The Hawaiʻi Farm to School Initiative is celebrating Farm to School Week by highlighting its pilot project in Kohala.  From Oct. 2 to 5, students at Kohala public schools will enjoy delicious, fresh cooked meals that will feature local ingredients such as Big Island ground beef, apple bananas, sweet potatoes and pineapple.

The Initiative’s Farm to School Week coincides with Farm to School Month, which is being celebrated in October across the nation. The celebration brings an awareness to the growing importance of farm to school programs as a means to improve child nutrition, encourage diverse careers in agriculture, support local economies and educate children about the origins of food.

The Farm to School Initiative is a public-private partnership with the Lt. Governor’s office, the Hawaiʻi State Departments of Health, Agriculture, and Education, the Dorrance Family Foundation, Hawaiʻi Appleseed, Johnson ʻOhana Charitable Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, HMSA, The Kohala Center and ʻUlupono Initiative.