Organic Farming for Credit

By Nina Merrill

I had the privilege of spending my last semester of Colgate University on a study group in Santa Fe, New Mexico. One component of this Native American Studies program, which I participated in from August to December of 2009, expected each student to volunteer on a nearby Native American pueblo (or village) for the course of the semester. With my passion for organic agriculture and sustainability in mind, it should come as no shock that I jumped on the opportunity to work on a local organic Indian farm.

On my first day working on the Tesuque Pueblo Organic Farm, I wrote the following passage in my journal:

“It is so interesting to experience the muscle soreness and exhaustion that comes with manual labor after years of schooling that stresses sedentary work over anything physical. All at once, a lot of the topics I had studied about sustainability and agriculture came together for me, as I felt the sun on my back and experienced the interesting group dynamic of a traditional Indian farm.”

As the entries written on this blog illustrate, students all around the country are incredibly passionate and devoted to promoting organic and sustainable food. We start organic clubs and organizations, petition our school administrations and food service companies to support food-related causes, ask to take courses in sustainable agriculture, and even start our own student run farms and gardens (see the Rodale Institute’s Farming for Credit Directory for a list of student farms). However, and I will only speak for myself here, I always supported sustainability and organics from the comfort of my clean and manicured college green. Getting down on the ground level, and working in the soil on my hands and knees, was the best thing I could have ever done to cement my passion for organics.

But let me be clear here that it was not all fun and games. Because I was working on an organic farm that (obviously) did not use harmful pesticides, I often spent my days in the field picking up burrs, or “pricklers” as the director of the farm called them somewhat affectionately. I found myself frustrated and muttering under my breath. I wanted to be back in bed, resting, or at a desk job. I was quickly learning that farming can be exhausting, fruitless, and downright difficult at times, but this is a realization that I am so glad to have had (it was unbelievably humbling). I was experiencing the part of organic farming that is not very glamorous, the part that you do not see when walking through the organic produce section at your local co-op or Whole Foods. But then I looked around me at the Santa Fe mountains, remembered how incredible the sun felt on my back, saw the beautiful and healthful vegetables that I was taking part in harvesting, and suddenly all of my frustrations became obsolete.

I think farming is an activity that should be mandatory for anyone interested in learning about agriculture, but especially for students passionate about organics. The organic agrarian lifestyle is what supported people for centuries, yet most people (including myself just a few months ago) have no idea of the energy and tenacity it takes to successfully cultivate a field. I’m not ignorant enough to think that I know even a part of what it truly takes to be an organic farmer after just a few weeks of work on the farm. But I feel better about my support of organic and local food now that I know just a little bit more about what it takes to get it from farm to fork. And I love the fact that I will never be able to look at a chili pepper in the same way again.

Have you had any experiences with organic farming as a college student? How did it change your perception of sustainability and organics? Have any students at your college or university started a student-run garden or farm?

Cost-conscious: Your Wallet meets Jiminy Cricket

By Casey Schmidt

The organic movement… I remember when that phrase first entered my consciousness, I was in high school. I didn’t buy my own groceries, or shampoo, or cleaning products, or much of anything really; but I insisted that my Mom buy organic. She chose not to, however; not because of my lack of pestering, but because of the constraints of our family budget. Buying all-organic all-the-time for a family of five just wasn’t possible for us, it wasn’t “cost-effective”.

Now I’m in college and working part-time minimum-wage jobs to get by, and suddenly “cost-effective” has taken on a whole new meaning for me; but despite the fact that I could probably save money buying Ritz crackers instead of organic rice crackers, or normal eggs instead of organic ones, I still choose the latter. Why? Well, there are a lot of tangible reasons (which I’ll go into below), but mostly, I choose organic, local, and fair trade products as much as I can because of something my French teacher once told me: you have to live your politics.

