By LEE G. HEALY, goupstate.com
Broccoli is one of fifth-grader Andrea Diaz’s favorite vegetables served in Arcadia Elementary School’s cafeteria. Andrea recently learned that having the green veggie on her lunch plate doesn’t just benefit her, but the local farmers who grew it.
This week, most Spartanburg schools are celebrating partnerships with local growers during the “It Takes You! Eat Local” event, sponsored by Chartwells School Dining Services. Each day, schools will feature at least one locally grown produce item on their menu.
Chartwells serves Spartanburg School Districts 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7, and its sister company FILK Independent Schools serves Spartanburg Day School. The Day School also celebrated local partnerships Tuesday with the Eat Local Challenge.
South Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture Hugh Weathers visited Arcadia on Tuesday before sitting down for a local lunch with students. Weathers said he was happy to hear students are learning food doesn’t originate in the grocery store aisle or the fast food drive-through.
“What you do as a consumer helps the farmers, it helps the economy and helps our state,” Weathers told students. “So, as you’re eating this week, don’t just say, ‘Well, somebody’s giving me something different to eat.’ You’re actually a part of something very important.”
After Weathers’ address, District 6 was presented with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Best Practice Award, recognizing the district’s efforts to buy local. Since last January, District 6 has used approximately 45,870 pounds and $34,569 of locally grown produce. It accounts for nearly 30 percent of annual produce spending.
“In the economic times we have now, it’s very important to support the people we have in our community that are farmers,” said Arcadia Principal Chuck Bagwell. “I think it’s very important for (students) to see that the food comes from local farms.”
The message wasn’t lost on attentive Arcadia students, who for lunch ate apples from Blue Haven Orchards in Long Creek and sweet potatoes from Nash Sweet Potatoes in Hendersonville, N.C.
“(Farmers) will have enough money to plant more to sell,” said fifth-grade student Melissa Velasquez of why schools should serve local fruits and vegetables.
Spartanburg area schools will serve more than 1,000 cases of fresh, local produce this week, but the effort won’t stop after lunch Friday. Schools served by Chartwells have been receiving local products for the last two years. Many schools also have or will soon start a student-tended garden.
Produce from Spartanburg Day School’s organic garden has been incorporated into cafeteria dishes for the last four years. On Tuesday, the local private school invited a representative from Walter P. Rawls & Sons Farm in Pelion to talk agriculture with students.
The lunch menu included local sweet potatoes, kale, chicken and collard greens.
Nancy Walker, a regional director with Compass USA, which operates both Chartwells and FLIK, said the event was a step toward continued awareness of what it means to eat local produce.
“When supporting local farmers,” she said, “it also means that students are eating healthy.”
