Farming is more than a $20 billion industry in Arkansas. So it tracks that an Arkansas family owned farm operating out of Conway would make their way to the Folklife Festival in North Little Rock. This week, we've been hearing stories from our reporter Jack Travis, who visited the art, craft, music, food and more fair that took place in North Little Rock late last month. Here's his next one. It's about Hardin Farms and Healthy Flavors' efforts to provide fresh produce to grade schoolers.
What's better than a cold cube of watermelon on a hot June evening? Not much, by this reporter's account. That experience, paired with the sounds of a ball game echoing from Dickey-Stephens Park, is exactly what Hardin Farms and Healthy Flavors offered to attendees of the Arkansas Folklife Festival in North Little Rock last month. Rockey Nichols, with Healthy Flavors Arkansas, says their mission goes beyond making summer memories.
"Just within the last decade, we have the farm. The owner of the farm, Dan Spatz, he has such passion, and his goal is to bring fresh produce to primary schools. And currently we're doing business with probably a half a dozen or better school districts in West Arkansas and Northwest Arkansas, and some more in Tennessee. And we bring all fresh produce that we grew, and we partner with other farms like Hardin Farms and Mid-South Seed Farm. And our goal is to make the young American population healthy by eating non-processed food."
Nichols says schools are limited by funding. That often leaves school lunches filled with cheaper processed foods. Hardin Farms has partnered with Healthy Flavors' fresh network to not only provide students with fresh foods like leafy greens and vegetables, but also re-educate people on where their food comes from.
"You ask a child, where does your food come from? Well, Walmart. They don't know that it comes from a farm somewhere. And so we're trying to educate them. You're from Fayetteville, Thaden School, if you're familiar with them, in Bentonville, they are one of our partner schools, and they've been very helpful in getting us into other school districts. So our mission is going to be very long, but one that's going to be very rewarding.”
Kids get the opportunity to learn about the entire farm-to-table process.
“And part of what the chefs that do this for us in the school districts, they also teach the kids how to get involved in the cooking, so they get to learn, and then they get mom and dad involved and get them excited. And then we have programs to sell directly to those families. So we're trying to do it to where it's just continuous, and then when they get older, they're already in good habits."
According to Nichols, that mission is primarily driven by owner Dan Spatz. His son, Daniel, was at the festival and says it's been an almost decade-long process for the family farm to help Arkansas students in this way.
"Yeah, so we're actually originally based in Tennessee. Healthy Flavors Tennessee is where we grow herbs. My dad founded Healthy Flavors Arkansas in 2018, when he started, came over here, started growing vegetables, and he found about farm to school and bringing local food to schools. But it means a lot, because it really makes a difference, even though it's a small, small difference. Arkansas is one of the biggest growing states in the country. We can start here, with our big agricultural base, we can hopefully spread to other places as well."
He says their mission feels imperative in Arkansas.
"You know how kids, some kids eat, especially nowadays with all the marketing. We want, if you start them young, we can build habits into the kids where they're starting to eat healthier foods. And my dad would say this all the time, if you start young and then the parents get involved, it creates a healthier lifestyle in general. And then we can improve, because Arkansas is one of the unhealthiest states. I think the obesity rate is one of the highest in the country, and we're trying to make a difference in that."
You can visit HealthyFlavors.net to learn more about the farm's efforts to improve school lunches and build a community-based agriculture operation.
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