Farm to Early Care and Education programs (F2ECE) connect sources of local food with educational facilities for 0 to 5 year olds, with the goals of improving the health of young children and opening previously untapped markets for farmers. F2ECE initiatives typically encompass both educational programming during the school day, as well as the procurement of local food for meals and snacks. For children, research suggests that taste preferences are formed at an early age, and introducing them to fresh fruits and vegetables encourages their willingness to try new products. For farmers, the early care market offers several advantages relative to K–12 farm-to-school programs. These advantages include seasonality, since many childcare centers are open year-round, a lack of requirement for Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certification, and more flexible ordering and payment terms. However, coordinating logistics between farmers and childcare centers can be challenging. For example, childcare centers vary greatly in their size and kitchen capacity and infrastructure, which affects the volume of produce that they can order and their ability to store and prepare it. Many childcare centers have grown accustomed to using canned products, and therefore kitchen staff may require training in order to develop menus and learn the cooking skills required to prepare fresh produce. In addition, childcare centers are not part of the same overarching system, such as a K-12 school district. This decentralization, coupled with relatively low enrollment numbers per site, can present challenges for delivery for individual farmers. These issues raise the question of whether this new market is ultimately profitable for farmers, a question that is widely overlooked in the F2ECE literature.
Research is needed to understand the best practices for connecting farmers to childcare centers, including resources to start and build successful relationships, and strategies to aggregate and distribute produce. The research presented in this paper examines two F2ECE procurement models that have the potential to overcome the challenges outlined above in local food procurement for childcare centers. The first model considers using pop-up markets at rotating childcare facility locations; this approach would allow a farmer to deliver food for several local childcare centers, and would offer the potential for increased sales through a farm stand for direct marketing to parents and staff. The second model proposes the use of a centralized kitchen that prepares and delivers meals for multiple childcare centers, thus acting as an aggregator of local food and addressing the challenges of food preparation by childcare center staff. Through in-depth case studies of settings in which each model has been implemented, we will explore the perspectives and roles of involved stakeholders, including farmers, intermediaries, childcare center directors, parents, and local service providers (including Extension and childcare consultants). Findings will highlight best practices, potential challenges, and an analysis of farmer profitability in the two models. Overall, this study addresses several gaps in our understanding of the function and potential of F2ECE initiatives to offer an additional and potentially profitable new market to local farmers.
