Students are proud of their colorful, fruit-vegetable-protein-bread balanced lunches. (photo by Lyra Halprin)

SAREP has supported two pilot projects in the Davis and Winters Joint Unified School Districts to expand opportunities for area farmers to sell directly to schools and improve the variety and quality of school lunches. Known as the "Crunch Lunch" in Davis, three schools now host farmers' market salad bars (a complete school meal) in addition to instructional gardens, food waste composting, cooking in the classroom and farm tours. A SAREP-funded report, Healthy Farms, Healthy Kids: Evaluating the Barriers and Opportunities for Farm to School Programs, identifies characteristics of successful farm to school programs and offers guidelines for implementing direct farm-to-school purchasing. The report is available from the Community Food Security Coalition. SAREP is currently evaluating the viability of these projects for farmers and school districts and exploring alternative distributions systems.