DePauw University's Local Food Initiative

If you asked me to give you two phrases that don't naturally go together, I would probably say "local food" and "institutional dining services". Procuring and preparing local food can be a challenge for large organizations and many choose not to venture into that activity. But around the country, especially at universities, that's changing with students asking their administrations to find ways to include local foods in their on-campus meals. It's a concept that Tim Martin and several of his classmates want to turn into a reality at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana.

Inspired by similar efforts at Berea College, Yale University, Penn College of Technology,  and Middlebury College, these students are part of the Local Food Initiative which was started at the DePauw in 2006 by interns from DePauw's Compton Center for Peace and Social Justice. Their goal: To "maximize the amount of locally grown and produced foods in DePauw Dining Services". The students believe that an increase in the use of local food will "improve town-university relations, provide support for the local economy, and reduce the university's carbon footprint".

The almost two year old effort, according to Tim, has helped raise the consciousness of DePauw's current food procurement personnel as they and the students engage in continuing discussions about the opportunities and challenges in procuring local food for a large institution. As anyone can imagine, it's no easy task to make these kind of changes. But other schools have been very successful in developing local food efforts and the DePauw students are currently researching other schools' programs to see how they've been able to form mutually beneficial, long-term purchasing relationships with their local food producers.

In the fall of 2007 the DePauw Local Food Initiative hosted an open forum for students and faculty where transitional organic farmer J.D. Grove discussed sustainable agriculture in Putnam County. The event also included a tasting of locally grown produce vs. non-locally grown products. More on-campus activities like this are planned to continue to raise the level of awareness about the local food issue.

Tim is very proud about the progress they've made while being realistic (and optimistic) about the long road ahead as the students continue to work with the Trustees and Administration to review and hopefully change some of the food service policies and practices in favor of more local food.

Want to know more about this ambitious project? Contact Tim at timothymartin_2010@depauw.edu.

Photo: My neighborJane's beautiful hens eggs