Hungry for solutions: businessmen and policymakers are taking a fresh look at how to get kids the nutrition their growing bodies and minds need.

• Author: Morse, Ann
• Position: HUNGER

At a middle school in California, kids are learning that food comes from farms, lunch from the soil. Students are growing everything from basil to chard to tomatoes in the school's "pizza garden," and cooking them in class and eating them for lunch.

Santa Barbara's Ventura school district has been developing and testing a curriculum that integrates the school garden, farm- and farmer-to-school programs, nutrition education, and hands-on cooking for more than a decade. Over time, the district has crafted a collaboration of farmers, teachers, principals, parents and kids. It's a win-win for everyone.

Young farmers gain experience through a scholarship and mentoring program. And they benefit from the partnership with schools that guarantees a market for their vegetables through the farm-to-school salad bar and farmer-to-student cooking classes.

Students benefit from healthier meals and gain real-life, hands-on knowledge from practicing math, science and cooking skills using what grows on the farm or in the school garden. All this, educators believe, will lead to better lifelong eating habits.

Because more than 80 percent of the student body is eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, the school receives a federal waiver allowing it to feed every child lunch at no charge. This collaboration among the federal school meals program, the farmers' initiative and nutrition education ensures that hungry kids eat healthy meals that provide the fuel they need to learn, says California Assemblymember Das Williams (D), who represents the Ventura and Santa Barbara areas.

Ventura's collaboration is just one of dozens across the country fighting children's hunger and poor nutrition in new ways.

A Persistent Problem

Many Americans still find it difficult to put enough food on the table. Some 49 million people, or 14.3 percent of all households, were "food insecure" sometime in 2013. This means, according to the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, that the family had, at times, "limited or uncertain access to adequate food, caused by either economic or social conditions." In other words, the family didn't always have enough food to feed everyone. Among households with children, one in five (7.8 million households) were food insecure, although in about half these families, only the adults went hungry because they would feed their children first when food was scarce.

How can so many Americans be hungry in a country where obesity is an epidemic? There are several reasons why hunger exists, but no widespread consensus on the cure. Americans who experience food insecurity include those who have lost a job or their homes or who may not own a car but live more than half a mile from a supermarket and bus stop. Fast food restaurants or corner stores may be...