New York dairy farmers Kelly Reynolds (left) from Reyncrest Farm in Corfu, and Rob DiCarlo from Fa-Ba Farm in Canandaigua, along with New York Agriculture Commissioner Richard Ball joined ADA North East’s Farm to Table Summit to talk with school nutrition professionals from nearly 50 districts.
Objectives of the summit were to provide the professionals with tools to incorporate a farm to school program that provides education around dairy in school meals, and to provide tools to promote and market school nutrition programs to students, specifically Gen Z.
Farm to school programs are rising in popularity, and encourage students to fill their breakfast and lunch trays with locally-sourced foods like milk, cheese, yogurt, fruits and vegetables. The programs also include classroom curriculums that help students learn more about where their food comes from. Lessons include taste tests, virtual farm tours, field trips to farms, and farmers visiting schools.
Reynolds and DiCarlo served on a panel to help make the dairy farmer connection and to showcase ADA North East’s dairy education programs. Reynolds previously hosted one of our Virtual Farm Tours.
Reynolds said, “It’s really good to connect to those who are serving our products to students across New York.”
DiCarlo agreed, saying, “It’s important that they hear from the people who are producing the food and they can ask us real questions and get real answers about dairy.”
Reynolds conducted several media interviews after the summit. Watch this WHAM news clip featuring Reynolds.