She said 19 school districts in St. Lawrence and Jefferson counties have participated in the program administered by the Adirondack North Country Association over the past two school years.
"I have found the farm-to-school program has had a tremendous impact on our farmers and their bottom lines. While many farmers in my area were certainly not well-versed in doing business with institutional buyers when we started this pilot program a couple of years ago, they have risen to the challenge," Assemblywoman Jenne said.
She pointed out she has toured several schools participating in the farm-to-school program and seen the popularity of the program in school cafeterias firsthand.
"Our kids are literally eating it up," Assemblywoman Jenne said of the locally grown products now being served at schools participating in the pilot program. "They are now eating salads for lunch at school, and they weren't before."
She said the Drive to 25 initiative implemented by the Adirondack North County Association (ANCA) has provided the funding schools need to expand their use of local foods in their cafeterias.
A recent report from ANCA revealed the $600,000 Assemblywoman Jenne has secured for the pilot program over the past two years has benefited 19 school districts, 24,000 students and 15 local farms that are now selling directly to schools.
The report noted over 150,000 pounds of 47 different local food products have been served at breakfast and lunch in participating schools.
Assemblywoman Jenne also pointed out that Gov. Andrew Cuomo has called for doubling the state's separate investment in the farm-to-school program-from $750,000 to $1.5 million-in his executive budget proposal.
The governor's office has said, if passed, the program would serve an estimated 18 projects and 328,000 additional students, bringing the estimated total number of students served to 652,000.
"I expect the expansion of the farm-to-school program, even this mild additional investment proposed by the governor, will have such a positive ripple effect in rural economies that we will kick ourselves for not doing this earlier," Assemblywoman Jenne said.
She said the Assembly's budget plan also calls for restoring funding for a number of local initiatives that benefit agriculture research and development in New York State.
Assemblywoman Jenne said the spending plan, for example, allocates funding for the New York Farm Viability Institute, the Cornell Rabies Program, the Cornell Farm Family Assistance (FarmNet) program, the Maple Producers Association and for capital improvements at local fairgrounds.