Central Idaho district explores farm-to-school opportunities
Published 11:00 am Tuesday, September 1, 2026
More locally grown food could be served in the Blaine County School District based on results of an action planning process expected to conclude ahead of the 2027-28 academic year.
A potential farm-to-school program could provide new menu options for students in the Idaho central mountain community and a sizable nearby customer for local and regional food producers.
Hailey-based nonprofit Future Roots is partnering with the district.
“Our intention is to do a place-based, in-depth strategic planning process that really addresses the needs of our students, our families and our community — and builds something that is logistically and financially beneficial to the community and the school district long term,” Future Roots program coordinator Hannah Harris said.
The process aims to explore how to ensure “every student in Blaine County has access to local food that fuels and inspires them, she said. “There is a significant number of families for whom school meals are a vital resource” and thus “important to students’ wellbeing and success.”
Future Roots surveyed more than 130 parents and guardians about school meals and utilization. Respondents “were concerned about the level of processing in school food” and “whether or not students are eating at all,” Harris said. This may partly reflect how much time students have for lunch, an issue discussed around the U.S.
Separately, the organization has been working to incorporate composting programs into school cafeterias. Benefits in addition to decreasing food waste and carbon emissions include “giving students a really tangible way to participate every day in a circular local food system,” she said. Composting also provides “a really important metric: On average, how much food are students not eating?”
“A positive of planning farm-to-school is that we can decrease the amount of food waste, meaning students actually are consuming more,” Harris said.
Future Roots leaders since September 2025 have hosted community workshops to gather input from various stakeholders, and have eaten in school cafeterias to get students’ responses to specific questions. This fall, students are to participate in taste tests.
A current analysis of the district’s food program includes comparing current ingredient prices to prices for potential replacement items produced locally. The analysis also looks at opportunities to invest in culinary experiences for students and how to direct any additional revenue generated.
Next spring, “we are hoping to host a large public panel (discussion) that would be educational for anyone in the community to learn why farm to school is beneficial to the whole community,” Harris said.
Future Roots and the district in January 2025 applied for a Farm to School planning grant. USDA paused the program two months later.
“We felt as an organization that the potential impact was great enough and the community momentum behind this work was significant enough to move forward with this process even without that federal funding,” Harris said.
Most of the current funding is from community and private donations and in-kind matches, she said.
Future Roots last fall signed a memorandum of understanding with the district to go through a two-year planning process, and next June likely will present the board of trustees with several options — with different costs and potential returns — for getting more local food into the nutrition services program, Harris said. Blaine now contracts with a company that supplies food to school districts.
Farm-to-school has been explored in the county in the past. Up-front costs, such as to build and coordinate the food value / supply chain, can be high and must be explored in detail, Harris said.
“Now we have a very clear process on how we can coordinate that” and “very passionate donors who believe in the impact of this work,” she said.