Legislators in Salem, Oregon are considering passing a bill that puts Oregon-grown food from the farm into school lunchrooms. It is known as the “farm to school” bill. Many feel it is a way to help family owned farms get business, but it is also to improve school lunch programs brining healthy, organic food to the children’s plates.

The bill not only supplies healthy food, but it also supports Oregon agriculture. The marketplace would be a constant support of the industry. Farms, ranches and manufacturers would benefit from the program. The legislation would fit right in with the plan of the new U.S. secretary of agriculture, Tom Vilsack.

Some senators are concerned that Vilsack will neglect to acknowledge the different types of organic farmers, despite Vilsack’s support for the industry. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said the USDA needs to prioritize resources because there are the small farms on 40 organic acres growing crops, but there are also the production farmers with 10,000 acres who practice alternative agriculture. Roberts’ seems to be more concerned for the big production farms than the family.

When looking at Oregon Agriculture, families operate 98 percent of farms.

Video footage of representatives Tina Kotek and Brian Klem speaking about the Farm to School legislation.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 29th, 2009 at 5:12 pm and is filed under Oregon farm loans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.