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A new study shows health disparities cost Texas billions of dollars; Senate rejects impeachment articles against Mayorkas, ending trial against Cabinet secretary; Iowa cuts historical rural school groups.

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The Senate dismisses the Mayorkas impeachment. Maryland Lawmakers fail to increase voting access. Texas Democrats call for better Black maternal health. And polling confirms strong support for access to reproductive care, including abortion.

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Rural Wyoming needs more vocational teachers to sustain its workforce pipeline, Ohio environmental advocates fear harm from a proposal to open 40-thousand forest acres to fracking and rural communities build bike trail systems to promote nature, boost the economy.

October Farm to School Month

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Monday, October 10, 2016   

MINNEAPOLIS – Getting locally grown fruits and vegetables into the hands, and eventually the diets of young Minnesota children is a year-round endeavor, and is being highlighted this month during National Farm to School Month.

Katie Costello, a Farm to Institution Program assistant with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), says the Institute has been working with school districts for several years, but has recently taken fresh fruits and vegetables to child care facilities, early learning programs and to preschools as well.

"We know that it takes kids between eight and 20 exposures before they'll accept a new food and develop a taste for it,” she explains. “So, that's sort of the rationale behind giving kids so many opportunities to interact with a food, is to get them to get really excited about it and be familiar with it, so they're more likely to actually eat it and enjoy it."

Farm to School Month was created to recognize the importance of teaching children about food origins, promote lifelong healthy eating habits, and to support local economies.

Costello says taking the produce into the classrooms helps develop a relationship between the children and farming.

She adds the program incorporates creative ways to get the children to try things they might not otherwise.

"So, the kids were learning about it in the classroom, they were getting a chance to taste it in different preparation methods,” she explains. “The targeted vegetable was zucchini. They would get it in several different ways – cooked, maybe raw zucchini, roasted. "

Costello says more than 100 school districts in Minnesota participate in Farm to School programs, but there is no statewide framework to coordinate and promote it.

She says the IATP will keep talking with state lawmakers about continuing the collaboration between schools and local farmers.





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