Targeting School Food Service Directors: A Farm to School Case Study from Missouri

Missouri is an agricultural state, but only 20 percent of Missouri children eat five servings of fruit and vegetables a day. Moreover, 14 percent of Missouri children are obese. The Missouri Council on Nutrition and Physical Activity and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services sought to improve these trends through promotion of “Missouri Farm to School.” This school-based strategy focused on food service directors, who are gatekeepers to menu decisions for an educational campaign in 2011. PRESENTATION OBJECTIVES: • Identify how media outreach through rural newspapers and hands-on workshops can increase participation rates in farm to school projects; • List three methods of enhancing self-efficacy among food service staff to prepare and serve fresh foods; and • Describe how inexpensive web videos can promote farm to school projects and serve as an evaluation tool. METHODS: Key informant interviews, surveys, and focus groups were conducted in 2010 and 2011. The resulting campaign featured a public relations component along with interpersonal workshops designed to address school food service staff's perceived barriers to change. RESULTS: To date, the project has reached over 1.2 million Missourians. Interim data show over 75 percent of food service directors are aware of Missouri Farm to School, along with a 50 percent increase in the number of schools serving locally grown foods. DISCUSSION: Missouri's findings are applicable for other schools in rural states looking to start their own farm to school programs.