2024 Louisiana Farm to School Conference- Rooting for Each Other
The annual Louisiana Farm to School Conference will gather participants from across the state for an opportunity to learn, celebrate, share and inspire the movement of bringing healthy, local, sustainably grown foods to the minds and plates of students in Louisiana and beyond! Attendees will experience in-person sessions guided by farm to school champions from across the state. In addition, the gathering will feature a venue for networking in a relaxed, face-to-face environment, allowing participants to grow lasting connections.
View the Complete 2024 Conference Program.
In case you missed the conference or a particular session, you can find all the speakers presentations below.
Jenna Mobley, Teacher Trainer with Life Lab, will be giving this year’s keynote address. Jenna began her career in education as a second-grade teacher in Atlanta Public Schools. At present, she continues
to work at the intersection of the education system and local food systems, primarily developing curriculum and training teachers around the world with partner organizations.
Break Out Session One
- Logistics and Learning Curves of Growing in a School with Hydroponic and Aquaponic Systems: Join Ken Rust and Justin Rayburn as they dive into the rewarding and sometimes challenging world of hydroponics and aquaponics as a part of school gardens. Learn about their experiences with these systems and gain a realistic picture of how to select, install, maintain, and troubleshoot a productive system for your learning environment.
- Connecting Communities and Schools with Local Food Producers: Learn about how Calcasieu Parish Schools built a relationship with Tara Morris of 312 Beef, a Louisiana beef producer. Tara will share what Child Nutrition Programs need to know when planning for local beef on their menus. Calcasieu Parish Schools Child Nutrition Director, Jacqueline Richard will give valuable insight as to how to plan menus for local items and why it’s worth it!
- Sowing Seeds for the Future: Early Integration of Farm to School: Learn how The Children’s Coalition integrates farm to school programming into its day-to-day activities with younger children and the importance of farm to school in early childcare education programming.
Break Out Session Two
- Organizing and Building Community with Children in the Garden: Active student involvement and engagement in the garden is half the battle to running a successful school garden program. Join Jenna Mobley, Life Lab Guest Educator, to learn more about effective approaches to managing learners in the garden and other green spaces.
- Serving Local Throughout the Year: Join Regional Chef James Porter with the Child Nutrition Program of the East Baton Rouge Parish School System as he shares strategies to procure local food for students throughout the school year.
- Rooted in Shared Values: Farm to School in Extracurricular Programs: Farm to School easily extends beyond the walls of the classroom to help reinforce and expand extracurricular activities and programs. Learn how Seeds to Success and Louisiana 4-H teamed up to develop and implement a school year’s worth of programming with the Growing Minds Toolkit. The toolkit is being used by 4-H agents from across the state to help support educating students about what is grown in Louisiana, who is growing it, and how those commodities help keep our bodies nourished.
