Farm to School Activities and Student Outcomes: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Farm to school programs (F2SPs) operate in 42% of school districts and are supported in part through federal and state policies as well as philanthropic funding. Although research evaluating the effects of farm to school–related activities on student outcomes is growing, a systematic review of the results and thus a synthesis of implications for future programming have not occurred. The primary objective of this systematic literature review is to summarize and evaluate studies on student outcomes associated with farm to school–related activities up to 1 September, 2017. Four databases spanning 4 research disciplines were used to identify full-text, English-language studies. Twenty-one studies were reviewed: 7 explicitly investigated F2SPs, and 14 evaluated the impact of school-based interventions that were relevant to activities reported in the 2013 and/or 2015 Farm to School Census. All of the F2SP studies (n = 7) and 85.7% of farm to school–related activity studies (n = 12) were multicomponent, and there was a wide variety of implemented intervention components across the reviewed studies. Results from F2SP and farm to school–related activity studies consistently show positive impacts on food and nutrition-related knowledge; most studies also suggest a positive relation between farm to school–related activities and healthy food selection during school meals, nutrition self-efficacy, and willingness to try fruits and vegetables. The impact of farm to school activities on fruit and vegetable consumption and preferences is unclear. The most common F2SP study limitations were study designs that preclude causal inference, outcome measurement with no reported or limited psychometric testing, lack of long-term outcome evaluation, and challenges related to quantifying intervention implementation. These findings underscore the need for more conclusive evidence on the relation between farm to school–related activities and changes in fruit and vegetable consumption.

Healthy Planet, Healthy Youth: A Food Systems Education and Promotion Intervention to Improve Adolescent Diet Quality and Reduce Food Waste

“…The feasibility of classroom-based farm-to-school programs has previously been questioned [23]. Yet, the teachers in the current study reported that the intervention was feasible and acceptable, as evidenced by their continuation of the intervention without researcher involvement the following year.…”

“…Little is known about how nutrition and food systems education impact academic outcomes [44,45]. In order for more schools to incorporate these topics into their curricula, more evidence is needed to link to educational outcomes [23,45]. The teachers in our study were motivated by the high quality writing and group activity assignments submitted by their students during the intervention; this perceived impact on student academic performance likely influenced the teachers’ desire to continue the program without researcher support.…”

“…Researchers in the United Kingdom [18], Canada [19], and Australia [20] have demonstrated the intersection between food systems and health in the public school setting, and in the United States, food systems education is considered a form of farm-to-school programs [21,22]. A recent systematic literature review of farm-to-school programs questioned the feasibility of incorporating these interventions into classroom curricula and identified the failure to quantify intervention fidelity as one of the major limitations of existing research on these programs [23]. Schools have educational priorities that may compete with health priorities [24], and the constrained budget, time, and staff of school systems [25,26] can make it difficult to sustain school-based health interventions in the short and long term.…”

Farm to Early Care and Education Programming: A Descriptive Study of Challenges and Opportunities to Promote Healthful Foods to Young Children

“…A recent systematic review examining the effectiveness of farm to school programs and activities reported that studies consistently show positive impacts on student food and nutrition-related knowledge. In addition, most studies suggest a positive relationship between farm-to-school activities and healthy food selection during school meals, nutrition self-efficacy, and willingness to try fruits and vegetables [3]. The impact of farm-to-school activities on fruit and vegetable consumption and preference is unclear [3].…”

“…In addition, most studies suggest a positive relationship between farm-to-school activities and healthy food selection during school meals, nutrition self-efficacy, and willingness to try fruits and vegetables [3]. The impact of farm-to-school activities on fruit and vegetable consumption and preference is unclear [3].…”