Washington Marking Farm To Summer Week

This is Farm to Summer week in Washington.  The program works to connect producers around the state with local school districts or organizations working to feed young kids during the summer months.  Bianca Smith, nutritionist and program coordinator with the state office of Superintendent of Public Instruction said much like it’s school time counterpart, Farm To School, many of the local organizers are eager to work with local growers, to incorporate the best Washington has to offer.

“Washington has such an abundant source of agriculture and many times when you get involved with these summer feeding programs, they are very community oriented, so they want to incorporate as much of what’s going on in their community as possible.”

Smith said one of her goals is to get the word out now to farmers, in hopes they will work with the Farm to Summer program next year.  She added while you may not see it hunger is a problem in rural portions of Washington.

“There’s a lot of hungry kids in our state and these summer feeding programs really do make a huge difference in closing the hunger gap for those kids.”

Despite the program being decades old, this is the first Farm to Summer week.

If you have a story idea for the Washington Ag Network, call (509) 547-1618, or e-mail gvaagen@cherrycreekradio.com