‘Farmer-Lunch Lady Speed Dating’ aims to get locally grown food into schools
BAGLEY, Minn. — Technically speaking, the March 19 Farm to Kids Roadshow event at Bagley High School could be called a “local producer-institutional buyer networking workshop.”But as Renewing the Countryside’s Brett Olson said, “that's a snooze.”
Instead, Olson and his partners with Farm to Kids call the event “Farmer-Lunch Lady Speed Dating.” It introduces farmers to school representatives so they can get some of their locally grown food into cafeterias. With more Americans losing their trust in
where their food comes from,
Farm to Kids offers a solution in the cafeteria. Locally grown food in schools helps farmers, the schools themselves and the community as a whole, Olson said.
Sami Holm of the Headwaters Regional Development Commission speaks with a farmer during the Farm to Kids "Farmer-Lunch Lady Speed Dating" event on Thursday, March 19, 2026, at Bagley High School. Leo Pomerenke / Bemidji Pioneer
“I think people really enjoy getting to understand their food (and) supporting local economies,” he said. “There’s a school right down by me in southeast Minnesota, and that school buys from a local cattle farm. The kids of that farm go to that school, and when their beef is on the menu, everybody is so stoked because they feel pretty proud about it.“(It’s) keeping local economies strong, rather than wrapping up your wad of cash and sending it to California.”During the "speed dating" portion of the event, farmers introduced themselves to school representatives and detailed what they grow and sell. If the school was interested, they’d swap contact information to eventually get their food into cafeterias.It's all put on by
Farm to Kids,
a state program that encourages the purchase of local food by schools. It also offers education to students and farmers alike about food safety.The roadshow is in partnership with
Renewing the Countryside
— a nonprofit focused on improving rural areas — the Minnesota Departments of Education and Agriculture and the University of Minnesota.
With stops in Cloquet, Mankato and other towns across the state, Farm to Kids picks sites where getting local food is difficult.
Farmers meet with "lunch ladies" during the Farm to Kids Roadshow on Thursday, March 19, 2026, at Bagley High School. Leo Pomerenke / Bemidji Pioneer
Schools from around the region are encouraged to show up at the roadshows. At the Bagley stop, school representatives from Detroit Lakes to Northome got to meet farmers and make connections with them.“We try to pick places that often have the challenge of nobody coming to add that technical assistance,” Olson added. “So we came to Bagley because, well, we haven't done one here before. … But we try to get the resources out to greater Minnesota as much as possible.”At the event, Bjørn Solberg represented potato farmers in northwest Minnesota, talking to school representatives to see if they’re interested in buying potatoes. His business, Hugh’s Gardens, works with local farmers to wash, store, pack and market their organic potatoes to distributors and grocery stores.He previously secured local potatoes into the Minneapolis school district, and hoped to get them into even more schools at the speed dating event.
Bjorn Solberg meets a local school representative during the Farm to Kids "Farmer-Lunch Lady Speed Dating" event on Thursday, March 19, 2026, at Bagley High School. Leo Pomerenke / Bemidji Pioneer
“It’s been my passion to increase (locally grown food) in other schools,” Solberg said. “It was just a great way to connect and network with them and get a lot of the information ironed out so that sales could happen.”The more he learned about Farm to Kids, the more fascinated he became.
“One aspect that I like is traceability,” he explained. “And so just knowing in my position that I'm working with a farmer, I'm storing (their potatoes), washing it, and then I'm delivering it to a school and then kids are eating it.“It's just a good feeling when I know, especially for farmers, they take a lot of pride in what they do and what they grow. And so being able to just impact and see it in kids within your own community, I think, is a special thing to be able to do.”
Jennifer Hecht of Bagley Public Schools gives a tour of the high school's kitchen during the Farm to Kids Roadshow on Thursday, March 19, 2026, at Bagley High School. Leo Pomerenke / Bemidji Pioneer
While getting locally grown food into schools sounds good on the surface, it doesn’t come without its challenges. Naturally, the biggest challenge is seasonality, Olson explained.Some farmers use greenhouses to grow out-of-season food, which can be helpful. But when there are hundreds of children to be fed daily, that can be difficult.“A lot of times, these farmers have a lot of things to sell, but their schools are closed in the summer,” he explained. “Everything is good in September, so that’s really useful.”Another relatively unknown factor is the finances behind cafeteria food. The lunchroom is the only place that is expected to make a profit in a school, according to Olson.While not all locally grown foods are cost-effective for schools, that isn’t the case for everything.
“What we found is when we piloted some programs, there are certain items that are definitely really good budget items for schools,” Olson said. “Cherry tomatoes are a great example. Snow peas — they’re almost always cheaper than from a distributor.”
Terry Nennich of Ter-Lee Gardens in Bagley speaks with school representatives during the Farm to Kids "Farmer-Lunch Lady Speed Dating" event on Thursday, March 19, 2026, at Bagley High School. Leo Pomerenke / Bemidji Pioneer
Schools aren’t interested in everything a farmer grows, but most representatives want food grown from across the street rather than across the country.“I like that it helps revive the rural areas a little bit,” Solberg said. “The more you find out about it, the more amazing it is.”For more information on the program, visit the
Farm to Kids page
on the Minnesota Department of Education website.
