Farm-to-school procurement processes and procedures.

(a) This section shall be known and may be cited as the Farm-To-School Procurement Act.

(b) For the purposes of this section, unprocessed agricultural products means only those agricultural products that retain their inherent character. The effects of any of the following handling and preservation techniques shall not be considered as changing an agricultural product into a product of a different inherent character: Cooling, refrigerating, freezing; size adjustment through size reduction made by peeling, slicing, dicing, cutting, chopping, shucking, and grinding; drying or dehydration, or both; washing; the application of high water pressure or cold pasteurization; packaging, such as placing eggs in cartons, and vacuum packing and bagging, such as placing vegetables in bags; butchering livestock, fish, and poultry; and the pasteurization of milk.

(c)(1) The Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries and the State Department of Education shall collaborate and cooperate by means of a memorandum of understanding executed between the departments in order to implement this section.

(2) As part of the collaboration, the State Department of Education shall do all of 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.

b. Educate food service directors on the small purchase threshold and tools to 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 procuring 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 Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries shall do all of the following:

a. House a farm-to-school point person to coordinate efforts between the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries, the State Department of Education, and the Alabama Department of Public Health, who shall be responsible for identifying local farmers, processors, and suppliers and shall work with the State Department of Education 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 shall be routinely updated and consistently maintained and usable by anyone interested in locating farmers and Alabama farm products.

d. Investigate opportunities for farmers to supply their products to commercial distributors.

(d) The State Department of Education and the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries may accept funds from any federal, state, or private source to implement this section. Any federal funds received for school nutrition programs may be used for purchases pursuant to subdivision (14) of Section 16-13B-2.

(e) At least 10 percent of the local farmers, processors, and suppliers utilized in providing unprocessed agricultural products pursuant to this section may be minority producers.

(Act 2012-437, p. 1234, §1; Act 2017-421, §1.)