Auburn School Department update: USDA grant-backed food hub expands local sourcing and readies summer processing

Lily, who also serves as project coordinator for the USDA School Food Systems Innovation Grant (the "School Based Food Hub" project), updated the Auburn School Committee on Feb. 5 about progress integrating locally sourced foods into school meals.

The nut graf: the project aims to strengthen the local food system while improving school meals; staff reported increasing direct farm procurement, taste-testing results with students, newly installed processing equipment, and summer processing plans to scale distribution across the school year.

Lily said the district has indirectly ordered from 23 farms within a 50-mile radius this school year through aggregators and has formed about six direct farm relationships within 30 miles: Blackies Farm, Willow Pond Farm, Spring Works Aquaponics Farm, Fairwind Farms, Liberation Farms and Greenwood Orchards. "We have about 6 direct relationships," she said, and described outreach that began with farm visits and personal meetings to build those relationships.

Examples of recent menu integration included local apples from Willow Pond used in an apple crumble, cauliflower from Fairwind Farms that moved from a taste test into regular menu rotation, romaine lettuce from Spring Works replacing iceberg in salad bars, and a local beef stew featuring Caldwell Farms beef and root vegetables from local growers. Lily provided student taste-test data: a cauliflower tasting at Washburn Elementary produced 76.4% positive feedback from 135 students; a potato soup sampling at Auburn Middle School produced about 95.4% positive feedback from 135 students; a beet tasting at Fairview Elementary involved 204 students and registered roughly 50.5% positive feedback.

Implementation steps include forward contracting with farmers—staff said three to four farms have agreed to plant specifically for the schools starting in January or February—and new processing equipment now installed at Auburn Middle School: a food processor is in place and a potato peeler was scheduled for installation around Feb. 15. Lily said some heavier processing equipment, such as a squash peeler, is available through partner Blackies Farmstead.

The project is collaborating with several partners: aggregator and subgrantee Blackies Farm Fresh, Peak Season, FarmDrop (an online platform being adapted for school purchasing), Native Maine, the Good Food Council, FoodCorps, and Healthy Atascoggin. Lily said the district is tracking local food purchases, student feedback, farmer relationship data (forward contracts and harvest schedules), and processing cost analyses to compare labor and processing costs against purchasing from distributors.

Lily reported a visit from Congressman Jared Golden, who "showed a lot of interest in supporting local food initiatives" and plans to remain informed on the grant's progress. The coordinator also said the project plans to hire FoodCorps members for the 2026 school year, run summer processing employing staff who normally have summers off, and host chef-led trainings to scale processing and menu integration.

Committee members responded positively and asked clarifying questions about district coordination; Pat Gardia asked whether Lily was coordinating with Lewiston and Lisbon, and Lily replied that she represents those districts in the project and that a team of four coordinates activities across the partner districts.

Next steps outlined by staff include finalizing forward-contracting details, completing staff training and summer processing operations, continuing taste-testing and student engagement, and refining FarmDrop ordering capabilities for school procurement.