by Eric Mortenson
Oregon’s first four “FoodCorps” representatives began work this week, becoming part of a campaign to encourage school kids to eat right, reduce obesity, reconnect with the state’s agricultural roots and support farmers.
Organizers hope to accomplish all that through school gardens, nutrition curriculum material, farm and processing plant field trips and classroom visits by experts ranging from chefs to ranchers. The Oregon Department of Agriculture is overseeing the FoodCorps workers, who are assigned to work with school districts that have “low resource and high need” schools.