Rural School Food Service Director Perceptions on Voluntary School Meal Reforms

Urban Farm DB summary

A mixed-methods study of rural U.S. school food service directors in a midsized Midwestern state examined perceptions of voluntary school meal programs such as farm-to-school and school garden programs, using semi-structured telephone interviews (n=67) and an online survey (n=57). Directors reported little experience with these programs and perceived them as very challenging to implement, citing very small staff, lack of concrete knowledge about how the programs work, and lack of access to local producers and chefs as the main barriers.