To me, it’s of the utmost importance that we treat ourselves, our communities, our food, and our planet with compassion, respect, and foresight; and when I choose organic, fair trade, and local products, that’s what I’m choosing. It’s one way that I live my politics, and it’s entirely worth it – here’s why…

Why you can feel warm and fuzzy about buying organic (even when your wallet feels a little drafty):
1) Your body will thank you for avoiding:
- toxic persistent pesticides
- synthetic hormones & antibiotics
- artificial colors & preservatives
- and genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
2) Your friendly farm animals will thank you for allowing them to:
- breath the air, feel the sunshine, and see the sights outdoors, where they belong
- enjoy freedom of movement (yes, not all livestock are guaranteed this)
- eat quality organic food, and when applicable, graze
- not be injected with synthetic hormones
- experience minimal stress and pain before becoming your delicious dinner
3) The land (and its inhabitants) will thank you for:
- not using toxic pesticides on crops
- or petroleum-based fertilizers on the soil
- and avoiding over-farming through crop rotation

I know that it’s not always possible to buy organic everything, but look for produce that’s in season, check out farm stands and farmers markets, and compare prices at your local natural products stores. I also find its helpful to prioritize things, for example, when I’m counting pennies I choose to buy organic fair trade coffee rather than other organic products because of the practices involved and the abuses workers suffer in growing coffee.

So despite our financial limitations as students perhaps we can still choose to buy mostly organic, fair trade, and local products, most of the time; and that’s a start.

What tips do you have for saving money while choosing organic, fair trade, and local products?

Organic. Its Worth it in Schools.

Looking for a new way to bring organic to your college campus? Have a younger sibling whose school could benefit from having greater access to organic food? The Organic Trade Association (OTA) can help! This spring, OTA is helping schools access and offer students more organic food with a national contest to award a winning school with an organically grown garden or an organic vending machine.

With its “Organic. Its Worth it in Schools.” initiative, OTA – which represents more than 1,400 organic food and product companies – is calling on teachers, parents, students, educators and others to vote for their favorite school to win an organic garden complete with seeds, soil and expert gardening support; or a fully stocked vending machine, which can feature organic items like milk, fruit, cheese, yogurt and snacks.

Through May 1, 2010, individuals can visit www.OrganicItsWorthIt.org and enter their school name and address while at the same time “voting” by signing up for an electronic newsletter featuring organic tips, recipes, news and more. A school must receive a minimum 1,000 votes (or newsletter sign-ups) to win. (Full details on rules and regulations are at www.organicitsworthit.org/join/current-campaigns.) The winning school selects the garden or vending machine for installation in the 2010-11 school year.

“Organic food is the only food certified by the USDA to have no artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, irradiation and genetically modified organisms (GMO’s). And, organically grown gardens use no harmful pesticides and synthetic fertilizers on the soil,” said Christine Bushway, executive director of OTA. “We know schools in large cities and small towns work hard to promote healthy food and environmental stewardship. With ‘Organic. It’s Worth it in Schools.,’ we want to provide them with one more tool to help them along.”

The Organic. It’s Worth It site also features tools and information for schools, parents and students to advocate for more organic food in schools, as well as information about the healthful, economic and social benefits of organic food and gardening.

OTA is conducting the initiative as an extension of its first-ever national consumer education and awareness campaign, which launched in March 2009. “Organic. It’s worth it.” is an online outreach effort highlighting the benefits of organic food, farming and home products.

For more information about the Organic. It’s Worth It in Schools campaign, and how you can help support it, visit www.organicitsworthit.org/join/current-campaigns or contact Renee Kelly at 612-372-6450 or renee@habermaninc.com.

This Thanksgiving, take action to end the harvest of shame in the fields

by Student/Farmworker Alliance

In just a few days, many of us will gather with our families around a table brimming with turkey and all the trimmings to reflect upon all that we are thankful for—from another year of health and happiness to the football game we’ll watch over our second slice of pumpkin pie.

Unfortunately, during this holiday that traditionally celebrated a bountiful harvest, many of us will remain unaware that conditions for this nation’s farmworkers have changed little since, nearly 50 years ago, renowned journalist Edward R. Murrow’s “Harvest of Shame” reported on the dismal conditions faced by migrant workers.

Several months ago we wrote about the exploitation faced each day by Florida’s farmworkers. Tomato pickers in the state haven’t received a raise since 1978, receive no overtime pay, sick days, or benefits of any kind, and have no right to organize in order to change these conditions. In the most extreme conditions, workers are forced to work against their will in situations of modern-day slavery.

