| Farm-to-school programs are growing rapidly across the United States; being utilized for both education and providing fresh, healthy school meals. Local food procurement is a key component of farm-to-school programs, but implementing this practice often presents logistical challenges and budgetary constraints, as schools may have to adapt to new kitchen practices and new food items. How local food procurement fits into the existing agrifood supply chain is important because many schools are not able to make significant kitchen or menu modifications to incorporate local food. Using a values-based value chain framework for analysis, this qualitative case study explores local food procurement in a large public school district across the supply chain, including: farmers, distributors, food service company representatives, and school district representatives. These perspectives provide necessary insight to examine supply chain practices, embedded values and participant-perceived values. The results illustrate differences between perception, marketing, and reality of local food procurement within this supply chain. The findings also highlight the practical complexities of such a value chain. A farm-to-school values-based supply chain provides viable market opportunities for mid-scale farmers while at the same time retaining local food attributes. Addressing the scalability of value chain principles and how they fit into farm-to-school can help scholars and practitioners aid in building and improving local food systems. |
