The Oregon Department of Education has hired a farm-to-school coordinator to work with the state’s Department of Agriculture to help schools buy locally grown produce and even start their own farms, reports the Medford Mail-Tribune. Joan Ottinger, a former nutrition coordinator at the Department of Human Services, will serve as the education department’s liaison between schools and the agriculture department and will also work with the agriculture department's farm-to-food project manager, Cory Schreiber.
Currently, 53 schools in six districts have farm-to-school programs in Oregon, according to National Farm to School Foundation, while about a third of schools in the state do some local purchasing, according to a recent Department of Agriculture survey.