The 2017-18 school year was a record breaker for farm-to-school growth in Georgia. Eighty-four of the state’s 181 school districts received 2018 Golden Radish Awards for farm-to-school excellence. Combined, the districts served more than 1.3 million students more than 109 million meals with locally grown food.

They also taught more than 61,000 curriculum-based lessons incorporating food and agriculture.

The Golden Radish Awards—a joint effort of the state’s departments of Education, Agriculture and Public Health; the UGA Cooperative Extension; and Georgia Organics—honor school districts for best practices in farm-to-school programs, including procuring food, providing taste tests of new foods and incorporating cooking and gardening into class curriculums.

This year, its fifth, the award program presented an Outstanding District Award and five new awards to recognize farm-to-school innovation. Highlights include:

• Carrollton City Schools received the Outstanding District Award for establishing a STEM-focused farm-to-school model that included school gardening and an after-school culinary club.
• Warren County Public Schools received the first Organic Radish Award, from Georgia Organics, for teaching organic growing practices, incorporating Certified Organic growers in the agricultural education program and sourcing Certified Organic food for school meals.
• Warren County Public Schools also received the Outstanding Extension Farm-to-School Program Award from UGA Extension for their comprehensive school garden plan and their three-acre production garden.

For a full list of Georgia school districts that won awards, visit GeorgiaOrganics.org/News/georgia-organics-friends-in-the-news/ or follow #goldenradish, #farmtoschool, #farmtoschoolchampions and #goldenradishawards