Category: State Policy Timeline
Many state governors and state legislators support farm to school efforts and in Arkansas the following proclamations, initiatives, and bills have prioritized farm to school.
In 2014, then-governor Mike Beebe first proclaimed October as Arkansas Farm to School Month. Governor Asa Hutchinson has continued the tradition every year since. Watch the 2020 Proclamation here.
The governor-endorsed Healthy Active Arkansas Initiative was sparked by the state’s consistently poor ranking with respect to obesity rates and as a way to encourage and enable healthier lifestyles in Arkansas. The single, overarching goal is to increase the percentage of adults, adolescents and children who are at healthy weight. Learn more here.
This bill created a definition of what is local in Arkansas. It also required state agencies who receive $25,000 from the state and operate a food program to report annually on their local food purchases. View here.
This bill established the Farm to School and Early Childhood Education Program and a position for a full-time Farm to School and Early Childhood Education Program Coordinator within the Arkansas Department of Agriculture. The bill also requires an annual report from state farm to school partners. View here.
This bill amended the 2017 House Bill 1839: Local Food, Farms, and Jobs Act. It increased the goal to at least 20 percent and expanded the number of institutions required to report local food purchases. View here.
This bill established that the school wellness policies may include language promoting school gardens. It also described that the Arkansas Department of Agriculture may provide a local incentive program at public school districts and open-enrollment public charter schools in an amount not to exceed ten cents ($.10) for each school meal that uses local farm […]