Local farmers to feed local schools under Hatfield proposal

OLYMPIA – For students in Washington’s schools, school lunch is about to become healthier and fresher thanks to a new proposal from Sen. Brian Hatfield, D-Raymond. His proposal, Senate Bill 6483, would provide a number of changes to the way local schools feed their students, as well as easing restrictions on local farmers.

“Today we’re seeing our kids suffer from unhealthy lifestyles, and we’re going to make sure that the food in our schools is as healthy and as fresh as can be,” said Hatfield. “We’re bringing together the environmental and agricultural communities with this bill, and that’s a great thing for Washington.”

Hatfield’s proposal will ease the restrictions in place that make it difficult for schools and other institutions to purchase from local farmers, forcing them to purchase from large distributors, adding to freight, storage, and refrigeration costs. By providing fresh locally grown food to schools, the students will be presented with healthier food, helping curb the growing childhood obesity problem.

To help kids get enough energy to get through the day, the bill will enact a fresh food snack program for schools with large numbers of low-income students. Providing healthy snacks from local farmers will promote healthy eating habits for years to come.

The proposal would also allow farmer’s markets to accept food stamps, helping low-income families purchase and consume fresh locally grown food. It will also create pilot projects for food banks to directly purchase food from local farmers.

“With this bill, we’re going to make sure Washington has healthy kids, as well as a healthy economy by linking our local farmers with schools, and providing a sustainable market for farm fresh food,” said Hatfield.

SB 6483 will be heard in the Agriculture & Rural Economic Development Committee on Thursday Jan. 24 at 3:30 p.m.

Return to Sen. Hatfield's home page