Tammy Westergard, right, senior Workforce Development Librarian-in-Residence at the Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development, recognizes Sue Segura, the Churchill County School District’s Work Based learning coordinator, at a December meeting with a certificate of recognition and flowers for her work with students.
Photo by Steve Ranson.
The Churchill County School District is applying for a grant for a Farm to School program.
At a December stakeholders’ meeting, the school district’s work-based learning coordinator informed members of a $500,000 federal grant spread out over five years that would educate students as well as the community on food production in Churchill County.
From left, Tim Spencer, principal of Churchill County High School, area farmer and former county Commissioner Norm Frey and Lance Lattin, representing Lattin Farms, brainstorm ideas at a December meeting that would make a Farm to School grant work in Churchill County.
Steve Ranson/LVN
“The state is behind this area and wants it to work,” said Sue Segura.
Assisting Segura with the meeting was Tammy Westergard, the senior Workforce Development Librarian-in-Residence at the Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development. Segura and Westergard said the grant includes educating students from pre-kindergarten to high school on the food production beginning on the farms.
In her presentation, Segura pointed out how a Farm to School program enriches a community with fresh food and local food production and with hands-on learning in the classrooms. She said the grant provides the connection communities have with fresh food and local food produced by changing food purchasing and education practices at the schools. Reiterating the benefits of a Farm to School grant, Segura said the children, farmers and community all win and benefit from the program.
The meeting informed about a dozen attendees how jobs would be created and then strengthen the local economy, which has been a success story in itself since the recession of 2008-09. More than a decade ago, the county had one of the worst unemployment rates in the state. Churchill County began to diversify its economic development.
Segura said letters of support from the stakeholders would be beneficial in the application process.
Sue Segura, the Churchill County School District’s Work Based learning coordinator, explains the Farm to School program and grant to area stakeholders at a December meeting.
Steve Ranson/LVN
"The Churchill County area is one of the top food-producing counties in Nevada with its dairy farms, the Dairy Farmers of America dry milk processing plant and acres upon acres of land for the growing of vegetables and fruit such as cantaloupes and watermelon,” the Churchill Entrepreneurial Development Association said in a letter of support. “Churchill County has also been at the forefront of the planting and harvesting of teff, a grain which is used to make a variety of products for the retail market.”
According to CEDA, the School to Farm grant would allow the association and Churchill-Fallon Economic Development make the area more attractive for ventures such as the Farm to School program.
“The federal government continually sees this area as a model area for its agriculture,” CEDA said in a support letter for the school district receiving the grant. “Representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture visited the county in late August 2024 to tout its direct working relationships with irrigation districts such as the one in Churchill County that supports agriculture projects and water-saving commodities. This would also add to the success of the Farm to School program.”
Part of the grant’s requirement was gleaning input from the stakeholders. Three groups brainstormed the positive outcomes a Farm to School grant would bring to both the CCSD and Churchill County.
Additionally, CEDA said this program would also strengthen the relationship with the local tribal community which would also benefit from the school district receiving this grant.