Project Cereal

On Monday, March 3rd AIM team members, Liana Orlandi, Danielle Spoor, and Andy Naja-Riese, attended the launch of “Project Cereal,” a campaign from our partner organization Conscious Kitchen that is transforming school food supply chains to feature more fresh and organic foods. The event was held at Michele Obama school in honor of National School Breakfast Week to highlight food systems transformation.   

The project advocates for healthier school breakfasts that are made from foods free of pesticides and herbicides like glyphosate. Project Cereal is helping build the capacity for school cafeterias in West Contra Costa County to serve organic cereal and organic milk daily, sourced from local farmers and ranchers using responsible practices. This is one of the first models to integrate local, organic fruits and vegetables, dairy and grains into school meals! AIM producers, such as Straus Family Creamery and Frog Hollow Farm, play important roles in this project. 

Starting in March of 2022, Project Cereal is launching with 30,000 students across 53 schools in West Contra Costa Unified School District. AIM is excited to be a supporter and collaborator by helping connect schools with our network of local farmers and ranchers and offering Diggin’ Education lessons on healthy food, sustainability and seasonality.   

This work is related to AIM’s strategy to advocate for small farmers, fishers, and ranchers at the state level. In 2021 AIM’s CEO, Andy Naja-Riese, was a part of a Statewide Advisory Committee convened by California’s First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom and Secretary of California Department of Food & Agriculture, Karen Ross. Working with over 200 stakeholders, including 50+ agricultural producers, the Advisory Committee provided recommendations for a statewide Farm to School Roadmap. AIM helped to ensure that the Farm to School program considers the needs of small to mid-size farmers and ranchers who use organic and climate-friendly practices, to increase access to locally and responsibly grown foods in school cafeterias.   

We are proud and honored to support our community not just through our local farmers markets, education, and nutrition access programs, but also by positively influencing the state-level and county-level policies that will impact our farmers, fishers and ranchers here at home.  

Learn more about Project Cereal here: project cereal - Conscious Kitchen