Large, vacuum sealed bags of hamburger and stew meat, stacked on end, now line shelves in the walk-in freezers at Parsons High School and Parsons Middle School.
No big red bow was attached to the gift, but for USD 503 Food Service Director Marla Kirkpatrick, there might as well have been.
The beef was provided through a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Local Food For Schools Cooperative Agreement. The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced last April it signed a cooperative agreement with Kansas for more than $2 million to increase their purchase of nutritious, local foods for school meal programs.
Through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (LFS), the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) purchases and distributes local and regional foods and beverages for schools to serve children through the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. These products are healthy and unique to their geographic area, with the goal of improving child nutrition and building new relationships between schools and local farmers, the USDA stated in a release.
USD 503 was notified of the availability of the USDA funds, and Kirkpatrick reached out to express the district’s interest in participating.
Parsons USD 503 was awarded a total of about $8,200 through two rounds of the USDA grants. Kirkpatrick worked with local beef producer John Baugher to purchase three beef. Baugher was willing to cover the cost of the processing, which was mandated in the grant.
“It had to be processed at a federally, USDA inspected locker. When I called Timber Creek, they knew what I was talking about. They had already had a meeting and they were up on everything to do with the program,” Kirkpatrick said.
“We got three cows, they are butchered and half of it is here at the high school and half of it is at the middle school and we’re just as happy as larks,” Kirkpatrick said.
Once processed, the grant provided about 2,300 pounds of beef if figures are correct, she said. About 250 pounds of the beef went to stew meat. The rest went to hamburger.
In the school cafeterias, the meals take about 50 pounds of beef, depending on the recipe. Based on that amount of beef per meal, the grants provided beef for about 46 meals. Considering the high cost of beef, that is a tremendous savings to the district’s food service budget.
“It’s a huge savings, because stew meat is expensive and hamburger is not cheap. It’s about $5 a pound,” Kirkpatrick said. “I am hoping next year we get this grant again.”
“This grant provides a much-needed solution to the supply chain issues and rising food costs our school nutrition programs have faced over the last few years,” said Kansas Commissioner of Education Dr. Randy Watson . “Kansas schools will be able to increase access to locally raised, high-quality meats while supporting small businesses - producers, ranchers and meat processors in Kansas.”
The concept of the LFS program is that it will pave a way toward a thriving local meat to school infrastructure that can be sustainable after grant funds are no longer available.
“This cooperative agreement supporting Kansas schools is another example of how USDA is working to build a more resilient food system rooted in local and regional production,” said USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Jenny Lester Moffitt. “The Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program provides an opportunity for states to strengthen ties between local farmers, ranchers, food businesses and schools, and gives students access to nutritious foods unique to the area they live in, building stronger connections across local communities.”
“Strengthening relationships between local producers and schools is a long-term strategy to ensure our children always have access to nutritious foods in school, a win-win for child health and American agriculture,” said Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Stacy Dean. “Through this program and many other efforts to support the school meal programs, USDA is committed to giving schools the tools they need to set children up to learn, grow, and thrive.”
Kirkpatrick said she is presently looking at another grant through which she can purchase locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables, too, continuing the effort to support local food producers and provide nutritious foods for students.