Food & Agr. Code, § 49025.5

(a) The California Farm to School Program is hereby established, under the administration of the Office of Farm to Fork, for purposes of cultivating equity, nurturing students, building climate resilience, and creating scalable and sustainable change in the school food system.

(b) The California Farm to School Program shall do all of the following:

(1) Increase procurement of foods that are grown or produced in California and are whole or are minimally processed from food producers in California for school meal programs.

(2) Increase hands-on food education opportunities that engage pupils and connect the classroom with the cafeteria, such as activities in school gardens, on farms, in culinary classes, in settings that celebrate traditional foodways and cultivate food sovereignty, and through other experiential learning pathways.

(3) Use regional staff to provide technical assistance and resources, facilitate relationships between local producers and school personnel, and encourage opportunities to incorporate best practices related to scratch cooking, hands-on education, Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), food safety, infrastructure, climate-smart agricultural practices, certification, and insurance.

(4) Develop programming for the California Farm to School Program in consultation with the State Department of Education, the State Department of Social Services, the State Department of Public Health, and any other relevant departments as needed.

(5) Administer the California Farm to School Incubator Grant Program.

(6) Collect data to evaluate program goals and implementation progress.

(c) The office may implement initiatives under the California Farm to School Program, including, but not limited to, initiatives that do any of the following:

(1) Advance the California farm to school network.

(2) Facilitate a California Farm to School Interagency Working Group, including, but not limited to, all of the following state agencies:

(A) State Department of Education.

(B) California Environmental Protection Agency.

(C) California Health and Human Services Agency.

(D) Labor and Workforce Development Agency.

(3) Further workforce development and kitchen infrastructure.

(4) Expand youth leadership opportunities related to farm to school.

(5) Strengthen supply chain infrastructure and transparency related to institutional procurement.

(6) Support farm-to-institution projects that leverage the department’s expertise.