Help Us Grow Farm to ECE Across Mississippi
For more than 12 years, the Mississippi Farm to School Network has worked to lift up the life-changing work carried out by educators & farms across the state. Since 2024, the Mississippi Farm to ECE Coalition dedicated over 150 hours to develop a statewide recognition program, a first-of-its-kind initiative designed to celebrate and support early care and education programs implementing Farm to ECE across the state.
Now, as we sow the seeds of the Mississippi Farm to ECE Recognition Program, we’re asking our community to help bring this vision to life. With your support, we can launch the Mississippi Farm to ECE Recognition Program and provide the support ECE programs need to succeed.
The Mississippi Farm to ECE Recognition Program will celebrate early care and education (ECE) programs that are actively creating healthier children and communities by connecting students, staff, and community with local food, school gardens, nutrition education, and hands-on experiences. The recognition program is an opportunity for any ECE program to publicly highlight Farm to ECE activities in which they carry out outstanding work.
“It has been a wonderful experience developing the Farm to ECE program at Clen Moore Head Start,” says Director Phyllis Sanford of Coldwater, MS. “After so much involvement from the community, what was challenging became a joy. We teach more advanced language and activities with the students in the garden. We teach them how to make things grow and what it takes for things to grow. Through Farm to ECE, we host a lot more activities our students can tie to a real world experience.”
Your donation today will help launch the Mississippi Farm to ECE Recognition Program by providing the coaching, technical assistance, and resources ECE programs will receive during their first year. Together, we can bring Farm to ECE to more children across Mississippi.
$10: A new and colorful gardening book on their class shelf
$50: An experienced & local coach and 100s of resources
$100: Two months of support from a trained coach
$500: One year of qualified instruction from a certified coach
When the Mississippi Farm to ECE Recognition Program launches, ECEs of every kind (in-home, center-based, Head Start, public pre-K, and others) will benefit from one-on-one coaching, internal assessments, and ongoing programmatic systems of support. After one year, if an applicant’s Farm to ECE program has not yet met recognition requirements, they will be encouraged to continue working closely with a Technical Assistance coach and peer mentors until they achieve their individual goals.
Once recognized, programs may use their recognition as both a marketing tool to promote enrollment and attendance, as well as a foundation on which to build flagship Farm to ECE work happening in Mississippi. Other ECE programs may look to the recognized cohort to inspire their own activities, joining the movement to grow healthier futures in our home state. At the MS Farm to School Network and the MS Farm to ECE Coalition, we will publicly and privately celebrate the ongoing successes of all recognized programs.
Though healthy foods of all kinds are valuable, Farm to ECE is about a connection to local agriculture and an opportunity for place-based early education. The reasons below highlight how Farm to ECE activities help ECE programs meet their goals of providing impactful care and educational experiences to the children, families, and communities they serve:
Health & Wellness: Farm to ECE activities like taste tests, cooking lessons, and gardening offer repeated exposure to new and healthy foods. This encourages kids’ acceptance of fruits and vegetables and promotes lifelong healthy food preferences, decreases the risk for adverse health outcomes, and builds a strong foundation for healthy habits.
Family & Community Engagement: Gardening and food related activities in the classroom, across the school/child care program, and/or in the community can serve as a platform for creating meaningful engagement. Children take home the excitement of growing and learning about new foods and act as a catalyst for change in their families and communities. Farm to ECE can improve access to nutritious foods for children, educators, and community members.
Market Opportunities for Farmers: Sourcing local food for Farm to ECE activities is a pathway to financially empowering and supporting local farmers and other agricultural businesses. Farm to ECE supports environmentally sound, sustainable, and socially responsible food systems while building strong, reciprocal relationships between farmers, classrooms, and families. These connections create thriving markets for local growers while giving students more opportunities for quality adult-child connections and experiential learning.
Integrated Experiential Education: Integrating Farm to ECE activities into the ECE curriculum can enrich the learning environment, help achieve and make connections between Farm to ECE content and early learning standards, and support appropriate cognitive, emotional, social, and physical development.
When the program launches, applicants will have the opportunity to earn one of the following Mississippi Farm to ECE Awards within one year of entering the program:
Seed Sowers Award: Garden Champion. This ECE program is dedicated to Farm to ECE best practices aligned with the Garden Component of the Farm to ECE Badge. They offer a unique approach to connecting students with gardening.
Community Cultivators Award: Local Food Champion. This ECE program is dedicated to Farm to ECE best practice aligned with the Local Food Component of the Farm to ECE Badge. They offer a unique approach to connecting students with local fresh food.
Growing the Future Award: Farm to ECE Champion. This ECE program is dedicated to Farm to ECE best practices in all three Farm to ECE Pillars: Gardening, Serving Local Food, and Nutrition & Agriculture Education.
The ultimate goal for all Farm to ECE Recognition Program applicants is to earn the Growing the Future Award, reserved for ECE programs carrying out best practices in each of the three Farm to ECE Pillars, in addition to best practices related to physical activity, staff professional development, and social and emotional development.
The Mississippi Farm to ECE Recognition Program is more than an award. It's an investment in children, educators, and communities across our state. With your support, we can bring this vision to life and help more early care and education programs thrive.
Join us by making a gift today. Every dollar helps grow Farm to ECE in Mississippi.
