Allegany/Cattaraugus public schools request for produce bids 2020: Local Produce Processing Initiative for Farm to School

Schools ordering local strawberries

for Farm to School

BELMONT, NY - Cornell Cooperative Extension of Allegany County is assembling bids from New York State farmers, distributors, and aggregators of any size on behalf of a collective of School Food Associations which includes the districts of Wellsville, Scio, Whitesville, Hinsdale, Genesee-Valley, Fillmore, and Cuba-Rushford. The schools cumulatively are seeking to purchase over 7,600 pounds of fresh, unprocessed, in-season vegetables and fruits of the following varieties: Cauliflower, Broccoli, Zucchini/Summer Squash, Winter Squash, Onions, Bell Peppers, Strawberries, Blueberries, Sweet Corn, Green Beans, Carrots, Snow Peas, Raspberries, and Blackberries.

Onions growing in field

for Farm to School

Bidders must outline their proposed price per unit and quantities for each item they are able to provide. Bidders do not need to meet total quantities of an item to sell that product to schools; partial quantities will be considered as well to encourage farms of all sizes. The price per unit must remain firm for the full contract period. A geographic preference will be incorporated into scoring criteria that gives higher advantage to farms located in or with close proximity to Allegany County. Awarded bidders must deliver their own harvested produce to the Allegany County Jail (Belmont, NY) as produce is ready any time between the months of May and November. The Allegany County Sheriff’s Office is providing processing services (wash, chop, blanch, vacuum seal) to freeze in-season produce and will act as the food hub for these participating school districts during this project. Growers are not responsible for delivery from the Jail to the respective schools. One main barrier for implementing Farm to School in Allegany County is the short growing season, which can be overcome by processing and freezing produce while it is in season. School Cafeterias will serve these processed local vegetables in lunch meals throughout the school year.

For full information, please see bidding documents, which are available on the home page of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Allegany County’s website: http://allegany.cce.cornell.edu/as of Monday, March 30, 2020. Bids can be sent digitally as a fillable pdf and emailed to CB775@cornell.edu or printed and mailed to the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Allegany County office at 5435A County Road 48, Belmont, NY 14813. Bids will be accepted for two weeks, for the period of March 30th – April 13th, 2020. All sealed bids, either in email or mail form, must be received by CCE before 2:30pm local time on April 13, 2020. Bid awards will be confirmed by individual schools no later than April 27th,2020.

Please contact Farm to School Coordinator, Cassandra Bull, at 585-268-7644 ext. 25 or CB775@cornell.edu for questions or assistance with acquiring a copy of the full bid information packet.

Photos courtesy of Cooperative Extension of Allegany County