When the 2019 session convenes next month, Minnesota legislators will hear about the success of farm-to-school programs and how they could be improved with a centralized approach and additional state funding. Erin McKee is with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. She says in the past sixteen years, the number of Minnesota school districts embracing farm-to-school has grown from six to 268.

McKee would like to see Minnesota adopt a program like those in Oregon and Michigan, where school districts are reimbursed when they buy local food.