Farm to Cafeteria

Practical solutions for getting local food on the lunch line

Centering Farmers in the Farm to School Movement

Small and mid-sized farms are vital to a resilient local food system. Through our Farm to Cafeteria program, CAFF helps family farmers connect with schools, hospitals, and other institutions. The goal is to bring fresh, local produce to students, patients, and staff across California.

We support farmers in building the capacity to sell to institutions. We also help food service buyers source locally through technical assistance, marketing tools, and procurement support. This work helps scale local food systems and create stable, values-aligned markets for small farms.

What we do

Technical Assistance

We work one-on-one with school nutrition professional, farmers, and food hubs, that are looking to elevate local foods in cafeterias.

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California Crunch

The annual event since 2016 where children across the state take a collective bite of locally-grown fruits and vegetables, for a simultaneous “CRUNCH!”, to celebrate local farms and healthy eating!

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Marketing your farm

Highlight the local farms and farmers that grew your food, and educate students on the benefits of eating fresh, local foods!

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Bid Generator

An easy-to-use, customizable tool that simplifies the procurement process. With dynamic bidding and integrated values-based purchasing, you can set your institution’s priorities and preferences.

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Since 2014, CAFF has focused on institutional procurement as a pathway for supporting small and mid-sized farms, helping move hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales through programs like farm to school. While we continue to support student nutrition and education through our annual CA Crunch Day, our priority is strengthening institutional market channels for farmers and food hubs. From assisting regenerative ranchers to offering one-on-one support to food buyers and statewide partners, we’re committed to creative, practical solutions that keep family farms viable.

Who We Work With

Food Service Providers

Are you looking to integrate more local food into your menus?

Farmers

Are you interested in selling your products to institutions and not sure where to begin?

Food Hubs

Are you a food hub that sources from small family farms and looking to increase your school sales?

Showcase your Farm to School Program

We have FREE designs for promoting your Farm to School program. Highlight the local farms and farmers that grew your food, and educate students on benefits of eating fresh, local foods!

Resources

For Farmers & Food Hubs

Food Service Buyers

Additional CAFF Publications

Our Team

What people say about our program

Bid Generator has allowed Natomas USD to scale and grow our farm to school program over the years. It has proven to be instrumental in diversifying our purchases despite the pandemic and supply chain shortages. We were better equipped to handle changes because of it.

CAFF helped identify all legal requirements when soliciting bids and the template was customizable to meet our needs as a department. I would say it saved 90% of my time and helped my stress level. I enjoyed having personal support from CAFF staff, too.

I can't thank your team enough for drafting this bid and all the help you have given us, we definitely could not have done it without you. We look forward to being more comfortable with procurement for our many programs and expanding our local purchases of fresh and seasonal fruits and vegetables.