More than 40 percent of Georgia public school districts have farm to school programs. These programs teach students about food and agriculture through hands-on food and garden education, supporting the local economy through local food purchases for school meals, and fighting childhood obesity and other preventable, food-related diseases.
The Georgia Departments of Agriculture, Public Health, Education, UGA Extension and Georgia Organics recently hosted the 2017 Golden Radish Awards with a record-breaking 75 school districts who participated in farm to school programs during the 2016-17 school year.
The Golden Radish Award publicly recognizes school districts for all aspects of farm to school, from local food procurement to hosting taste tests and gardening with students. Districts are evaluated on their work implementing farm to school objectives.
The 75 school systems that were recognized and their level of recognition are:
*Platinum Level
Barrow County School System
Carrollton City Schools
Cherokee County School District
Clarke County School District
Fulton County Schools
Jackson County Schools
Laurens County Schools
Sumter County Schools
Tift County Schools
*Gold Level
Atlanta Public Schools
Baldwin County School District
Bartow County School System
Bleckley County Schools
Burke County Public Schools
City Schools of Decatur
Cobb County School District
Columbia County School Nutrition
Dougherty County School System
Effingham County School System
Elbert County School District
Fannin County School System
Fayette County Public Schools
Gwinnett County Public Schools
Habersham County Schools
Hart County Schools
Treutlen County Schools
Henry County Schools
Newton County Schools
Warren County Public Schools
*Silver Level
Crawford County Schools
DeKalb County School District
Floyd County Schools
Forsyth County Schools
Gainesville City School System
Madison County School District
Paulding County School District
Savannah-Chatham County Public School System
Toombs County Schools
*Bronze Level
Buford City Schools
Carroll County Schools
Coffee County School System
Dade County Schools
Dalton Public Schools
Douglas County School System
Lee County School System
Marietta City Schools
Mitchell County School
Morgan County Charter School System
Murray County Schools
Muscogee County School District
Richmond County
Valdosta City Nutrition Program
Wayne County
White County
Worth County School District
*Honorary
Banks County School System
Butts County School System
Calhoun City School System
Clayton County Public Schools
Dawson County School System
Emanuel County School System
Franklin County Schools
Glascock County School System
Haralson County Schools
Hall County Schools
Johnson County
Lincoln County School District
Lowndes County Honorary
Lumpkin County School System
Miller County Board of Education
McIntosh County Schools
Rockdale County Public Schools
Stephens County
Whitfield County Schools
Wilkinson County Board of Education
