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Farmer Theresa Schuller harvests baby butternut squash at Old Elm Farm in Boulder.

This school year, Boulder Valley School District will source 40% of the food it serves in its 56 school cafeterias from local farmers, ranchers and producers. BVSD’s focus on serving locally produced food began in 2009, when a group of parents led the effort to improve the quality of school food. Now the district serves 15,000 meals per day that are made from scratch at the School Food Project's Culinary Center. 

Each year the sourcing process begins in December with the district inviting local suppliers to learn about what types and quantities of food the district plans to prepare the following year. Menu plans may change based on the farmers’ input. 

“Keeping our purchasing power central and local makes a huge impact,” said Carolyn Villa, director of food services at BVSD. “Schools are the biggest restaurants in America.” 

Theresa Schuller of Old Elm Farm, just down the street from the Boulder-based Culinary Center, grew baby butternut squash because the district was looking for a way to feature squash after the main fall harvest. They also wanted them to be small enough to cut in half and serve. Shuller’s squash will be served as a “Harvest of the Month” item in November. 

Villa said that local food is often less processed and more nutritious, and local producers are  more reliable. When supply chains were majorly disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, BVSD was largely unaffected due to its locally produced food.

The district’s Culinary Center was finished in 2020 after about 10 years of planning and construction. The latest addition to the building is a technical kitchen for Career and Technical Education students to learn commercial cooking.

Villa’s advice to other school districts that want to source more local food is to start small. 

“Just pick one thing,” she said. “Every single purchase that you make from a local farm has an impact. Even if you only do it one time because it’s Farm to School Month or because it’s Colorado Proud Day…collectively, it makes a really big impact.” 

See photos from Old Elm Farm and the School Food Project Culinary Center on Flickr.