slosberg - Co-Executive director of Programs & Staff

Rebecca oversees our Procurement & Nutrition program and our Education program.  Please reach out with any big picture questions.


GET CONNECTED

If you are a producer looking to get connected with our local schools, please email bella@rvfarm2school.org for more information about our weekly availability list and tools to assess your readiness to sell to schools.

If you are a school looking to purchase local products, check out our weekly availability list to make direct orders from local producers and the Oregon Harvest 4 Schools Portal for long-term menu planning. You can also email ellie@rvfarm2school.org to place an order.

For additional resource and guidance, check out the Oregon Farm to School and School Garden Network resource page for producers and school food.

For information and updates on the farm to school bill and grant program, please visit the ODE website and Ecotrust. For progress on farm to school grant purchases, please visit Oregon Farm to school Counts.


Participating Farms

Fry Family Farm - Medford

Josephine County Farm Collective - Grants Pass

Marvin's Gardens and Cattle Co - Rogue River

Terra Sol Organics - Willams

Ella Bella Farm - Talent

Wandering Roots - Gold Hill 

Salant Ranch - Applegate

Whistling Duck Farm - Grants Pass

Naumes Orchards - Medford

Victory Garden 541 - Shady Cove

Runnymede - Rogue River

Rusted Gate Farm - Central Point

The farm at Sou - Ashland

…and looking to partner with more!

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SIGN UP TO receive THE Weekly availability List

The Procurement and Nutrition Team puts together a weekly list of locally grown and produced items schools can buy using their Farm to Child Nutrition Program Reimbursement Grant. If you are a producer wanting to post your items for schools to see or if you are a school or community buyer wanting to access the list to buy, sign up below with your name and email and a brief note sharing your intended use.


Rogue Valley Farm to School is building a love for fresh food, clean air, healthy soil and a thriving community.

During the 2021-22 school year, we partnered with the Phoenix-Talent School District and Rogue Produce to provide a composting program at Talent Elementary and Phoenix Elementary. This program is now helping our local schools reduce their waste and the students are learning about the importance of composting and the impact that methane emissions from decaying food in landfills have on climate change.