Nemours Children’s supports Farm to Early Care and Education (ECE) across the country. In honor of National Farm to School Month, the National Office of Policy and Prevention is highlighting three states that are improving child care program environments for young children through Farm to ECE activities.
This month thousands of schools, child care programs, farms, communities, and organizations across the United States celebrated food education, school gardens, and meals made with healthy, local ingredients. Farm to ECE is a set of strategies and activities for programs that serve young children ages birth to five. Farm to ECE focuses on increasing access to three core elements: local food sourcing, on-site gardens, and food and farming education. These activities teach children about healthy food by engaging all five senses and can increase their fruit and vegetable intake, as well as their willingness to try new foods (CDC).
Through the Healthy Kids, Healthy Future Technical Assistance Program (HKHF TAP) funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, several states have advanced their Farm to ECE work since 2018. Of those states, Alabama, Hawai‘i, and Maine made significant progress to educate child care providers on Farm to ECE strategies and to offer support on local food purchasing, gardening, and food and farming education activities.
Alabama: Led by Alabama Partnership for Children (APC), the Alabama Farm to ECE Coalition invested in Farm to ECE strategies through the HKHF TAP project since 2018. Alabama provides Farm to ECE learning collaboratives, Master Gardener trainings, and gardening technical assistance. They also offer funding to purchase materials needed for gardening, processing produce, and implementing food and farming education to child care programs across the state. Watch these videos to hear directly from providers in Alabama on how they incorporate Farm to ECE into their program. To learn more about Alabama’s Farm to ECE work, please visit alabamafarmtoece.org.
Hawai‘i: Early Childhood Action Strategy in Hawai‘i joined HKHF TAP in 2022 with a strong foundation to advance their Farm to ECE efforts. Partners focused on key strategies to embed culturally appropriate physical activity and nutrition best practices into Hawai‘i’s child care systems and settings. Farm to ECE initiatives included the creation of an online training, a local food procurement incentive program, and a community of practice for child care providers to learn more about these strategies. These initiatives created positive systems change and strengthened partnerships amongst child care stakeholders to continue to help the youngest keiki (children) build lifelong healthy habits. To learn more, please visit the Healthy Keiki, Healthy Future website.
Maine: MCD Global Health in Maine joined HKHF TAP in 2018, and one aspect of their action plan was to create Farm to ECE resources and training materials for child care programs. As a result, Maine partners developed and led a three-month virtual Farm to ECE learning collaborative pilot program in 2021 to grow Farm to ECE in their state and increase healthy eating and physical activity in child care settings. You can read a success story about this pilot project here and watch this video of Sasha Shunk, a family child care provider, sharing her experience.
For more information about Farm to ECE or ideas to celebrate Farm to School month, please visit the National Farm to School Network website.
Happy National Farm to School Month!
