To our trusted School Food Service leaders and partners…
This month, we’re digging into what the summer’s cyclospora outbreak means for your purchasing decisions, and why buying direct and minimally processed keeps kids safest. Angela’s Ranch is bringing peak-season organic black mission figs to the Central Valley, Sacramento, and Bay Area buyers while the harvest lasts. Don’t forget: September 1 is the last day to request your free California Crunch stickers. And if you want a say in CDFA’s Farm to School Incubator Grant, don’t miss this week’s info sessions before the public comment window closes.
Let’s get into it.
When It Comes to Food Safety, Shorter is Safer
What happened?
This summer’s cyclospora outbreak, traced to iceberg lettuce processed at a Taylor Farms facility in Mexico, sickened thousands of people and was linked to two deaths. Cyclospora is a microscopic parasite spread through fecal contamination. It isn’t killed by chlorine or standard washes, and it doesn’t spread person to person, so the contamination has to come from somewhere in the growing, harvesting, or processing chain.
Why long supply chains raise the risk
Industrial fresh-cut processors blend mechanically harvested greens from multiple states and countries, running tens of thousands of heads through a single facility every hour. As Full Belly Farm co-founder Judith Redmond wrote in a recent Civil Eats op-ed, “a single contaminated leaf can cross-contaminate an entire commercial batch of thousands of bags.” One bad leaf becomes thousands of exposed servings, and a recall that can take weeks to trace.
Kali Feiereisel, CAFF’s Director of Farmer Services, provides one-on-one technical assistance to a California family farm to strengthen their on-farm food safety practices.
The farm to school advantage
Farm to school sourcing avoids that math. As CAFF’s Director of Farmer Services Kali Feiereisel wrote in Food Safety Starts on the Farm, “fewer steps and less handling in the chain means less risk.” Produce from small to mid-sized family farms moves from field to washpack to buyer with far fewer transfer points, so a head of lettuce is far easier to trace back to a single field than a bagged salad is to trace through a blended, multi-source processing run.
Two purchasing levers you control
- Buy as direct as possible. Shorter distance between farm and kitchen means fewer chances for contamination and faster tracing if a problem arises. Local and regional small to mid-sized family farms and food hubs shorten that chain.
- Buy as minimally processed as possible. Choose whole heads of lettuce and whole produce your kitchen washes and preps on site, rather than pre-cut, pre-washed, bagged greens blended from many sources.
What CAFF is doing, and what you can do next
California farmers selling into farm to school programs follow good agricultural practices, including hygiene protocols and water quality management. CAFF supports this directly with food safety trainings, free microbial water testing, and help moving farms from overhead irrigation to safer drip systems.
CAFF staff work directly with family farmers, providing hands-on technical assistance to help them meet school food safety and procurement standards.
You don’t need to overhaul your whole program to start. Shift a portion of your leafy greens and salad mix purchasing from bagged, processed products to whole heads sourced from local farms, and prioritize direct or near-direct supply relationships wherever your program can support them. If you’d like help identifying small to mid-sized family farms near your district that can supply whole produce direct or through a food hub, CAFF’s farm to school team is here to help.
Farm Spotlight: Angela’s Ranch
Angela manages Angela’s Ranch alongside her parents, a family-owned farm in California’s Central Valley dedicated to producing premium-quality fresh organic black mission figs. Built on more than three decades of agricultural experience and generations of family values, the farm serves wholesale, retail, and institutional buyers with an emphasis on consistency, freshness, food safety, and dependable service. Right now, the figs are at peak flavor: soft, jammy, and sweet, with the rich caramelized depth black mission figs are known for.
The Marquez Family
Figs are $32/case, with an $800 minimum order, and delivery is available to Central Valley locations, Sacramento, and the Bay Area. They will be available through September, and early October.
See the product sheet for more details, and reach out to Jeanette Garnica at jeanette@caff.org or Angela directly at angelasranch7@gmail.com to place an order before the season wraps up.
Fresh flats of Angela’s Ranch organic black mission figs, sliced to show the deep ruby, jammy interior these figs are known for.
Don’t Miss Out: Free CA Crunch Stickers, Request by September 1!
The countdown to the 11th Annual California Crunch is on, and last year 780,000 students crunched into the movement together. This year, don’t let your school miss out on everyone’s favorite part: free stickers to hand out on Crunch Day! September 1 is the last day to request yours, so register now if you haven’t already. Stickers ship in the next couple of weeks, and we’ll email you the moment they’re on the way, so keep an eye on your mailbox!
Highlights from last year’s CA Crunch. Join us again on October 7, 2026.
There’s no single right way to participate. Pick whatever fits your site and your capacity:
- Serve it on the lunch line with simple cafeteria signage naming the farm
- Host a taste test in the classroom or cafeteria
- Hold an assembly and crunch together as a whole school
- Set up a student farmers market
- Take a field trip to a farm and meet the grower
We encourage you to source your CA Crunch produce from a small to mid-sized family farm in your region. Buying local is what turns a fun cafeteria or classroom moment into real support for the growers in your community, and it gives students a name and a face to connect with the food on their tray. If you’re not sure where to start, we can help.
Register today and you’ll receive the 2026 CA Crunch guide, student activities, and promotional signs. Registered sites can also request stickers to hand out on Crunch Day.
