What is Farm to Early Care and Education?
Farm to early care and education (farm to ECE) offers increased access to local food sourcing, school gardens and food and agriculture education to enhance the quality of the educational experience in all types of ECE settings (e.g., preschools, child care centers, family child care homes, Head Start/Early Head Start, programs in K – 12 school districts).
Farm to ECE offers benefits that parallel the goals and priorities of the early care and education community including emphasis on experiential learning opportunities, parent and community engagement and life-long health and wellness for children, families and caregivers.
- Improves children’s health behaviors including choosing healthier options at school meals
- Increased consumption of fruits and vegetables through farm to school meals and at home
- Decrease in preference for and consumption of less healthy foods and sodas
- Increasing physical activity
Ohio Farm to ECE work
Find out more about the current work of the Ohio Farm to Early Care and Education Coalition under the “Farm to Early Care and Education Coalition” tab on this site.
Farm to ECE Resources
Early Childhood Health: Farm to Early Care Training
Explore the benefits of participating in Farm to Early Care and Education programming in this free self-paced online training. Participants will be provided information about connecting farm to early care activities to the early learning and development standards and identify steps to increase access to local foods, gardening, and food-based education in their classroom.
Available for 2.0 Ohio Approved credit hours on Ohio Child Care Resource and Referral Agency (OCCRRA) webpage (ST10139893).
If you do not need Ohio Approved credit you may access the training through Ohio Train by creating an account at oh.train.org.
Ohio Local Procurement Guides
The Ohio Farm to Early Care and Education coalition developed two Procurement Guides:
- Buying Local Foods for Early Care and Education
- Selling Local Foods to Early Care and Education Providers
Both guides include:
- Background on Farm to ECE, defining local, and an overview of licensing and serving local foods, with tips and resources.
- A decision tree guiding the reader through questions to help determine where it is best to start in procuring local foods OR selling local foods.
- Lastly, steps to buying or selling local foods dependent upon where you landed on the decision tree (i.e. farmer direct, farmers market, food hub, CSA, food distributor, etc.)
Videos and Handouts
Watch our videos- Washing Local Foods,
- Composting,
- Cooking with Children, and
- Starting a Garden at an Early Care Site.
Each video has a corresponding handout to help you get started at your site: English or Spanish, including kitchen activities by age group.
Infographic
The Ohio Farm to Early Care and Education Coalition was partially supported by a grant administered by the Association of State Public Health Nutritionists (ASPHN) and funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from November 2020 to June 2023. Click here to review the impact of our work.
Getting Started
- Getting Started with Farm to ECE (PDF)
- Getting Started: Planning Guide for Farm to ECE (PDF)
- Research and literature on Farm to ECE
How to Buy Local Food for Early Care sites
- Local Procurement for Child Care Centers(PDF)
- Step-by-Step Guide Farm to Early Childhood (PDF)
- How to Buy, Prepare and Serve Local Foods(PDF)
How to Serve Local Food for Early Care sites
- How to integrate local foods into meals/snacks
- School Garden Food Safety Manual(PDF)
- Taste Test guide from WI (PDF, Home Grown Taste Test Guide)
Tools to teach about food
Gardens and Growing
Become a Member of the Ohio Farm to Early Care and Education Coalition
Are you looking to advance Farm to Early Care and Education in Ohio? Learn more about the Ohio Farm to Early Care and Education Coalition and how you can be become a member.
