Local food in school lunches means “more color, more freshness, and more texture,” says Chef Taylor Frederick, Culinary Programs Director for Nourish Colorado. For the past five years, Nourish has provided technical assistance for Colorado’s Local Food Program, helping schools build relationships with local producers and incorporate more Colorado-grown food into their meals.

This past year, the voter-approved Healthy School Meals for All program helped expand funding for the Local Food Program to $15.4 million, meaning more Colorado farms can supply food to schools and feed children in their communities.

The program’s expansion comes at a challenging time for Colorado farmers. Drought, late freezes, wildfires, and rising costs for essentials like fertilizer and gasoline are putting pressure on farms across the state. However, at the beginning of the school season, Frederick says producers and school districts are looking forward to the opportunity to feed their communities.

“There’s so much excitement for it,” Frederick relates. Producers are holding onto products they plan to sell to schools, while districts are eager to figure out how to make the most of the new funding.

Frederick has gained most of his insight into the program through visits to schools across the state. There, he provides culinary training and operational support to teach cafeteria employees how to process locally grown food. “I’m there to help build up their skills to handle the products that we’re able to buy locally,” he explains. 

Many school kitchens have traditionally received school lunch ingredients that are already broken down or partially prepared. Whole or minimally processed local products can require different skills, equipment, and preparation methods. Trainings can range from basic knife skills to learning how to use large-scale equipment, build flavor, and prepare new ingredients efficiently.

Frederick says many school food-service employees are talented home cooks who entered the profession because they wanted a job that fit their families' schedules. But many have never received formal culinary training, creating opportunities for inefficiencies in professional kitchens.

Nourish’s trainings have helped schools improve those efficiencies while also giving staff the chance to experiment with new recipes and flavors. “Our trainings are fun,” Frederick exclaims.

Fresh produce and Colorado beef are key ingredients for many school lunches, but Colorado-grown grains offer another opportunity to keep local food on school menus year-round.

Nourish has been introducing schools to ingredients such as quinoa, cornmeal, and flour. Quinoa, in particular, has become a promising entry point. “We bring it with us on every single school tour because it has so many different uses in the kitchen,” Frederick remarks. It’s often paired with grain salads and can be used in dishes that range from beef picadillo to a chicken teriyaki as a rice substitute.  

Cornmeal has also been relatively easy for schools to incorporate because local food hubs already carry it. Frederick says schools are experimenting with cornbread, tamale-pie batter, and even pancakes. One district is considering a corn cake or johnnycake, while Frederick is also interested in exploring dishes such as blue-corn polenta.

Flour presents a different challenge.

Many Colorado schools do not bake from scratch, while rural districts that do bake in-house may have limited access to commercial baking infrastructure. Even when local flour is available, getting it from a small mill to a school kitchen can be difficult.

Frederick says Nourish has been working to connect schools with local mills and distributors, but the logistics are still developing. Much of the challenge comes down to distribution: getting products through the “last mile” and into individual school kitchens.

School districts operate differently from restaurants or other food businesses. They may have multiple locations, minimum order requirements, and strict delivery schedules. For a small producer or food hub, delivering a few cases to several different schools can quickly become expensive and inefficient.

Strengthening that infrastructure will be key to creating farm-to-school markets for Colorado grain.

The expansion of the Local Food Program represents a sizable new market for Colorado producers. The $15 million grant could give farms and local businesses a reliable stream of demand while keeping more food dollars in Colorado.

That opportunity is especially significant as producers navigate difficult growing conditions.

Frederick says it is still too early to know exactly how this year's drought, frost, and other challenges will affect the program. For example, some Colorado stone-fruit producers experienced frost damage this spring and reported total crop losses. Many of those producers had been planning to sell to schools.

At the same time, Frederick says the expanded funding could help offset some of the rising costs producers are facing.

“The importance of the regional food system is super apparent and right in front of us,” Frederick says. The goal, he adds, is to make sure the money reaches the growers and that producers have the tools, market connections, and infrastructure needed to meet school demand.

Connecting schools with local producers requires more than funding. It requires relationships, education, and a better understanding of how each side of the supply chain operates.

For producers, school purchasing systems can feel foreign. For schools, working with local producers can require new ordering processes, different products, and additional preparation. Nourish is working to bridge that gap by helping producers understand school procurement while helping school kitchens build the skills to use local ingredients.

Frederick sees that work as part of a much larger shift.

“There’s such a passion to feed their communities,” Frederick says. Producers know where their food comes from and want to see it reach local students. Many have wondered why they couldn't access that market before.

For schools, the benefits include bringing fresh, high-quality ingredients onto the plate while supporting the producers who grow them, Frederick explains. 

Collectively, those changes can help create a stronger connection between Colorado farms and the children who live and eat here.