Sierra Harvest

Sierra Harvest's farm to school program is currently in 25 Nevada county schools & reaches over 6,500 students (97% of western Nevada county's k-8 students). It connects students to fresh, local food through hands-on activities in their school gardens, on farms, & in their cafeterias. Farm partners host farm field trips, provide 8 weeks of produce gobbled up by students on their school produce stand, & come to the classroom to share farming stories & activities with the kids. Sierra Harvest also delivers monthly "Harvest of the month" tastings of local, seasonal fruits & vegetables to classrooms along with educator curriculum & a family newsletter. "tasting days" bring guest chefs into the classroom to cook simple, seasonal meals with over 4,000 students. Foothills fresh, scratch cooked meals for all, will transform the way students get their daily nutrition while at school. Sierra Harvest is providing funding and support to create one consolidated central kitchen for 8 school districts, transitioning meals from frozen, processed foods heated & wrapped in plastic to fresh foods cooked from scratch for thousands of students. Salad bars have been supplied to 8 schools to provide more immediate access to fresh, local food. Sierra Harvest has successfully engaged school districts, donors & community partners to invest financially in 12 school gardens to ensure sustainability while creating an outdoor learning lab for teachers. Survey data indicate that participating students try new fruits & veggies for the first time through Harvest of the month, eat more of a fruit or veggie after trying it at school, & report that they shop directly from farmers more often.

Sierra Harvest's food love farm is devoted to promoting nutrition education, food security, and community involvement in growing, harvesting, eating, and celebrating fresh food. The farm hosts experiential field trips, a summer camp, service projects, u-pick/farm stand, and community volunteer days. The food love farm provided 3,870 hours of hands-on farm education through summer camp and farm field trips to hundreds of children. Partnerships with local health and social service providers have been developed to expand our scholarship program for summer camp programing among families that have been historically marginalized, resulting in nearly 40% of camp participants attending through free or reduced tuition.

The farm institute works alongside farmers and ranchers to increase sustainable food production. Farm institute programs build the prosperity of ecologically sustainable producers, increase the land in organic production, and train more beginning farmers as the older generation retires. Agricultural skills classes train beginning farmers in regenerative agriculture production. The six-week skill-building business course, farm biz, leaves participants with a concrete business plan and financial knowledge that is critical to running a viable farm business. The land match program connects sustainable farmers and ranchers with local agricultural land. To date, Sierra Harvest has trained 157farmers, helped 10 farms certify organic, matched 26 farmers to low cost farm land, and provided 4,524hours of education. Sierra Harvest's sustainable food and farm conference is an annual regional conference designed to educate and connect the local and regional sustainable farming community. Nearly 200 participants engaged in workshops from regional experts and learned how to build business strategies, network with other farmers and connect to new local buyers. Sierra Harvest also connects farmers and food buyers to incorporate more locally and regionally grown fresh foods into institutional meal programs and food distribution programs in our local schools, food pantries, correctional facility, senior homes, and homeless shelters. Sierra Harvest does this through producer/buyer mixers, access to producer availability lists, tours of local farms and ranches, identifying seasonal, cost-effective recipes, and assistance with educating customers about local sources of food and why it is important to support our local farming community. Last year there were 89 farm businesses that received 340 hours of direct support in connecting to new buyers to sell their agricultural products, and 71% of those were owned or managed by members of historically marginalized populations.in support of local farmers and ranchers, Sierra Harvest engages in local, regional, and national policies that support just, sustainable food systems. The Nevada county food policy council (ncfpc) was formed in march 2015 to foster collaboration among local food and farming individuals, businesses and organizations, set common goals and work together to maximize positive impacts on the food environment, human health, and livelihoods in the community. The ncfpc is a member of the California food and farming network and has involved over 80 local food and farming organizations to work collaboratively to build a more vibrant local food system.

The Sierra Harvest gold county gleaning program rescues local organic produce that would otherwise be unharvested food waste. With a help of a robust team of volunteers, fresh food is gleaned from local farms, gardens, and farmers' markets and delivered to those in need through our community partners. Interfaith food ministry, a local food pantry, distributes this fresh produce to over 10,000 individuals with minimal access to fresh, organic food, including united way 'food bags' that are available through local school. Over 120,000 pounds of local food has been rescued and given to those in need since august 2018, with an estimated value of over $360,000.