What is Farm to Child?

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Serving locally produced food in child care settings.

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What is Local Food?

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The term local can mean food from Georgia or a nearby state. That means you could be buying locally when you get peaches grown in Georgia or oranges grown regionally in Florida.

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Why is Farm to Child Important?

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Farm to Child activities can help increase a child’s willingness to try new foods. Since healthy eating habits are formed during the earlier years of development, a child’s access to and increase in eating delicious local fruits and vegetables could help prevent obesity and decrease risk for diseases. Farm to Child also benefits local and regional farmers by providing new customers to purchase their products. 

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Farm to ECE and CACFP

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The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is a voluntary federally funded program that provides aid to child care programs for the provision of nutritious meals and snacks that contribute to the healthy growth and development of young children. In Georgia, a licensed child care facility must follow the CACFP meal pattern regardless of whether it is officially participating in CACFP. ECE programs participating in CACFP must follow federal procurement rules as explained in 2 CFR 200.318 General Procurement Standards. CACFP reimbursement can be used towards the purchase of local foods directly from farmers, farmers markets, food distributors, food hubs and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).