A new program aims to bring locally sourced fruits and vegetables to more Wisconsin children. (UW Extension)

MADISON, Wis. – Building on the success of Wisconsin's farm-to-table movement, several children's advocacy groups in the state have joined to launch the Farm to Early Care and Education project.



Funded with a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the program will bring fresh fruits and vegetables to infants and children up to age 5 years old in child care settings.



Noting that many children get the majority of their calories at day care or preschool, Daithi Wolfe, an early education policy analyst with the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, says it's a logical extension of the farm-to-able program.



"Basically connecting farmers and producers to the school cafeteria, so that the food that gets served there is healthier, and more local and fresh,” he explains. “It supports the kids and their better nutrition, and it supports the farmers and the economy, in terms of more purchasing power."



The program will initially roll out this fall in Milwaukee, Madison and La Crosse, but Wolfe says there's a great deal of enthusiasm about it, so the hope is to expand it to the entire state.



Wolfe says Farm to Early Care and Education will focus on reaching vulnerable populations of children who may have the least access to healthy foods, and who often get their calories at home from fast food.



"And we also hope that it's a model for those families to realize that the kids taste these things and eat these things at their child care center and then, want them at home and ask for them, or are familiar with a wider variety of choices," he states.



Wolfe adds healthy habits that begin early in life pay off in the long run with reduced likelihood of such chronic conditions as obesity, diabetes, cancer and heart disease, which means future savings on health-care costs.





