Culpeper County Public Schools celebrated Virginia Farm to School Week, October 6–10, 2025. The highlight of the week was the Crunch Heard ’Round the Commonwealth on Thursday, October 9, when students and staff bit into local apples from Sperryville’s Thornton River Orchard to make some noise for farm to school programs across Virginia.
Farm to school programs connect school nutrition to locally grown food, school gardens, student farms, and nutrition and agriculture education. According to the Virginia Department of Education’s Office of School and Community Nutrition Programs (SCNP), these programs continue to grow. In School Year 2023–24, child nutrition programs in Virginia purchased $20.89 million worth of local food.
The annual Crunch Heard ’Round the Commonwealth is the largest celebration of Virginia Farm to School Week. On “Crunch Day,” schools, early care centers, farmers, and community partners across the state take part by biting into Virginia-grown apples and sharing their celebrations on social media with the hashtags #VACrunch and #VAFarmtoSchool.
For more information about Virginia Farm to School programs, visit the VDOE-SCNP Farm to School webpage. To learn more about School Nutrition in CCPS, check out their webpage at https://www.culpeperschools.org/page/school-nutrition-services
@VDOESCNP