At the same time, we also wrote about a beacon of hope in the fields: the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a membership-led farmworker organization that has been working since 1993 to improve wages and working conditions for Florida farmworkers. At that time, in response to the CIW’s Campaign for Fair Food, five food industry leaders (McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, Taco Bell’s parent company Yum Brands and Whole Foods) had entered into agreements with the CIW in which they agreed to the three principles of the Campaign for Fair Food: to pay one more penny per pound for its tomatoes directly to the workers that picked them; to establish a code of conduct in their supply chain to ensure that workers were being treated with dignity; and to enter into a dialogue together with workers and growers to guarantee a voice and a place at the table for farmworkers.

In the time since—as a direct result of the Student/Farmworker Alliance’s Dine with Dignity campaign—food service providers Bon Appétit and Compass Group have also come to the table and committed to work with the CIW.

These agreements are proof that the days of the harvest of shame are numbered, but more work must be done to ensure that we continue along the path towards justice and dignity and create real systemic change in Florida’s agricultural industry. It is now time for supermarkets Publix, Stop & Shop, Giant, Ralph’s, Kroger and other Kroger-owned grocery chains, as well as food service providers Aramark and Sodexo to address the sub-poverty wages and human rights abuses faced by farmworkers picking their tomatoes.

So this thanksgiving, as you shop for your turkey and cranberry sauce and relish the opportunity to partake in a home-cooked meal, please also take the time to make your voice heard in the Campaign for Fair Food. Here’s how:

National Supermarket Week of Action!
November 18th-26th

Drop off a letter to the manager of your local grocery store and ask him or her to share your concerns with the company’s corporate office.

Click here for more information, including downloadable letters to all major national supermarket chains and details about how you can join or organize an action in your area!

National Aramark Call-In Days!
November 23rd and 24th

Local Aramark representatives on several campuses around the country refuse to even hold meetings with concerned students to talk about the issue of human rights and fair wages for farmworkers in Aramark’s supply chain. In response, the Student/Farmworker Alliance has called for two national call-in days of action to demand accountability from Aramark.

For messaging, call info and a sample script, visit the SFA website.

A Higher Education: Learning to Cook

a pot of beans

by Vera Fabian

I recently finished my 2^nd year as a Garden Teacher at The Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley, CA.  I was preparing for a big move across country and a big goodbye to hundreds of students I had come to know and love while working alongside them in the garden and the kitchen classroom.  Many of them were preparing themselves for the move to high school and the goodbye to 3 years at King Middle School.  During our last class with the graduating 8^th graders, we asked them to share one thing they had learned in their time at The Edible Schoolyard that they would continue to do in life beyond middle school.

Contrary to what you might expect from typical 13 and 14 year olds, these students replied with astonishing maturity and vision: “I will continue to cook delicious food.”  “I will keep eating fruits and vegetables.” “I will teach my family how to grow real food.” “When I get to college and don’t have much money I will make sushi for myself and my friends.”

Really?  Yes, really.  Here’s a kid, with his voice cracking and his hat on backwards who, in the 8^th grade, is declaring that he will not be like other college students who don’t know how to fend for themselves.  He will make do with what he has and cook up some rice and chop up some vegetables and roll up some sushi. And he says it with confidence and pride as if he knows what a valuable skill he has under his belt.  He knows that he will not only be able to feed himself on a budget, but he will be the cool kid who can make sushi.  He will feed people and those people will then be his friends.

Right here we have proof that every child in this country should have a chance to learn how to grow, cook, and share real food together around a table.  An Edible Education like this teaches the next generation to make the critical connection between the food they eat and the health of themselves, their community, and the land.  Being healthy suddenly becomes something fun and cool, something you want to share with your family and friends.

But what about all of us who weren’t so lucky to receive an Edible Education?  Those of us who belong to the generation that is supposed to make it through college on late night bowls of cereal or freshly microwaved Cup O’Noodles.   While we spend four years and thousands of dollars enriching our minds, we all too often forget to nourish our bodies.  You walk the halls of American dormitories, and I’m certain you’ll find plenty of televisions blaring with the glint and gleam of The Food Network and plenty of students discussing what they’d like to eat for dinner, but few who will brave the shared kitchen to cook.

