Annual Conference
Conference Session
2020-10-30
"Creating Minnesota Harvest of the Month"Key Areas: Nutrition
Session: Session D - Friday, October 30th, 2020: 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
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Speaker(s): Helen Schnoes, AICP - Regional Marketing Specialist, Ag Marketing & Development
Sue Knott, MDA
Sami Burington, MDE
Description: Participants will: 1. Review and learn about innovative Farm to School best practices to connect local procurement with marketing and classroom activities. 2. Understand local food seasonality and best practices for aligning menu planning, including identifying items for cafeteria use with high-impact and easy preparation. 3. Gain insight from school nutrition professionals about creation of Harvest of the Month program in Minnesota, including associated trainings, grower networking, and support materials that would best meet needs of cafeteria and food service staff.
Speaker Bio(s):
Helen Schnoes, AICP - Ag Marketing & Development
Speaker Bio:
Helen Schnoes is a trained and certified regional planner with a passion for engagement and advancing community and economic development through building healthy, sustainable local/regional food systems. With Minnesota Department of Agriculture focuses on supporting Farm to School across Minnesota as well as other state ag and food business marketing efforts, including the wholesale directory with Minnesota Grown. She is currently managing two USDA grant projects: (1) Creating Minnesota's Harvest of the Month program, and (2) partnering with University of Minnesota applied economists to gather data to better understand and support local and regional market channels in Minnesota.
Sue Knott, MDA
Speaker Bio:
Sue Knott's agriculture roots were established on her family's farm in southwestern Minnesota. Experiences in 4-H, FFA and helping raise crops and livestock, inspired her to earn a degree in agricultural education from the University of Minnesota. She taught high school Agricultural Education for nine years before joining the Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom team as Education Specialist in 2011. In this position, she has focused on providing professional development for K-12 teachers to introduce them to agriculture and how to use authentic agricultural content to enhance classroom instruction.
Sami Burington, MDE
Speaker Bio:
Sami Burington is a registered dietitian for the Minnesota Department of Education. She's been with the Department for 8 years working in different roles including monitoring the school nutrition program, certifying compliance with school menus, working on the food distribution program for schools, and most recently, implementing Farm to School efforts statewide and managing the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program for elementary schools.
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