Senate weighs farm-to-school pilot program

Senators are considering creating a state-run “farm to schools” program to increase the amount of local produce that goes to school meals. 

House Bill 1678 would create a two-year pilot program to reimburse 10 public schools that purchase food from New Hampshire farms. The program would cover purchases of dairy, fish, pork, beef poultry, eggs, fruits, vegetables, cider, and maple syrup, and would allow schools to buy from food hubs, distributors, or directly from farms. 

Under the bill, schools would be reimbursed for 33 percent of what they spent. The state would spend $241,000 of general funds to fund the program.

The legislation passed the House earlier this month, 191-182, and is being considered now by the Senate Finance Committee. 

Supporters of the bill say it would help support farms and local food systems while also boosting nutrition in New Hampshire schools. But opponents, who include many Republicans, say the state should not be spending its own dollars on the effort, pointing to a $559,000 federally funded program the state approved last year that serves more schools. 

The bill would create a selection committee of people with knowledge of New Hampshire agriculture and school meal services, and would require that school districts apply to participate. Ten schools would qualify for the pilot program; the bill specifies there must be one from each county. 

The committee would be required to select a group of schools with a diversity in size, location, and socioeconomic backgrounds.

The bill also requires the Department of Agriculture, Markets, and Food to track the overall number of farms participating, the number of organic and sustainable farms that participate, and other metrics determined by the committee, and to provide a report every year to the Legislature. 

Nikki Kolb, operations director of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Hampshire, argued the bill would help farms and the rest of the state by strengthening local food production. And she said it would assist New England Feeding New England, a cross-state coalition of farms that is striving to get local farmers producing 30 percent of the region’s food by 2030. 

“Over the last four years, we’ve seen how a largely import-based food economy can be affected by external conditions, leading to food insecurity,” Kolb said in testimony to the House earlier this year. “… If the pilot program goes well, it will set the stage for broader institutional purchasing in future years.”

Rep. Dan McGuire, an Epsom Republican, countered that the state should not be spending so much money for just 10 school districts. He said the federally funded approach last year was more sustainable. 

“There’s better uses of general funds,” he said at a Senate hearing Tuesday.