The Child Nutrition Bill championed by First Lady Michelle Obama is now law. President Obama signed the bill into law at a Washington D.C. school earlier this week. Proponents of the bill hailed its passage as an important step in the fight against childhood obesity. Read about the bill here. 

Among its stipulations, the law will allow the USDA to monitor and regulate nutritional standards for all foods served in schools, including vending machines, and increases funding for schools to help them provide more nutritional foods. But we're excited about some of the law's other provisions. It'll help schools work with local farms and community gardens to procure locally grown, nutritious foods and expand access to clean drinking water. Hard to believe that's not already a given in our country's schools. Finally, it offers hope that we'll see some increase in the quality of the USDA commodity foods used in school breakfast and lunch programs.

At the signing ceremony, Michelle Obama said, "We can all agree that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, all children should have the basic nutrition they need to learn and grow and to pursue their dreams, because in the end, nothing is more important than the health and well-being of our children.  Nothing.  And our hopes for their future should drive every single decision that we make."Hard to argue with that. Now let's get to work planning those schoolyard gardens.