Golden Carrot Winner: Aubree Roth
We are so excited to honor Aubree Roth with a Golden Carrot Award! Aubree truly believes in the power of Farm to School education; not only does it open young minds and taste buds to new foods, but it simultaneously creates market pathways for local producers to sell to schools and other institutions, giving them the opportunity to provide for their community with fresh local food. A win win!
Aubree began her own Farm to School journey as a VISTA member with Gallatin Valley Farm to School, which, at that time, was an organization with no other employees! From VISTA member to later Program Manager and eventually Executive Director, Aubree created the foundation of GVF2S and helped it grow into the organization it is today. One of her continuous sources of joy is seeing GVF2S flourish. As the first ever GVF2S employee, she loves watching our programs expand in new ways. And we love watching all of the amazing work Aubree has done for her community and across the state!
Aubree has worked passionately to integrate Farm to School in communities across the state of Montana. In her role at Montana Farm to School, she has helped to create and develop the Montana Harvest of the Month program (HOM), which highlights a different Montana grown or produced food each month of the year. Not only does this program celebrate the diversity of our harvests in the state, it also educates the community on the importance of supporting our farmers and ranchers.
And HOM isn’t just for K-12 schools. Aubree has expanded the program to include early childhood centers, after school programs, farmers markets, grocery stores, and more. She believes the HOM curriculum is a tangible framework for implementing Farm to School in communities because it is flexible, adaptable to fit community and school needs and resources, and provides a statewide community and movement for local food.
Her vision for HOM is inspiring; she hopes one day a child in Montana will get dropped off at school, participate in a HOM classroom lesson where they sample the highlighted food, go to the cafeteria and see that food item as part of their school meal, go to the grocery store with their family and see the HOM poster, and finally take that food item home to enjoy with family. Aubree designed HOM to facilitate this cycle by creating connections across sectors and giving children the opportunity to meaningfully engage with their food through recognition and community wide change.
Aubree is incredibly proud of the work she has done to develop the HOM program. It has been an honor for her to lead HOM, work with program partners, and launch it statewide. She loves how collaborative the work is; people naturally gravitate towards Farm to School because it is inherently inclusive and community based. Her role, at its core, is gathering people together across different scales. Without the contribution of communities across Montana, HOM would not be as successful as it is today. She has witnessed firsthand how creative, resilient, and innovative communities are in implementing Farm to School and their energy is inspiring.
As Aubree transitions out of Montana Farm to School and into her next adventure, we deeply express our gratitude for everything Aubree has done. Thank you and we wish you the best in your next chapter!