Use of a novel approach to assess changes in local food sourcing in a sample of Oklahoma school districts

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify changes in the extent to which Oklahoma schools were using locally grown foods, what specific foods they were purchasing and by what methods they were making the purchases. Barriers to local food sourcing were also identified. Two concept maps and a demographic survey were used to collect data from 25 school districts. Questions for each concept map were: 1) types of procurement methods used to purchase locally grown foods and items purchased; and 2) barriers to local purchasing. School representatives were recruited and pre-intervention data collected at various training and professional meetings in Summer 2018. Post-intervention data was collected in Fall 2019 after multiple farm-to-school promotional materials and communications were disseminated. Hierarchical Structure Scores (HSS)were calculated for each data set by adding the different levels of participants' responses. Types of procurement methods and types of food items were coded for frequency analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize responding schools and paired t-tests were used to compare pre- and post-intervention HSS. There was a significant increase in HSS and the number of food types purchased. Overall, this study showed improvement in Oklahoma schools purchasing more local food items following dissemination of farm-to-school promotional material and communications, however more steps need to be taken to overcome the barriers that are experienced in local food procurement.