An Exploration of the Factors Influencing Farm to School Program Prevalence in the United States

• In Event: 261 - Section on Political Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 05. Policy Determinants and Outcomes

Abstract

Skyrocketing childhood obesity rates in the United States have fueled rising concern about the health of the country’s children. Efforts to reduce childhood obesity have increasingly targeted improvements to federal school food programs. In particular, the landmark 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) marked the first substantial changes to federal policy to enhance the quality of school food in recent years. Despite these mandated nutritional improvements, however, there is still significant variation in the quality of school food programs across the United States when assessed by the prevalence of farm to school programs. Theories of the policy process suggest that federal policies can vary by state in their implementation and impact, with state-level factors influencing this variation. This paper quantitatively explores the effect of both federal legislation through vertical diffusion and state-level internal determinants on farm to school rates across the country. My findings reveal that state affluence and the average farm to school rate of a state’s regional peers emerge as the most significant, positive predictors of farm to school rates. This research sheds light on the current quality of school food programs that provide critical nutrition to millions of school children each day, and suggests a need for additional research exploring the linkages between federal policy, state-level factors, and local implementation of school food programs.

Author

• Helena Lyson, University of California - Berkeley