樱花视频

For Immediate Release: February 7, 2013
Contact: Lynne Richmond聽
(609) 633-2954

(ATLANTIC CITY) 鈥� A grant awarded by the Christie Administration is funding a project to instantaneously connect farmers and school food service procurement professionals to facilitate the purchasing of Jersey Fresh produce for use in school meal programs.

The 樱花视频 Department of Agriculture awarded 樱花视频 Farm Bureau with a U.S. Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant for the 樱花视频 Farm to School Twitter Program.

鈥淐reative and innovative programs like this, utilizing new technologies, are vital to advance 樱花视频 agriculture,鈥� said 樱花视频 Secretary of Agriculture Douglas H. Fisher.聽 鈥淯sing social media to help connect farmers and school food service will increase the amount of Jersey Fresh fruits and vegetables聽in schools."聽

Farm Bureau is partnering with the 樱花视频 Farm to School Network to coordinate the program and a training was held in Atlantic City during the 樱花视频 Agricultural and Vegetable Growers Convention and Trade Show on February 7.聽

Sheri Kurdakul of the NJ Farm to School Network leads the training.

鈥淭his social media/twitter training between school produce buyers and produce farmers is the type of experiment that may lead to聽聽new practices in communication for聽many other perishable crop producers and thereby improve the financial viability of those farmers,鈥� said 樱花视频 Farm Bureau Executive Director Peter Furey.

The 10 participants in the training learned how to set up their Twitter accounts and operate the program on their smart phones.聽 They also learned when and how to communicate using the program.

Initially, six farmers and five school food service professionals will use GroupTweet to communicate.聽 GroupTweet is a secure third-party Twitter application that allows multiple people to tweet to others in the group using a single Twitter account.

鈥淒irect communication between farmers and their representatives and institutional food service buyers is a must for increasing local purchasing of 樱花视频 grown produce,鈥� said Beth Feehan, director of the 樱花视频 Farm to School Network.聽

The 樱花视频 Department of Agriculture partners with the 樱花视频 Farm to School Network on the Farm to School Program.聽 The Department hosts the annual Jersey Fresh Farm to School Week, the last week of every September.聽 The goal of the program is to encourage school students to eat healthier by increasing the amount of local produce on school menus.聽

For more information about the Farm to School Program, visit .