Farm to School Purchasing

Oregon Harvest for Schools Directory: A quick way for school food buyers to find locally-grown and processed foods that can fill students' lunch trays with Oregon's harvest.
Getting Started with Local Purchasing
Intro to Farm to School presentation
(Presented by Megan Kemple, Former Director of the Oregon Farm to School and School Garden Network, Amy Gilroy, Oregon Department of Agriculture Farm to School Coordinator, and Rick Sherman, Oregon Department of Education Farm to School/School Garden Analyst)
Oregon State Regulations for Purchasing Locally-Produced Foods
A Checklist for Purchasing Local Produce
OR Procurement Roadmap
A helpful document to help you figure out purchasing rules in Oregon!
USDA Food & Nutrition Services Procurement Page
Everything you need to know in one convenient place! Training, information and more.

Local Purchasing Resources!

Grab & Go Product Availability list, categorized by region.
RECORDED WEBINAR for finding and purchasing Oregon grown and processed food done on 10/25/16 by Megan Kemple, Amy Gilroy & Rick Sherman
Bend area local food purchasing options
Hillsboro/Forest Grove area local purchasing options

Geographic Preference Rule

Geographic Preference Resources

One of the best tools for schools looking to buy local food is the geographic preference option, which allows purchasers to include language in solicitations so that vendors who can supply local products have an edge. Schools get to decide for themselves how to define local, how much preference to give to local items, and how exactly to structure their solicitations. Now, two new resources are available to help schools incorporate geographic preference correctly and successfully!

The USDA farm to school team recently developed a fact sheet titled Geographic Preference: What it is and how to use it, which gives a quick overview of the law and associated regulations and then walks through three ways to use the geographic preference option.

In addition, School Food FOCUS has released Geographic Preference: A primer on purchasing fresh local food for schools, which provides step-by-step guidance on how to implement a geographic preference policy, starting with articulating the legal authority and rationale for buying local foods. For more helpful procurement links, check out our resources page.