2013 farm to school workshop

presentation descriptions

Farm to School 411
Lorin Fahmeier

Farm to School – Digging Deeper
Barb Depew

Business Opportunities in a New Place – Grower - Panel Discussion
Renee Seba, John and Shari Kopmann, Mark Jirak and Cole Cottin

Connect to Local Food Resources
Amy Radding & Bailey Mahberg and State Leads from NE, SD, IA, KS and MO

Voices from the Field – Panel Discussion
Ronda McCullick, Jill Vincent, Glenda Eassum

How To’s of Food Safety and Procurement

workshop presenters

Lorin Fahrmeier works for University of Missouri-Extension as the Missouri Farm to School project coordinator and serves as the Missouri lead with the National Farm to School Network.

Barb Depew works for the Kansas Department of Education’s Child Nutrition Services with a specialty in Farm to School programming. Barb serves as the Kansas State Lead with the National Farm to School Network.

Renee Seba and her husband Charlie, with the help of their children, own and operate the Mule Barn Berry Patch in Lathrop, MO. The Seba family just completed their third year of selling berries at their farm and their first year of selling to local Missouri schools.

John and Shari Kopmann, along with their 3 girls, are the owners of 3 Girls and a Tractor Farm in Marthasville, MO. The Kopmann’s have been growing and selling for 12 years and have been actively participating in Farm to School work for two years with their specialty in melons.

Mark Jirak is the owner of Jirak Family Produce and has been selling to Kansas schools for the past two years. Mark plans to become a full time vegetable farmer and focus primarily on growing his family business with institutional kitchens like schools.

Cole Cottin works with her husband Dan to coordinate school gardens in Kansas. They farm on different plots of land in their area and focus their sales to schools for special farm to school events. Cole also works at the Kansas Rural Center as the Local Food Field Coordinator - Kaw River Valley Region.

Kathie Starkweather is the Director at the Rural Opportunities and Stewardship Program Center for Rural Affairs in Nebraska, and serves as the Nebraska State Lead with the National Farm to School Network.

Ronda McCullick is the Food Service Director at Park Hill Schools, located north of Kansas City, MO, and has been actively serving locally grown food to her students this year. She works with other food service directors in the Kansas City area to purchase more locally grown food for their school lunch programs.

Jill Vincent  is the Food Service Director of Emporia Schools in Emporia, KS, and has been involved in Farm to school for two years. Jill has goals that include getting more farmers involved and being able to purchase more and more food straight from the farms.

Glenda Eassum is Farm to School Manager and Schwegler School Cafeteria Manager in Kansas. Glenda has been involved in the program for a couple years and believes in purchasing direct from local farmers to make her program a success.

Sadie Walton is a Senior Program Specialist in the Child Nutrition Programs Section with the USDA, Food and Nutrition Service. Sadie works with schools in the Midwest and Mountain Plains region in school food procurement and service guidelines for the National School Meal Pattern.