From Local Farms
to Local Classrooms
We’re helping to expand the local food system’s capacity to deliver local, organic food to K12 students with a collaborative solution that meets mutual needs of small producers and school districts.
Stronger Together
It takes a village to feed and raise children, so let’s join K12 food-service professionals, farmers and food hubs across the state to collaborate and share knowledge and resources.
School district demand
California is the first state to mandate schools provide a nutritiously adequate breakfast and lunch to every student regardless of income, increasing demand from 3,075,721 students qualifying for free lunch in the 2022-2023 school year* to 5,852,544 students enrolled in California’s 10,010 schools across 1,018 districts.
*California Department of Education
local farm supply
Small independent producers face common barriers in supplying farm to school ingredients that require specialized packaging, distribution, and marketing. 94% percent of rural North Coast dairy farmers have less than 500 cows compared to the rest of the state where 53% of farms have more than 500 cows. Lower volumes make it critical to receive the highest value for the milk.
*USDA Census of Agriculture
Farm to School Capacity
Rumiano aggregates, processes, and markets organic dairy products made from milk supplied by 20 local family farms. We also partner with 21 California school districts serving a collective 220,000 students, to address unique challenges in expanding the local food systems capacity and model Farm-to-School sales of locally-produced organic dairy products across California.
2025 Programming
October 23-25, 2005 - Ferndale and Crescent City, CA
Join us at:
Northcoast Farm to School Nutrition Director Workshop
We’ll host a three-day training and workshop in Northern California with tours of our facility and local farms. The days will consist of panel discussions, scratch cooking and stops at local producer owned businesses. Our goal is to connect Nutrition Directors to resources needed to self-certify and navigate procurement for their districts. Our co-host will be Foggy Bottom Boys, one of our 20+ family-owned farm suppliers.
Date TBA - Southern California
Join us at:
K-12 Farm to School Summit
This is a one-day immersive experience held in Southern California to bring together local Farmers, School Nutrition Directors and Farm to School Community partners. The day will include panels, fireside chats and interactive learning experiences with partners such as the Alice Waters institute, Chef Ann Foundation and the CDFA. Our goal is to model farm to school solutions that scale.
Join Us in the northcoast
October 23-25, 2025
Measuring impact
together
facility & farmtours
local partners
Small businesses supported
School districts served
students impacted
educational materials
Food, Farming & Care
We help bring organic, regenerative farming practices to life in K12 classrooms and cafeterias through integrated educational experiences. These programs empower California students to understand the origins of their food and the ways farmers steward the land and animals in their care. Please contact our Director of Sales & Programming at LBrown@rumianocheese.com for more information on how to get your own educational materials.
Organic cheese
Locally made and served
Our farm to school offering helps K12 schools in California transition to local, organic cheese and meet the need for a nutritiously adequate breakfast and lunch for every student. Please contact our Director of Sales & Programming at LBrown@rumianocheese.com for more information on how to order Rumiano products.
