Farm to Kids Month

October is Farm to Kids Month!

Join us in celebrating all of the ways we can connect kids to local food — from serving it on lunch trays to teaching about it in classrooms. Whether your a district, school, early care center, family daycare, or community partner — we encourage you to find a way to enjoy and celebrate local food this October.

Our 2026 theme is…

Thank You, Farmers!

This year, we’re encouraging sites to give special thanks to the farmers that make Farm to Kids work possible! Feature local farmers at your site, invite them to lunch, write them thank you cards, and let them know how much they mean to you!

Make sure to register and let us know how you’ll be celebrating!

Registrants will be featured on our Farm to Kids Month map - showcasing the widespread celebrations happening across the state. Plus, the first 100 people to register will get a set of “Thank You Farmers!” cards mailed to them.

Register for Farm to Kids Month!

The Great Apple Crunch

Celebrate Farm to Kids Month by participating in the Great Apple Crunch!

Participating in the Crunch is simple: just buy serve, and crunch into locally grown apples with students, staff, families, and neighbors. The Great Apple Crunch started in 2014, and has since become an annual tradition in Minnesota and across The Great Lakes Region to celebrate local farmers, healthy kids, and strong communities. When you crunch, you’ll join MILLIONS of crunchers all across the state and region!

The official crunch date is Thursday, October 8th — but you’re welcome to crunch any time during the month of October

Great Apple Crunch Resources:

MN Great Apple Crunch Logo

Suggested Ways to Celebrate Farm to Kids Month!

  • Participate in the Great Apple Crunch.

    Join thousands of other apple lovers across the Midwest in crunching into a locally grown apple during the month of October. 

  • Thank your local farmers.

    Have students and staff write thank you cards or create a thank you video expressing their appreciation for the people that grow their food.  

  • Visit a local farm.

    Reach out to a local farm to see if they’d be willing to host a group of students and/or staff. Field trips to local farms offer a great hands-on opportunity for students or staff to learn about where their food comes from. 

  • Feature local farmers in the lunchroom and classroom.

    This is a great way for students to get to know the faces behind the food they eat. In the lunchroom, use digital graphics, posters, salad bar clings, or other tools to highlight a farmer when their product is being served. In the classroom, invite a local farmer to visit or have them make a video showing students around their farm. 

  • Incorporate farming and agriculture into classroom teaching

    Farming and agriculture offer a great context for learning about subjects like math, science, reading, and social studies. Teach an agriculture focused lesson, read an agriculture themed book, or watch one of the new Harvest of the Month videos to give students a better understanding of where their food comes from. 

  • Invite a local farmer to lunch.

    Encourage students to sit with them and ask them about what it's like being a farmer.  

My Farm Web (Grades K-2)

Ag Themed Lessons

Students use the visual representation of a web to explore the role of agriculture in their daily lives and understand how most of the necessities of life can be traced back to the farm.

Right This Very Minute (Grades 3-5) 

Students read Right This Very Minute—a table-to-farm book about food production and farming—and diagram the path of production for a processed product, study a map to discover where different commodities are grown, and write a thank-you letter to farmers in their local community.

Lucious Leaves (Grades 3-5) 

Students examine the functions of plant leaves and identify leaves as edible parts of some plants.

Source Search (Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12) 

In this lesson students will learn that agriculture provides nearly all of the products we rely on in any given day by participating in a relay where they match an everyday item with its "source."

Farm to Kids Books

Thank a Farmer

By: Maria Gianferrari

Bread, milk, wool, fruits, and vegetables: things that fill our day to day lives. But where, and who, do they come from? Across wheat fields and city rooftop gardens, mushroom beds and maple forests, trace food and clothing back to the people who harvested and created them. Thank a Farmer gently emphasizes the importance of agriculture and reminds readers to give thanks to farmworkers around the world.

Right This Very Minute: A table-to-farm book about food and farming

By: Lisl H. Detlefsen

What's that you say? You're hungry? Right this very minute? Then you need a farmer. You have the stories of so many right here on your table! Award winners Lisl H. Detlefsen and Renee Kurilla's delicious celebration of food and farming is sure to inspire readers of all ages to learn more about where their food comes from – right this very minute!

The Giant Carrot

By: Jan Peck

A TALL tale about the power of teamwork. When sweet Little Isabelle's family plants a carrot seed one day, tall Papa Joe, wide Mama Bess, and strong Brother Abel all do their part. But when Little Isabelle wants to help too, Brother Abel just laughs. "What can you do," he asks. "I'll sing and dance to the carrot to make it grow," she says. "And come summer, we'll have little cups of sweet carrot puddin." Sure enough, that carrot takes a fancy to Little Isabelle's singing and dancing and grows to an amazing height, proving that great things can be accomplished when everyone works together. Based on an old Russian folktale, and complete with a scrumptious recipe for carrot puddin', this wonderfully humorous story shows the strength of teamwork and the power of a touch of imagination.

Communications Resources

Use these hashtags to highlight your Farm to Kids Month fun!: #F2KMonth #MNFarmtoKids
Tag these partners: @mnagriculture; @MNDeptEd; @MNAgintheClassroom

National Resources

The National Farm to Kids Network offers graphics, logos and other resources to assist in planning your Farm to Kids month celebrations. Explore these free resources to guide your plans to celebrate and promote your Farm to School story!