Tasty teachings.

• Position: SPONSORED SECTION: CASH CROP

Farm to School program serves fresh produce to students at about 80 school systems statewide. It's a lesson in nutrition and economics.

Wake County Public School System's 171 campuses serve about 22,000 breakfasts and 60,000 lunches every school day. The menu varies, but the fruits and vegetables are always fresh. Most were still growing only a few miles away and a couple of days before hitting trays. "We took in about 1,300 cases of watermelon in the fall," says Paula De Lucca, the districts senior director of child nutrition services. "[We] got it early, about 6:30 a.m., and by 8:30 we were already slicing and dicing it and putting it in our serving line. It doesn't get any fresher unless you're the farmer pulling it from the field."

The N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services' Farm to School program makes that happen. Every two weeks, locally grown produce is picked, packed, trucked and delivered to about 80 school systems statewide, where it's served to hundreds of thousands of elementary, middle and high-school students. The produce--including melons, apples, tomatoes, strawberries, cabbage and sweet potatoes--is grown by farmers from Madison and Henderson counties in the West to Pasquotank County in the East. To participate, they join the N.C. Farm to School Growers Cooperative and must be Good Agricultural Practices certified, have liability insurance to cover any transportation accidents and pass rigorous sanitation inspections, says Nick Augostini, assistant director of marketing for the Agriculture Department.

The co-op began several years ago, says Gary Gay, director of food distribution for the Agriculture Department. "Farmers got together, from one end of the state to the other, and decided to join to provide produce for this program. You have apple growers, strawberry growers, leafy greens, all kinds involved. They do a quarterly bid and list items that will...