Title
To recognize October as National Farm to School Month in the City of Columbus and celebrate the Great Lakes Great Apple Crunch by encouraging Columbus residents and businesses to join Columbus City School students, as they crunch into Ohio grown apples at Noon on October 12, 2017.
Body
WHEREAS, In 2010, Congress designated National Farm to School Month to demonstrate the importance of farm to school programs as a way of encouraging healthy nutrition for children, to stimulate local food economies, and to educate children about the origins of food; and,
WHEREAS, the City of Columbus recognizes that consuming the 5 recommended servings of fruits and vegetables per day is vital for children and adults as it prevents obesity and chronic related illness - the city supports this effort by working to provide locally grown fruit and vegetables in schools; and
WHEREAS, Columbus City Council adopted the City of Columbus and Franklin County Local Food Action Plan in November of 2016, demonstrating our City’s ongoing commitment to ensuring that Columbus residents have improved education and access to healthy, affordable, and local food; and
WHEREAS, the Columbus City School (CCS) Farm to School Working Group, which included a Columbus Public Health’s Local Food System Strategies coordinator, led a planning process: to increase the percentage of the School District’s budget that is spent on local food, to increase the amount of local foods consumed by students; and to expand the district’s capacity to promote and teach about local foods; and
WHEREAS, Columbus City Schools, which is the largest school district in the state, was recently awarded a USDA Farm to School Implementation grant to purchase a fresh apple cutting system - this system will wash and remove apple cores, as well as treat and package Ohio grown apples - ultimately increasing the consumption of fresh fruit in school cafeterias; and
WHEREAS, there are over 100 apple orchards within the State of Ohio - which collectively produce over 50 different varieties of apples each year; and
WHEREAS, an average of 34.4 million pounds of fresh apples are produced in Ohio each year; and
WHEREAS, the city of Columbus recognizes that a robust, thriving food economy is created through the building of relationships; like the essential one that exists between the Ohio food growers and large consumers such as Columbus City Schools, now therefore;
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS: That this Council does hereby recognize October as National Farm to School Month in the City of Columbus and celebrate the Great Lakes Great Apple Crunch by encouraging Columbus residents and businesses to join Columbus City School students, as they crunch into Ohio grown apples at Noon on October 12, 2017.