Farm Collectives Cultivate Ties to School Lunch Plans

The Rodriguez brothers were ready to call it quits. After a quarter century of farming, the Oxnard strawberry growers couldn't manage to turn a buck anymore between soaring costs and sinking prices.

Then they went back to school.

Joining a group of more than 30 Southern California growers, Antonio and Reynaldo Rodriguez last year began selling a share of their sweet harvest to school districts eager to enrich cafeteria offerings with fresh fruits and greens.

Through the Gold Coast Growers' Collaborative, their berries now are consumed in lunchrooms from the upper-crust private schools of Ojai to the urban campuses of Compton. And the additional income -- more than $10,000 so far -- has helped the brothers stay in business another season.

"I don't know if we would have made it otherwise," said Antonio Rodriguez, 50, who farms 24 acres and sells primarily at farmers markets. The rapid expansion of strawberry acreage on the Oxnard Plain has flooded those markets and his bottom line.

"This has solved many problems for our business," he said. "And it's good for the schools too."

Seeking to boost student nutrition and battle childhood obesity, schools across the country are increasingly turning to small farmers to stock cafeterias with fresh-from-the-field produce. More than 400 school districts in 22 states have launched farm-to-school programs, setting up salad bars, farm tours and nutrition education classes designed to foster a lifetime of healthy eating.

The push also has been a boon to small farmers such as the Rodriguez brothers, at a time when many are being squeezed by rising costs and global competition.

The Gold Coast collaborative is among the first in California to seize collectively on the farm-to-school niche.

Tapping growers in Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Kern counties, the group began stocking salad bars in the Ventura Unified School District two years ago. During the last school year, it provided produce, including Asian pears and sweet carrots, on a weekly basis to more than 50 schools, generating nearly $200,000 in sales. Next year, schools in Oxnard and Port Hueneme are set to join.

"It's really taking off," said Judy Blue, who coordinates sales and deliveries for the collaborative. "For some of these guys, it has made all the difference."