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The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) invites all family child care providers participating in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), also referred to as “the food program,” to complete this survey. The purpose of the survey is to find out whether family child care providers are currently implementing one or more Farm to CACFP activities and to identify their interest in training and resources.
What is Farm to CACFP?
Farm to CACFP refers to strategies or activities that teach children about where food comes from and how that impacts their health, the environment, local farmers and communities.
These activities are not required but are encouraged to enhance the quality of your program!
You may already be participating in Farm to CACFP and not even know it! You are participating in Farm to CACFP if you have done
one or more of the following activities this past year:
1. Purchase foods that are locally grown, produced, or harvested and serve them in meals or snacks. Local foods can come from your garden; directly from a farmer; or from a “food hub,” grocery store, farm stand, or farmers’ market. In addition to fruits and vegetables, local foods can include but are not limited to milk, cheese, yogurt, eggs, beef, poultry, and baked goods, like bread and tortillas. The definition of local is up to you to define based on what is accessible. For example, if food is grown within your county, you could define local as within your county. You could also define local within your region, within a certain number of miles or even within California. If you are close to a border, you could define local to be a neighboring state.
2. Educate children about food, nutrition, and agriculture. Examples include cooking or taste-testing activities that teach children about a particular food, where it came from, the nutrients it includes, or how it might be used in different cultures or celebrations, taking children on a tour of a local farm, visiting a farmers’ market, or reading farm and garden books.
3. Provide opportunities for hands-on learning in an edible garden. Grow fruits, vegetables, and herbs that will be used in meals, snacks, and/or other activities (e.g., taste testing). Gardens can be big or small, indoor or outdoor, in the ground or in raised beds, or in planting pots.
Instructions: The California Farm to CACFP survey is anonymous and optional. We do not ask for your name or contact information. You will not be penalized in any way for your responses. It should take about 10 minutes to complete.
The deadline to complete this survey is Tuesday, September 30, 2025.
Please note: It’s best to complete the survey in one sitting but you can save it and return to it later if needed. There is a save button at the top of each page.
If you need to go back to a previous page of the survey,
please scroll down to the bottom of the page and select the back button. If you select the back arrow on your browser, you will lose the information you provided.
Questions: If you have questions about the survey, please contact your sponsoring organization (who sent you this e-mail).