"NEW BLOOMFIELD — The “Planted with Purpose, Falcons Eat Local” initiative is putting more fresh, local food on students' lunch trays in the Blair Oaks R-2 district.
"Our goal is to support local farmers by purchasing locally grown food to serve our students and to bring agriculture education into our classrooms," reads the initiative's Facebook page.
Amanda Boessen, the district's food services director, says she wanted to get away from processed foods and started reaching out to local farmers. She says they work closely with Happy Hollow Farm in Jamestown.
"It's been very rewarding to see students come through the lunch line excited for things like radishes," Boessen said. "We have students excited whenever we have baked potatoes. We have kids asking for things like asparagus."
The initiative started with a focus on produce. Boessen says the next step is working with local meats.
"We're excited to get that local, fresher item," Boessen said when talking about beef. "We started with ground beef, and we were able to get approval to work with beef roast.""
Read KRCG's full broadcast and article here by Tony Mullen, KRCG.