2023 December Board Book

California’s $60 million Farm to School Incubator Grant Program, its $600 million Kitchen Infrastructure and Training fund, and one-time funding of $100 million as part of the School Food Best Practices initiative are among the ways in which the state is prioritizing school meals with lo cally sourced ingredients. The end result can be improved access to nutritious plant and animal derived farm products, better nutrition education and agricultural literacy, and elevated health for children and communities. While school meals are at the center of efforts to adopt plant-based eating patterns, plant-based does not need to be plant-exclusive. A plant-exclusive diet could limit intake of nutritious foods from animal sources, which provide important ways to nourish children and communities. Plant and ani mal foods should not be thought of as competing entities but rather as synergistic food sources that provide different though complementary nutritional, social, economic, cultural and environmen tal benefits. Children’s Health Is at Risk School meals are critical, as they provide a safety net for many young people, especially ones in underserved and marginalized communities who rely on school meals for access to nutrient-dense foods. Nutrition and consumption of high-quality foods during childhood positively impact academic success and lifelong health. In addition, research shows that eating patterns established at an early age influence food and beverage choices made throughout life. At the same time, many children are overweight and undernourished, especially within communi ties that have been marginalized. In the United States, childhood obesity rates remain historically high, putting millions of young people at greater risk for serious health conditions, including high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and asthma. Access to nutritious and wholesome foods such as milk and dairy foods, vegetables, fruits, whole grains and high-quality plant and ani mal protein is essential to help children grow healthfully and reach their full potential. Broadening the Lens of ‘Sustainability’ Plant-based advocates are often driven by environmental sustainability. Unfortunately, this focus can ignore the significant advances made by animal agriculture in improving climate-smart prac tices that reduce environmental footprint. In addition, important contributions of animal agriculture to people and communities are often overlooked. In California, the dairy industry’s efforts to adopt climate-smart farming practices are stronger than ever. A report from the University of California, Davis shows the dairy industry is on target to achieve its commitment to a 40% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and predicts California dairy farms will reach climate neutrality by then. These successes are not by accident. The California dairy community is using energy-efficient lighting, cooling and pumping methods and solar energy, as well as investing in anaerobic digesters to capture and convert methane in manure to biogas for clean energy. Additionally, dairy farms have decreased water usage by 88%