During the summer of 2025, Conscious Kitchen set out on the Organic Farm-to-School Road Tour to connect small and mid-sized organic farms with school districts across California. With a vision of providing every student in the state with fresh, local, and organic food, this initiative invites school food service leaders, farmers, and community partners to come together, share stories, and explore how we can overcome the challenges in sourcing better food for our kids. Each stop on the tour is an opportunity to dive deeper into the issues at hand, learn from one another, and strengthen the partnerships that are shaping the future of school meals. Here’s a look at one of our recent gatherings on the road and the incredible conversations that are moving us toward a healthier, more sustainable food system for California’s students.
Road Tour Stop #1: Frog Hollow Farm
The launch of the Organic Farm to School Road Tour at Frog Hollow Farm offered a compelling glimpse into what real systems change in school food can look like. As the first of many gatherings, the Bay Area kickoff unfolded with natural momentum fueled by genuine curiosity, purpose, and unwavering commitment of passionate people.
Founded in the late 1970s by Al Courchesne, Frog Hollow Farm has grown into a pioneering organic farm celebrated for perfecting over 200 varieties of tree-ripened fruit. Today, it’s known nationwide for producing some of the sweetest, most flavorful stone fruit in the country.
At the kickoff event, led by organic farming legend Farmer Al, the tour began with a simple but powerful truth: the transformation of our food systems through regenerative agriculture starts with healthy soil. After almost 40 years of farming organically, Farmer Al and his entire team take great pride in carrying forward a legacy of regenerative farming that honors the land while nourishing generations to come. Walking through the orchards and packing areas, attendees witnessed the deep care embedded in every detail of Frog Hollow Farm’s operation.
Farmer Al shared how they measure fruit sweetness not just with scientific tools like a Brix refractometer, but also by trusting sensory cues such as color, size, look, and taste. He boldly noted, “Over the decades, our food is getting sweeter.” That is the result of selecting and enhancing flavor through regenerative soil management. At Frog Hollow Farm, regenerative agriculture is more than a set of practices; it is a philosophy centered on producing nutrient-dense food through stewardship, love, and relentless curiosity.
A Community Ready for Change
The Conscious Kitchen team gathered the group to translate inspiration from the farm tour into action for a better future. Organic farmers, school food service leaders, distributors, and community partners, each bringing a unique perspective, shared the common goal of reshaping school food systems. This gathering was particularly special, as we were joined by both long-standing and new partners of Conscious Kitchen who shared successes and best practices from their organic farm-to-school journeys, including with two local districts.
Barbara Jellison, Executive Director of Food Services for West Contra Costa Unified School District, relayed immense wisdom about her progress in reaching 60% organic for West Contra Costa’s 27,000+ students since 2018, when Conscious Kitchen first collaborated to launch the pilot. The group was inspired to hear from Executive Chef of Lagunitas School District, Meggan Arnoux, who is successfully running a 100% organic school food program – a transition made in the summer of 2024 in partnership with Conscious Kitchen.
Steve Brancamp, Vice President of Pacific Region Sales at UNFI, brought crucial distribution expertise necessary to scale the mission of Conscious Kitchen. Personal stories, like that of his daughter Quinn sharing frustration at the limited organic options in her school cafeteria, reminded us of the target demographic we aim to serve each day: students. This movement is not abstract; it is deeply personal.
Ben Thomas, Founder and CEO of Shared Plate Strategies, brought technical expertise in procurement, particularly the school bidding process, showing how deep understanding of systems can help turn aspiration into tangible change. Amid complex conversations about product reformulation, contracts, and pricing, the group repeatedly returned to a simple, powerful question: What would it look like if every child had food that fueled their success?
The answer became evident in the solutions proposed that day: stable organic pricing with discounts for schools, new organic cereal formulations from Nature’s Path Organic (like that developed in partnership with Conscious Kitchen) designed specifically to meet school compliance needs, and more. Meaningful change comes from collaboration, shared expertise, and a commitment to actualizing good ideas.
The Power of Collaboration
This event demonstrated the lasting change that is possible when food service leaders, farmers, distributors, and community partners come together, ready to act. The collective commitment in the room confirmed that the Organic Farm-to-School Road Tour is the right work that meets this moment and sparks possibility for the future.
A moment of resonance came when Farmer Al said,
“We’re gonna have weeds — we’re just gonna manage them.”
That simple statement serves as a great reminder that complexity is part of the process. Just like weeds in a field, the challenges we face in farm-to-school work aren’t problems to eliminate, but rather realities to navigate thoughtfully and collaboratively. Our goal is progress toward the better future we know to be within reach.
