From the Farm to the Cafeteria: Celebrating National Farm to School Month in Ohio

October is National Farm to School Month, and we're celebrating Farm to School Month Ohio by highlighting the people, products, and partnerships that connect our school cafeterias to farms and food producers right here in our own communities.

Farm to School can sometimes sound like a big initiative. A new program. A new procurement strategy. Another thing for an already-busy school nutrition team to manage.

But what if it starts much simpler than that?

What if it starts with one local product?

One recipe.

One farmer.

One relationship.

That was one of our biggest takeaways from a recent episode of NutriSmart SNAX, when Maureen sat down with Emily Church from Snowville Creamery to talk about local dairy, school nutrition, and the impact schools can make when they choose to look a little closer to home.

Better Dairy. Better World.

Snowville Creamery was founded in 2007 with a goal that sounds simple: bring "milk the way it used to be" back to the community.

For Snowville, that means A2/A2 milk, non-homogenized cream-top milk, gentle processing, and clean-label products without stabilizers or thickeners. Today, the Ohio creamery produces a full line of dairy products including milk, chocolate milk, yogurt, cheese, buttermilk, and crème fraîche.

But during our conversation with Emily, it quickly became clear that the Snowville story is about more than dairy.

It is about connecting food back to the people and places that produce it.

And that is exactly what Farm to School is about.

Local Food Makes the Cafeteria Part of the Community

We had the opportunity to experience this firsthand when our team visited Snowville and then headed into schools in Nelsonville for a sampling day.

The menu wasn't simply featuring dairy. We were able to incorporate Ohio Proud ingredients and recipes, including a ranch recipe and cucumber tzatziki salad.

That's where Farm to School becomes real.

Students aren't just eating lunch. They're eating food with a story behind it.

That yogurt might have been produced in Ohio.

Those vegetables might have been grown nearby.

That milk may have traveled a fraction of the distance of another product.

And suddenly the cafeteria becomes another classroom, helping students understand where their food comes from and how the choices made by their school can affect the community around them.

Farm to School Has to Work Operationally, Too

Of course, those of us in school nutrition know that having a great local product isn't enough.

It has to work.

Can you get it through distribution? Can it be purchased in quantities that make sense for foodservice? Can the staff actually use it? Can it be incorporated into recipes students will eat?

Emily summed up Snowville's goal perfectly: make it easy for school nutrition professionals to choose local.

That means developing products and recipes that can move beyond the idea stage and actually make their way onto trays.

Snowville is already working with school districts in Ohio. Meigs Local School District has used Snowville milk and yogurt in its summer feeding program, while Cincinnati Public Schools has incorporated its yogurt into recipes, including a simple parfait using bulk foodservice vanilla yogurt.

Those examples matter because Farm to School shouldn't be limited to a special event once a year.

The real opportunity is figuring out how local foods can become part of the everyday menu.

Sometimes Innovation Comes From Looking Back

One of the most interesting parts of our conversation was Snowville's approach to dairy itself.

Snowville produces A2/A2 milk and has also developed products such as its lactose-free "No-Lac Jack" cheese. The cheese uses yogurt cultures during production to consume the lactose and can be used in applications ranging from bistro boxes to school pizza.

It's a great example of how local food and innovation don't have to be competing ideas.

A local producer can understand the needs of its community, develop something different, and then work with schools to find practical ways to use it.

That relationship can create opportunities that don't always exist when food is simply another item number on an order guide.

Your Menu Can Tell a Story

One of our favorite parts of Farm to School is the opportunity to make the menu more transparent.

Don't just serve the local product.

Tell students about it.

Put the Ohio Proud designation on the menu. Highlight the farm or producer. Introduce students to the people who grew, raised, or made their food. Invite a farmer into the cafeteria. Take staff on a farm tour. Build a recipe around an ingredient produced in your region.

When students understand the story behind their meal, food becomes more than food.

It becomes a connection to their community.

And local purchasing can create a ripple effect beyond the cafeteria. As Emily explained during our conversation, supporting local producers helps support farmers, employees, families, and communities.

That's a powerful story for school nutrition programs to tell.

Start With One Thing This Farm to School Month Ohio

You don't need to completely redesign your procurement system to participate in Farm to School.

Start with one thing.

Ask your distributor which products on your order guide are grown or produced locally.

Find one Ohio-grown ingredient you can feature this month.

Replace one product with a local alternative.

Develop one recipe around a local ingredient.

Invite one farmer or producer into your school.

Take your team to visit one local farm, creamery, orchard, or food business.

Then tell students what you did and why.

As Emily reminded us during the podcast, small changes make big impacts.

That's the challenge we'd like to leave with every school nutrition program during National Farm to School Month:

What can you do this month that makes a difference in your community?

Because Farm to School isn't just about shortening the distance between the farm and the cafeteria.

It's about strengthening the connection between students, schools, farmers, food producers, and the communities we all call home.

And that's something worth celebrating all month long.

Listen to NutriSmart SNAX

Hear our full conversation with Emily Church from Snowville Creamery as we talk about local dairy, A2/A2 milk, recipe development, Ohio school meals, and how small changes in local purchasing can create a much bigger impact.

Click this link or search "Nutrismart SNAX' wherever you get your podcasts