In partnership with the Kansas Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom, the Kansas Department of Agriculture will increase child nutrition knowledge and consumption of specialty crops by providing selected Kansas licensed early child care facilities with age-appropriate curriculum about Kansas specialty crops and reimbursements for purchasing locally grown fruits and vegetables.
Donor Name: Kansas Department of Agriculture
State: Kansas
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 02/28/2025
Size of the Grant: Not Available
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
The program titled “Our Earliest Eaters: Bringing the Farm to Kansas Licensed Early Child Care Facilities” is made possible by the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service.
Program Purpose
Establishing healthy eating habits in early childhood is vital for a person’s physical growth and cognitive development. For children ages six months to five years old receiving care outside of the home, over half of their daily calories are consumed at an early child care facility. Early child care facilities have a significant influence on learned eating behaviors and are an important setting for nutritional interventions. Serving local foods and offering related hands-on learning activities can increase a child’s fruit and vegetable intake and willingness to try new fruits and vegetables.
- Agriculture Education Curriculum
- The Kansas Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom has developed age-appropriate agriculture education curriculum for this program that will include activities and resources for lessons in all four growing seasons. The resource kits will include posters, lesson cards, children’s books, and child-safe knives, peelers, and sturdy cutting boards for hands-on learning in early child care classrooms. Each lesson will feature a specialty crop that is seasonally available in Kansas during that time of the year.
- By showing children how specialty crops are grown in Kansas, letting them engage their senses to see, feel, smell, and taste specialty crops in their raw form, and teaching basic culinary skills like peeling and slicing, the project will increase children’s willingness to try fruits and vegetables and improve their nutritional behaviors to have a lasting impact on their diets, while helping them learn about the origins of their food.
- Locally Grown Fruits and Vegetables
- Through this program, selected facilities will receive reimbursement of up to $250 per growing season to cover the costs of purchasing fruits and vegetables grown by Kansas farmers and producers to use in the provided educational activities as well as served in their meal programs. The Kansas Department of Agriculture will help facilities find farmers and producers in their communities to purchase fruits and vegetables from.
- The agency will gain an understanding of each facility’s procurement requirements and will help make quality connections between each facility and at least one farmer or producer. The reimbursements offered through this project are a way to incentivize local food purchases to benefit the state’s specialty crop farmers and producers and will help foster long term purchasing relationships to be sustained after the project concludes.
Program Requirements
- This program is open to licensed early child care centers in Kansas. Per the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, a child care center is a facility in which care and educational activities are provided for 13 or more children two weeks to 16 years of age for more than three hours and less than 24 hours per day including day time, evening, and night-time care, or which provides before and after school care for school-age children. Facilities must have an active license and be in good standing.
- Facilities must demonstrate teaching of the provided curriculum to qualify for reimbursements. Facilities must be willing to participate for a full year, starting in March, and follow all reporting and purchasing requirements provided. Facilities will be required to report the number of children who participate in each lesson and the number of children and adult staff who consume the fruits and vegetables purchased under the program. Facilities must submit receipts for reimbursement every three months.
For more information, visit Kansas Department of Agriculture.
