I have been collecting information and studies about local food systems for
a review/analysis of local food systems in the U.S. I am writing. Among
them are examples of several colleges communities that have attempted to
purchase a greater percentage of their foods from local food sources. In
addition to the Hendrix College study, a similar study was done at Carleton
and St. Olaf Colleges in Minnesota. The project was called the Campus and
Biosphere project and was a joint program of Carleton and St. Olaf colleges
in Northfield, MN and of Meadowcreek Project (Fox, Arkansas). It was funded
by the Northwest Area Foundation.
Molly Anderson at Tufts University in Boston, is connected with a project
there called the Tufts Food Awareness Project. This project promotes
purchases of local foods as well as educates the community about
environmentally and socially responsible food choices. Contact Molly at
(617) 627-3223.
Recently, I have been involved with a group here that is trying to build
partnerships between local growers and school food service directors. We
did a presentation and a brochure for the statewide meeting of school food
service directors and business officials in San Jose, April 26, 1995. There
are a few food service directors buying directly from local growers now in
California and they are very enthusiastic about it. We hope to promote
these linkages further and are planning a larger meeting to discuss what
some of the next steps might be.
SAREP also funded a project in Los Angeles in which a group from UCLA is
working with a local farmers' market to see if it might be feasible to
establish a CSA (community supported agriculture) project that would serve
institutional food buyers in the neighborhood. For more information about
that project, contact Andy Fisher at asfisher@aol.com.
Good luck and let me know what else you find.
Gail Feenstra
food systems analyst
UC Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Program
Davis, CA 95616