Good Food Purchasing CA Webinar Series
Making the Lunchline Local through School-Food Hub Partnerships
September 25, 12–1 pm PST · Virtual
Join CAFF, the Center for Good Food Purchasing, Fresh Approach, and UC ANR for a free webinar built for K-12 Food Service Directors and Technical Assistance Providers looking to bring more fresh, local food into their cafeterias this fall.
Food hubs across California have room to grow, and they want to work with schools like yours. This webinar will walk through what food hubs actually offer, hear directly from a school district and food hub that made a partnership work, and give you a chance to connect with hubs and other districts in real time.
These hubs also kept fresh, local produce flowing to families through the Local Food Purchasing Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) — now school partnerships can help keep that momentum going.
What you’ll walk away with:
- A clear picture of what food hubs do and how they’re different from a distributor
- Real examples of how a district and food hub built a working partnership
- A chance to ask your own sourcing questions and meet hubs ready to supply this fall
California Department of Food and Agriculture
CA Farm to School Incubator Grant Program
Public Comment deadline September 11, 2026
Have your say: CDFA Farm to School Incubator Grant Comment Period is Closing Soon
CDFA’s California Farm to School Incubator Grant Program is open for public comment through 5 p.m. on September 11, and CDFA wants to hear from farm to school stakeholders like you before the draft RFA is finalized. Two info sessions remain this week: Wednesday, September 2 at 1 p.m. (Spanish-language, register here) and Thursday, September 3 at 10 a.m. (register here). Attend a session or submit your comments directly through CDFA’s online form before the window closes.
Community Alliance with Family Farmers
Monterey Open Farm Tours
Saturday, September 12, 1–5 pm · Monterey County, CA
Do you love local food and farms? Want to get to know your farmer better and explore our region’s vibrant working farms? During the 2026 Open Farm Tours, you can meet the farmers and learn how farming methods work with nature to provide our communities with outstanding food and products. Enjoy guided tours, u-picks, and other activities. Come connect with the community, learn about sustainable farming practices, and support your local farmers.
All farms are organic & implement sustainable agriculture practices.
There are a few tickets left, so don’t miss this opportunity to visit 3 spectacular farms! Register today.
Chef Ann Foundation
Get Schools Cooking Grant Open
Deadline to apply September 30, 2026
The Lunch Box’s Get Schools Cooking grant helps school districts move from pre-prepared meals to scratch cooking, with a three-year program that includes hands-on workshops, Chef Ann Foundation training, an on-site operational assessment, strategic planning support, and a systems assistance grant districts can put toward kitchen equipment, salad bars, inventory software, and staff training. If your district runs its own food service program, participates in the National School Lunch Program, and has leadership on board to make the shift to scratch cooking, this is worth a look.
National Farm to School Network
NFSN Partner Meeting
October 13–15, 2026 · Sacramento, California
The Partner Meeting is an in-person convening dedicated to NFSN’s Partner network and is a space to build the farm to school and early care movement, participate in skill-building, as well as inform the strategic direction of the network.
If you would like to attend but are not yet a Partner, you can join the network today.
This year’s Partner Meeting is the first time we are combining our national gathering with a state summit. Your registration for our Partner Meeting will also include registration for the California Farm to School Summit.
Register here. Registration deadline is September 15, 2026.
California Farm to School Summit
October 14–15, 2026 · Soil Born Farms, Sacramento, California
California is committed to ensuring every child can access fresh, locally sourced, responsibly grown and raised food at school, at home, and in the community for healthy bodies and minds. The Farm to School Summit celebrates the producers, educators, and school nutrition professionals who bring this movement to life.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture invites you to attend the California Farm to School Summit taking place October 14–15, 2026 in Sacramento! This event is a wonderful opportunity to connect, collaborate, learn, and engage with others advancing Farm to School efforts that include hands on food education as well as local food systems! This event will engage local farmers, educators, partners and programs such as FFA + Ag education!
October 14th – Optional “Funday” Pre-Conference Salons
October 15th – All-Day Summit at Soil Born Farms
Please register using the link below:
www.cafarmtoschoolsummit.com
USDA
Turnip the Beet! High-Quality Summer Meals Award Program
Nominations open
USDA’s Turnip the Beet award recognizes summer meal program sponsors who go above and beyond to serve kids nutritious, appealing meals through the Summer Food Service Program and Seamless Summer Option, helping combat summer hunger and keep children healthy and ready to learn once school starts back up. 2026 nomination materials are available now, so if your program is serving standout summer meals, this is a great chance to get recognized for it.
More information here.
Farm to Cafeteria Signage
Help students connect with their food! CAFF offers free, customizable cafeteria signage designed to promote your farm to school program. Designs are available on Canva so you can easily add your district’s information. Request your free signage.
CAFF’s Farm to School specialists, Claire Tauber and Michelle Duong.
Thank you for all you do to bring local food to students’ plates and support California’s family farmers!
Sincerely,
CAFF’s Farm to School Team
We at the Community Alliance with Family Farmers is contacting you because of your participation in the California Farm to School movement. The CAFF Farm to Cafeteria Program supports schools, hospitals, and universities throughout California to provide more local food through technical assistance and marketing support for farmers, vendors and food service buyers.
This newsletter is brought to you in partnership with the Center for Good Food Purchasing.