With a small vegetable farm on Main Street in Gorham and a 150-acre farm on Turkey Lane in Buxton, Jeff Hawkes knows why buying locally grown food is important to him. But to explain why it should be important to others, he pointed at his farm stand.

“The sign in there says ‘no farms, no food,'” he said.

Hawkes, who runs the farms with his wife, Bonnie, is one of the local farmers benefitting from a Gorham School Department program that’s bringing locally grown food to school cafeterias. The program, which is unique to Gorham, has attracted attention from other districts in the state and Gov. John Baldacci.

The third annual “Maine Harvest Lunch” will bring food grown by local farmers to Gorham’s cafeterias Wednesday. The lunch is a joint effort of the Gorham School Department with the Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation District. Several other school districts around the state are looking at the program.

Conservation District people talked with students last week in classrooms in Gorham about the importance of supporting local farmers. “It’s a real classroom and cafeteria partnership,” said Ron Adams, the nutritionist for Gorham schools.

Wednesday’s menu will include chili, potatoes with broccoli and cheese, pizza with cheese, tossed salad, coleslaw, corn on the cob, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and apples from Fairfield.

Beef in the chili was raised at Fineview Farm in Gorham. Farmers that raised produce for the lunch included Hawkes’ Market in Gorham; Snell Farm, Buxton; Flaherty Farm, Scarborough; Maxwell’s Farm Market, Cape Elizabeth; and Harris Farm in the Saco area. The cheese comes from Cabot’s, which buys milk from several local dairy farmers.

Adams pays market prices to the local farmers for the food. The middle school students will pay $1.65 each for the lunch, and elementary students will get it for a nickel cheaper. “It’s a very good deal,” Adams said.

Jeff and Bonnie Hawkes, who live in Buxton, have produced vegetables for the school harvest program since it started. This year they’ll supply cucumbers, carrots and cherry tomatoes for the harvest lunch program.

Hawkes Market produces a wide variety of vegetables and flowers. Jeff Hawkes graduated from Gorham High School in 1971, and Bonnie Hawkes graduated two years later.

Bonnie Hawkes said the kids make posters and send them to the farmers who participate. Hawkes Market has the posters on display. Adams said the student who creates the best poster gets a gift certificate to Smiling Hill Farm in Westbrook.

Jeff Hawkes said parents often stop and mention the school’s program at their farm stand. “Oh, the kids had your vegetable in school,” he said customers have commented. “People say we’re so glad you’re in town.”

Adams depends on parent volunteers to assist his regular kitchen crews for the “Maine harvest Lunch.” This year, a dozen parents will husk 36 dozen ears of corn. “It’s a little too much to put it on my staff,” Adams said of the extra workload in preparing the lunch.

He said the local food has a “better flavor” and is more nutritious than food shipped across the country. The kids are excited about the meal, Adams said.

Adams said Gov. John Baldacci’s wife, Karen Baldacci, favors getting more Maine foods served in school lunch programs. Adams has had two meetings at the Blaine House about the program in Gorham. “It’s been nice,” he said.

Hawkes’ Markey on Main Street in Gorham joins other local famers in providing food today for Gorham’s Maine Harvest Lunch served in the schools. At Hawkes’ Market are, left to right, Heather Cabading of Limington, Bonnie Hawkes (Jeff’s wife), Catherine Hawkes (Jeff’s mother), Jordan Buck of Scarborough, and Jeff Hawkes. Cabading and Buck are employees at the market.Piles of pumpkins at Hawkes’ Market on Main Street in Gorham. Bonnie Hawkes said the white ones are lumina pumpkins.