Schools get deal on fruits, veggies

Delivery fee made farm program too costly for many; contractor agrees to cut

State agriculture officials announced a cost-saving compromise Monday aimed at salvaging a popular program that purchases fresh, North Carolina-grown produce for school lunch programs from the mountains to the coast.

Under the agreement, Foster-Caviness Foodservices, a Guilford County produce company and U.S. Department of Defense contractor, agreed to slash its delivery fee from $4.30 a case to $1.65 for fresh fruit and vegetables delivered to schools by state agriculture trucks.

But this may not be the figure that appears on a school district's bill. With a defense agency surcharge included, schools that get their produce delivered by the state agriculture agency will be billed $1.80 a case in delivery and administrative fees. They also will have to foot the cost of trucking this produce to individual schools, since agriculture deliveries will be made only to school warehouses.

The sharply reduced delivery fee is the result of nearly a month of negotiations. It addresses the chief criticism of state agriculture officials and two North Carolina congressmen -- U.S. Reps. Walter Jones and Bob Etheridge.

These critics said the defense agency's decision to hire Foster-Caviness to handle produce purchases for military bases, federal prisons and public schools in the state would have nearly doubled the price of some home-grown fruits and vegetables offered under the decade-old farm-to-school program.

School officials said the deal saved a program seen as a success for both North Carolina farmers -- who have a tough time penetrating institutional food purchasing programs dominated by bigger agricultural states such as California -- and school nutritionists, who like adding fresh, locally grown produce to the student lunch menu.

"We're real glad things have worked out," said Marilyn Moody, senior director of child nutrition services for Wake County public schools. "We're jumping on board and will start placing orders."

Last year, Moody said Wake schools bought $175,000 in fruits and vegetables from North Carolina growers, using federal school lunch credits to do so. That's in addition to $500,000 in fruits and vegetables purchased outside the program for the district's 153 schools.

State Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler expressed relief about the compromise and praised Foster-Caviness officials for cutting delivery fees for districts that want their produce delivered by his agency's trucks.

"I didn't want to cancel this program in a year that farmers planted crops for it," Troxler said.

Troxler said Foster-Caviness, which won the $38 million defense agency contract in May, was caught in the crossfire aimed at defense agency purchasing agents who nearly scuttled the program by increasing its costs.

"The Department of Defense set the rules up," Troxler said. "Foster-Caviness was caught in the middle of all this -- they're a good friend of North Carolina agriculture."

Winn Maddrey, a spokesman for Foster-Caviness, said, "We hope we have a good deal for all parties."

But the compromise may be only a temporary fix for the current school year.

In the long run, the farm-to-school program may be pulled from defense agency purchasing agents and placed with federal agriculture officials, who are responsible for the school lunch subsidy program, said Jones, a Farmville Republican.

"It's a done deal for this year, but we need to see whether this excellent program needs a new home next year," Jones said.

Under the farm-to-school program, 24 farms sold about $475,000 in fresh produce last year, including apples, peaches, sweet potatoes, broccoli, strawberries and blueberries.

But schools fled the program when the new fee schedule was announced and agriculture officials decided to halt deliveries.

"A lot of schools were just going to get out and do their own thing, but now they want to get back on board," said Gary Gay, director of food distribution for the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.