Local and state leaders paid a visit to Joe Czajkowski Farm in Hadley on Monday to highlight the town’s farm-to-school partnership.
HADLEY, Mass. (WWLP) – Local and state leaders paid a visit to Joe Czajkowski Farm in Hadley on Monday to highlight the town’s farm-to-school partnership.
About 70 percent of calories consumed by our kids and teens are ultra processed foods.
The Massachusetts Farm to School program aims to strengthen and promote healthy habits
so that students consume healthy and nutritious meals everyday in the cafeteria.
This partnership provides students with fresh fruits and veggies on their lunch trays every day.
Joe Czajkowski, is one of many farmers across the state, working hard 365 days a year through the farm to school program to bring fresh produce to your children’s meals everyday for breakfast and lunch.
“I mean it’s a great thing the food is fresher and better,” said Czajkowski, owner of Joe Czajkowski Farm in Hadley. “They send us the order and we pull it together and get it out on time because you can’t give a kid an empty plate.”
Over 1/3 of the fruits and vegetables at Czajkowski Farm go straight to students in Chicopee, Springfield even as far as Boston.
“The partnership between our farmers here Western Massachusetts and the Boston public schools is is should be an example for the rest of the state for the rest of the country. I’m fighting in Congress to get funds to make more of these collaborations possible,” mentioned Congressman Jim McGovern.
Congressman McGovern told 22News he’s fighting for a bill that would provide more funding for school infrastructure to build kitchens and to build adequate refrigeration
so the schools can accommodate more fresh produce that’s locally grown.
Some cities in Massachusetts are food deserts and there’s a lack of accessibility to fresh greens. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu believes having fresh and healthy food allows students to do better in the classroom, “We hear from our educators that it’s a difference between feeling focused and ready and and and taking on the whole day experience versus knowing that young people are distracted because they’re hungry.”
The ultimate goal is to ensure that all districts across the state have access to local food purchasing and scratch cooking to ensure greater equity in farm to school activity.