HB-6368, As Passed House, September 16, 2008
August 13, 2008, Introduced by Rep. Mayes and referred to the Committee on Agriculture.
A bill to provide for the coordination and development of
certain farm-to-school procurement processes and procedures; to
provide for procedures and recommendations for certain farm product
producers to access school-related food programs; to provide for
certain powers and duties for the departments of education and
agriculture; and to provide for the dissemination of certain
information to schools and farm product producers.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "farm-
to-school procurement act".
Sec. 2. As used in this act:
(a) "Farm product" means that term as defined in section 2 of
the Michigan right to farm act, 1981 PA 93, MCL 286.472.
(b) "MDA" means the Michigan department of agriculture.
(c) "MDE" means the Michigan department of education.
Sec. 3. (1) The MDE and the MDA shall collaborate and
cooperate by means of a memorandum of understanding executed
between the departments in order to implement the provisions of
this act.
(2) As part of the collaboration, the MDE shall do the
following:
(a) Investigate the potential of various procurement
procedures and tools for school food authorities to purchase local
farm products and abide by federal regulations, including, but not
limited to, the small purchase threshold and multiple or line-item
awards to farmers, processors, and suppliers within larger food
contracts.
(b) Educate food service directors on the small purchase
threshold and other procurement procedures and tools and promote
their use for farm-to-school initiatives.
(c) Implement food preparation training for food service staff
to accommodate sourcing fresh and local foods.
(d) Encourage school food service directors to include local
farmers, processors, and suppliers when taking bids for farm
products that fall under the small purchase threshold.
(e) Encourage all new school construction projects to consider
kitchen facilities capable of producing fresh and healthy school
meals and opportunities for hands-on learning.
(3) As part of the collaboration, the MDA shall do the
following:
(a) House a farm-to-school point person to coordinate efforts
between MDA, MDE, and the Michigan department of community health,
who would be responsible for identifying local farmers, processors,
and suppliers and work with MDE to make that information available
to school food service directors and for creating and disseminating
information on the school food procurement process to help farmers,
processors, and suppliers learn more about the process.
(b) Identify, target, and promote job creation around farm-to-
school initiatives.
(c) In cooperation with commodity groups and growers
associations, utilize existing web-based market development tools
or adopt a voluntary web-based directory of farmers searchable by
location. The directory should be updated and consistently
maintained and usable by anyone interested in locating farmers and
Michigan farm products.
(d) Investigate opportunities for farmers to supply their
products to commercial distributors.
Sec. 4. The MDE and the MDA may accept funds from any federal,
state, or private source to implement this act.