DPSCD Farm-to-School

Farm-to-School works to execute the Division of School Nutrition's mission to provide high-quality food, nutrition, and wellness education while eliminating barriers to healthy food. Each Farm-to-School initiative focuses on connecting students, teachers, and community members to local agriculture while empowering them to grow their own food at school or at home.  The program is further enriched by the following:

• Local Procurement
• Detroit School Garden Collaborative
• Farm-to-School Internship
• Drew Farm

National Leader in Local Procurement

The Division of School Nutrition proudly supports local procurement through a partnership with local farmers and distributors.

Detroit School Garden Collaborative

The Detroit School Garden Collaborative is a farm-to-school initiative operated by the District's Division of School Nutrition. 
82 DPSCD schools are currently participating in this innovative program, with plans for all DPSCD schools to receive a garden. Each site features six raised garden beds, built by exceptional DPSCD carpentry students at Drew Transition Center. Fruit, vegetables, and edible flowers are grown in the six provided raised beds for use in classroom taste tests and activities or for school salad bars. A partnership with Keep Growing Detroit provides all school gardens with ample seeds and transplants in spring, summer, and fall, which ensures that the gardens are always producing.

DREW FARM
Drew Farm is a two-acre farm at Drew Transition Center, a DPSCD school serving exceptional 18-26-year-olds with cognitive and physical impairments. The farm consists of six unheated greenhouses ranging from 3,000 to 4320 square feet, as well as one and a half acres of field production space. On average, 20,000 pounds of fresh, organically produced food are grown for the school lunch program. The crop plan is aligned with District menus and salad bars to optimize usage. Drew is the centerpiece of the school garden program and was designed as a replicable model to increase in-house food production district-wide.  

Drew Farm also hosts field trips and community events for students and DPSCD families to learn about local agriculture, healthy eating, and sustainability.

FOOD CORPS
Food Corps is a national AmeriCorps service program that seeks to create healthy school cultures around food within schools located in historically underserved communities. The Office of School Nutrition is a host site for Food Corps in Michigan with four service members currently. Service members serve at one primary k-8 school to work towards maximizing gains in nutrition and garden education. The current Food Corps schools are Mackenzie, Dixon, Carstens, and Spain. Food Corps service members also lead weekly field trips to Drew Farm throughout the school year.

PARTNERS
Food Corps Michigan, DPSCD-Office of Science, MSU-Extension, Advanced Disposal, Keep Growing Detroit, United Dairy Industry of Michigan, Life Time Fitness Foundation, Green Living Science, MSU Center for Regional Food Systems, United Way of Southeast Michigan, Michigan Fitness Foundation, Eco-Works, Fair Food Network, Detroit Food Policy Council, Eastern Market Corporation, WSU Center for Health and Community Impact, and many more.

In the summer months, the Division of School Nutrition provides a Farm to School Internship program for 30 DPSCD high school students. Students are paid to maintain school garden sites, assist with food production at our larger sites, as well as processing harvested crops for school meals. These students learn valuable life skills and work ethics to prepare them for a lifetime in the workforce.