Lawmakers look to connect local food with schools

State lawmakers considering a bill to make it easier for K-12 schools, state agencies and colleges to buy Washington-grown food should stop by the public cafeteria in the Pritchard Building on the Capitol Campus to see how the food connection can work.

Within a stone's throw of the House and Senate hearing rooms where the Local Farms-Healthy Kids and Communities Act was unveiled last week, the Fresh Measures cafeteria operated by the South Puget Sound Community College culinary-arts program was preparing dishes with fruits and vegetables supplied by Lewis and Thurston County organic farmers.

"It's exciting; locally grown produce is coming to the state Capitol," Winlock farmer Susie Kyle told legislators at a House Agriculture and Natural Resource Committee hearing on House Bill 2798.

Working with SPSCC catering coordinator Brook Ahnemann, Kyle rounded up organically grown food from several area farms Tuesday for the first of what should be weekly deliveries to the cafeteria kitchen in the Pritchard Building.

The first order included potatoes, Asian pears, parsnip, Jerusalem artichokes, rosemary, bay leaves and garlic basil sauce, Kyle said.

"I wanted to get some healthy, locally grown food on the menu over there," Ahnemann said of the Fresh Measures, which opened Jan. 14. "I'm getting some really good feedback from the customers."

Next door to the cafeteria, state legislators received good feedback on HB 2798, which has 51 co-sponsors, and a companion measure, Senate Bill 6483.

The bill would:

• Amend state procurement policy to cut through the red tape that can make it hard for state agencies, school districts and colleges to buy locally grown food.

Ahnemann was able to work directly with farmers because the costs of her purchases are below the threshold that triggers state procurement rules, she said.

• Create a Farm-to-School Program in the state Department of Agriculture, linking local farms to local schools to improve access to fresh fruits and vegetables for schoolchildren.

"It's not a radical concept for local farmers to supply local food to local schools," Bellingham-area organic farmer Clayton Burrows said in support of the bill.

• Create state pilot programs to help low-income families buy food at farmers markets and food banks.

The bill would require a $4.5 million state budget appropriation, including $2 million for the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to offer fresh-fruit-and-vegetable grants to 75 schools.

The bill is one of the four legislative priorities in 2008 for a coalition of state environmental groups.

"It's a comprehensive approach that will save some small and midsized farms, provide for healthier kids and help the food banks," said Clifford Traisman, lobbyist for the Washington Environmental Council.

The measure has the support of people who work in agriculture because it doesn't favor organic over conventionally grown groups and doesn't preclude out-of-state food purchases by schools, Washington Farm Bureau lobbyist John Stuhlmiller said.

"We're bringing together the environmental and agricultural communities with this bill, and that's a great thing for Washington," said Sen. Brian Hatfield, D-Raymond, a prime sponsor of the Senate bill.

Operators of small and midsize farms need a bill like this to stay in business, said Andrew Stout of Full Circle Farms in Carnation.

"We're losing small family farms day by day in this state," he said. "This bill will help break down the barriers between farmers and schools."

The bill also received support last week from children's advocacy groups, the Washington State Parent-Teacher Association, school officials and Thurston County Food Bank executive director Robert Coit.

Coit said a recent survey of 800 South Sound households served by the food bank found that their top priority is availability of fresh food.

"That's why people line up for hours outside the food bank on a cold day like this," Coit testified. "They want a first chance at fresh produce."

Unfortunately, he said, about all the food bank has to offer this time of year are potatoes. Other times of the year, the produce is just a day or two removed from rotting, he said.