Farm to Fork: Bridging Ag and Nutrition

“What’s your favorite season on the farm?”

“Is your farm sustainable?”

“What’s the life cycle of a dairy cow?”

These questions and more could be heard as dietetic students filled their bingo cards, ate food featuring crops and livestock raised on Kansas farms and connected over food.

In an effort to engage those who are the food experts and are asked a lot of questions about food and how it is raised, dietitians, with those who grow it, the Kansas Soybean Commission and Kansas Farm Bureau partnered with the KU Med Center Dietetic Internship and the K-State Student Dietetic Association to host Farm to Fork events to bridge together Agriculture and Nutrition.

Each event started with a social hour where each farmer represented a commodity. The ranchers had beef sliders or steak, and the soybean farmer featured edamame and chicken strips (chickens are the #1 consumer of soybean meal nationally and soybean oil is used in cooking). Our dairy farmer showcased cheese, the produce farmer had ample vegetables and the pig farmer featured pork at their table.

Students had bingo cards to encourage asking questions of the farmers. A simple ‘what do pigs eat?’ turned into talking about animal nutritionists or sharing how the markets work on their phone.

After the social, they heard from Registered Dietitian Cara Harbstreet about the various career paths, how going to the farm and connecting with farmers can better equip dietitians as food experts, and how to engage with misinformation.

The evenings wrapped up with Cara and the students asking the farmers questions – from how soil health impacts nutrition, why it matters, and what farmers do about it (crop rotation, limited till, cover crops, and more) to why pesticides are crucial and how they are safely used, to livestock care and more.

Students are surveyed before and after the event. On a scale of 1- not concerned at all to 5 – very concerned they were asked how they felt about several topics across the two events and over 60 students and faculty –

• Concerns about chemicals used on farms went from 3.40 to 2.22
• Concerns on antibiotics used to keep animals healthy went from 3.02 to 1.91
• Sustainability of America’s farms moved from 6.95 to 2.42

Connecting People. Forging Relationships. Building Trust.

It’s how the Kansas Soybean Commission is doing our part to equip and engage the next generation of food experts as they enter their careers to be aware of how Kansas farmers and ranchers work to sustainably raise the food that ends up on our table so they can share the science and insights with all they engage with.

Students rated their satisfaction with the event at 4.94 for the value it brought them one student noted: “I really enjoyed getting to correlate dietetics to farm. As a dietetic student, we have really missed out on the background of where the food comes from & I was informed so much during this event!”

Thanks to Kansas Farm Bureau for being a great partner and our commodity friends who help to bring remarkable farmers to the table.