BELMONT, NY – Cornell Cooperative Extension of Allegany County is aggregating quotes from farmers, distributors, and aggregators of any size on behalf of a collective of School Food Authorities which includes the districts of Wellsville, Scio, and Whitesville. The schools cumulatively are seeking to purchase over 4,000 pounds of fresh, unprocessed, in-season vegetables and fruits of the following varieties: Cauliflower, Broccoli, Zucchini/Summer Squash, Winter Squash, Onions, Bell Peppers, Strawberries, Blueberries, Green Beans, Carrots, Snow Peas, Raspberries, and Blackberries. Vendors must outline their proposed price per unit and quantities for each item they are able to provide. Vendors do not need to meet total quantities of an item to sell that product to schools; partial quantities will be considered as well to encourage participation from farms of all sizes. A geographic preference will be incorporated into scoring criteria that gives higher advantage to produce grown directly by the vendor and to produce grown in or with proximity to Allegany County.
One main barrier for implementing Farm to School in Allegany County is the short growing season, which can be overcome by processing and freezing produce while it is in season. The Allegany County Sheriff’s Office is providing processing services to freeze in-season produce and will act as the food hub for these participating school districts during this project. School Cafeterias will serve these processed local vegetables in lunch meals throughout the school year. Awarded bidders must deliver their own harvested produce to the Allegany County Jail (Belmont, NY) as produce is ready any time between the months of May and November. Growers are not responsible for delivery to the respective schools.
For full information, please see solicitation documents, which are available on the home page of Cornell Cooperative Extension Allegany County’s website: http://allegany.cce.cornell.edu/ as of Tuesday, April 13, 2021. Forms can be emailed to CB775@cornell.edu or printed and mailed to the Cornell Cooperative Extension Allegany County office at 5435A County Road 48, Belmont, NY 14813. Bids will be accepted for three weeks, for the period of April 13 – May 4, 2021. All quotes, either in email or mail form, must be received by CCE before 2:30pm local time on May 4, 2021. Bid awards will be confirmed by individual schools no later than May 11th, 2021.
Please contact Farm to School Coordinator, Cassandra Bull, at 585-268-7644 ext. 25 or CB775@cornell.edu for questions or assistance with acquiring a copy of the full solicitation information packet.
