Grandma Was Right

1
Grandma Was Right!

• You Are What You Eat.

2
This is About Nutrition Education, But Also
Agricultural Education

• Eating whats good for you, yes
• But also, knowing where food comes from, how its
  produced, processed, and handled by distributors,
  retailers, and end users

3
So Where Does Food Come From?
4
How About in Pennsylvania?
5
The Slide That Keeps Me Up At Night
6
Food Products From PA
7
Whats the Difference Between a Hamburger and a
T-Shirt?
8
The T-Shirt Has a Country-of-Origin Tag!
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So, What if You Want to Buy Food Thats Been
Grown, Raised, Harvested, Processed, or otherwise
Made in PA?
10
Want to Know More About PA Agriculture?

• We built a web site in partnership with the
  Department of Education to index as much
  curriculum as we could find to the K-12 academic
  standards

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www.marketplaceforthemind.com

• An Agricultural Resource Library full of
  non-biased references, books, lesson plans and
  teaching tools that are aligned to Pennsylvania's
  Science Technology and Environment Ecology
  teaching standards
• Additional pages provide info on PA agriculture,
  PA ag-related higher educational degrees,
  continuing educational opportunities, special
  events listings, hands-on learning opportunities,
  project ideas, speaking resources and more
• Contact Dr. MeeCee Baker, PDAs Ag Education
  Coordinator, at c-mebaker_at_state.pa.us

12
Why Does Buying PA Foods Matter?

• Food Safety?
• Investing in an economy where 1 in 7 jobs is in
  the food sector
• Preserving farmland and open space
• Warm fuzzies from saving the family farm
• Better value since it lasts longer after buying
• And, in some cases, its actually better for you

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One Little Red Example

• Research suggests that strawberries lose half of
  their Vitamin C content within 3 days after
  picking
• Thats about the same time it takes to drive a
  strawberry from California to Pennsylvania!

14
One Little Red Example

• Now, if the reason you were eating a strawberry
  instead of a candy bar in the first place was to
  do something healthy for yourself..

15
Ag Ed and Nutrition Ed Do Overlap
To celebrate National Ag Day last month,
Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff presented
Cumberland Valley Superintendent Dr. Walker with
a PA Preferred healthy vending machine.
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Healthy Vending Initiative

• Aimed at high schools, the program reimburses a
  participating school the lesser of half the
  vending machines actual cost or 2,000
• The only catch is that for the next three
  years, the school must agree to stock at least
  half the machine with Pennsylvania products

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Healthy Vending Initiative

• For schools that agree to keep the other half in
  dairy products, the Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion
  Program will kick in the other half of the cost
  of the machine, or 2,000
• For those doing both, the Center for Dairy
  Excellence has worked out a financing arrangement
  with Vendors First Choice through which a school
  can have the Center direct-billed for a machine,
  with no up-front costs!
• PDA and PDPP then reimburse the Center

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To Learn More on Healthy Vending

• Send an email to Frank Jurbala, Director, Bureau
  of Market Development
• fjurbala_at_state.pa.us

19
Healthy Farms Healthy Schools Act

• Eligible projects include
• In-school nutritional or agricultural education
  initiatives for students, teachers, and other
  educational staff
• Training for teachers and staff
• Inclusion of parents, caregivers, and community
  groups in educational activities
• Field trips to PA farms or other direct
  agricultural educational experiences that teach
  children about food and PA agriculture
• To learn more, Contact Frank Jurbala, Director,
  Bureau of Market Development, at
  fjurbala_at_state.pa.us

20
Healthy Farms Healthy Schools Act

• Act 184 of 2006 created a new PDA grant program
  called Healthy Farms and Healthy Schools. Part
  agriculture education, part nutrition education,
  the program is designed to help kindergarten
  teachers, students, and their families learn
  about food and agriculture in Pennsylvania
• The program offers matching grants of up to
  15,000 to public, private, and charter schools
  with kindergartens. Schools must provide 25 of
  the project cost (cash and in-kind contributions
  are acceptable)

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Not to Overlook the Bureau of Food Distribution!

• Our new Bureau Director, Geoff Dunaway, started
  his position on April 23
• Geoff has 11 years of experience serving the
  Commonwealth in the Department of Insurance
• Much of his personal time has been committed to
  the board of the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank

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And, In Case You Hadnt Heard

• Barry Shutt, who retired from PDA in January, has
  gone to work for USDAs Food and Nutrition
  Service, putting his nearly 20 years of practical
  experience to work for all states as USDA
  continues to roll out programs for which
  Pennsylvania has been a leader, such as
• Net Off of Invoice
• ECOS

23
Speaking of ECOS

• The secure website address is 
  https//ecos.usda.gov/. Note that there is not a
  www. in the address
• Your login ID is your first initial (capitalized)
  and your last name (all lower case) followed by
  the numbers 142, e.g. John Smith would log in as
  Jsmith142
• Your initial password is Password1

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Speaking of ECOS

• Entitlement dollars are under Administration ...
  Organization then view/edit organization profile
• Food Service Directors may add and delete users
  in the profile
• Commodity code information and the PDA website
  have links at the bottom of the ECOS home page

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Speaking of ECOS

• Training manuals are located on the bottom of
  ECOS home page
• Frequently-asked questions about ECOS are on
  PDAs web site
• You can practice on http// training.usdaservices.
  eds-gov.com/
• You can contact Sue Mosher at smosher_at_state.pa.us
  or Nancy Derr at nderr_at_state.pa.us

26
Speaking of ECOS

• The secure website address is 
  https//ecos.usda.gov/. Note that there is not a
  www. in the address
• Login is your first initial (capitalized) and
  your last name (all lower case) followed by the
  numbers 142, e.g. John Smith would log in as
  Jsmith142
• Your initial password is Password1
• Entitlement dollars are under Administration ...
  Organization then view/edit organization profile
• Food Service Directors may add and delete users
  in the profile
• Commodity code information and the PDA website
  have links at the bottom of the ECOS home page
• Training manuals are located on the bottom of
  ECOS home page
• Frequently-asked questions about ECOS are on
  PDAs web site
• You can practice on http// training.usdaservices.
  eds-gov.com/
• You can contact Sue Mosher at smosher_at_state.pa.us
  or Nancy Derr at nderr_at_state.pa.us

27
The 2007 Farm Bill

• 59 of USDAs total budget goes into fighting
  hunger and improving nutrition
• The Bush Administration released its Farm Bill
  proposal several months ago, and it asks for a
  number of new initiatives designed to help
  farmers and school food service officials get
  together
• However, it stops short in a few areas, one of
  which is tying TEFAP and NSLP commodity donations
  to USDAs own food pyramid

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The 2007 Farm Bill

• Congress will begin work on the Farm Bill in
  earnest in only a few weeks
• The House Ag Committee Chair has directed
  subcommittees to finish their work by Memorial
  Day so the full Committee can report a bill to
  the House floor by July 4
• If I were still a lobbyist, I would tell you that
  the switchboard number at the US Capitol is
  202-224-3121, and that you can reach any Member
  of Congress office from there

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Thanks! Any Questions?

• Cheryl L. Cook, Deputy Secretary
• Marketing and Economic Development
• Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture
• 2301 N. Cameron Street, Room 212
• Harrisburg, PA 17110
• 717-783-2059 (phone)
• 717-346-1971 (fax)
• checook_at_state.pa.us
• www.agriculture.state.pa.us