This is no big surprise.  There are papers to write, classes to attend, and parties to throw.  You’re tired and overbooked and so are all your friends.  And maybe, you never really learned how to cook.  Regardless, there’s just no time for it.

a simple but percect meal, loved by me and my students

Here, on campuses around America, we must begin to make the time for learning the everyday life lessons of the kitchen.  There is time for cooking when it is recognized as a common-sense course in economics, geography, ethics, and sociology.  There is time for cooking when it forces you to get up from the laptop and use your hands and stretch your ability to create.  And there is time for cooking when it brings old friends together and sparks new friendships.

Children make excellent students of Edible Education because they are hungry and courageous and willing to admit ignorance.  When let loose in the kitchen, they readily own up to not knowing how to do something and bravely get busy figuring out how to do it.  They happily teach others what they have learned because they know that shared work is light work and in no time, there will be delicious food on the table to eat.

College students should likewise make excellent students in the kitchen because there is no one hungrier.  Nothing burns calories like hours studying in the library.  But our challenge is to be both brave and humble.  We cannot be intimidated by the televised food world of fancy ingredients, expensive gadgets, and glossy presentation.  Nor can we be unwilling to recognize that we have all grown up without a basic understanding of what it means to really cook. Instead we must empower eachother in our edible education.  Ask questions and offer advice. Tell your best tricks and confess your most ridiculous mistakes.  And in the end, confidently share the fruits of your labor amongst friends.  Take comfort in knowing they’re hungry. So take up your spoon, turn up the flame, and by the time you graduate, you’ll have yourself some good friends and a solid education.

The Gill Tract – Urban farm sanctuary, or just another lot slated for development?

by Anya Kamenskaya

It is undeniable that in the last year or so, the media’s discourse surrounding Food has escalated into one that titillates, frustrates, and invigorates people of many professions and inclinations. The very word has taken on many meanings and subtexts: everything from farmworker’s rights to international trade relations to the growing population of young farmers. Popular newspapers and magazines have circulated the words “locavore,” “sustainable,” and “green” to the point where you can’t read a foodsystems-related article without tripping over one of them. Movies with budgets large (Food Inc) and smaller (King Corn) are ostensibly opening more and more American eyes to the devastation that the current industrial food system wreaks on our children, our soils, and our minds.

Of course, I do not presume that this wave of awareness and interest has reached its climax, or that every American has the opportunity to choose between factory-raised or pastured pork. Indeed, those who labor for food justice have a long way yet to go. However, there are institutions that are increasingly opening their dialogue (and sometimes even infrastructures and budgets) to include food. And thanks to students nationwide (like many of those who write for this blog), universities are on the forefront of creating equitable food policy, research, and participation.

During my four years at UC Berkeley, countless food-focused student groups have emerged or have seen rapid growth in membership: The Sustainability Team, the Student Organic Gardening Association, the Society for Agriculture and Food Ecology, Cal Cooking Club, Sprouts, OBUGS, and just within the last year, the Cal Victory Garden and the Berkeley Student Food Collective. Many of these organizations have made lasting partnerships with staff and faculty, worked to source local produce in our dining halls, and have received grants that allow them to occupy permanent spaces on campus. Still, there is a crucial piece missing in the foundation that we have been building; a space where the energy and innovation we have put into on-campus ethical and sustainable food availability can intersect with the needs of the greater Bay Area community. In order words, what we need is a university-run urban farm. And the crucial link is already there. We already have the land and the tools in place to make it a reality.

The land I refer to is the Gill Tract, located on San Pablo and Marin, at the intersection of Berkeley, Albany, and the Marina. Purchased in 1928 from the Gill Family, this 104-acre plot of land has gone through several uses, and has seen considerable downsizing since its purchase. Before its acquisition by the university, the land was part of a massive nursery run by renowned horticulturalist Edward Gill. During the course of the next 65 years, the land was split up, with some plots sold, and others developed by the University to accommodate housing needs. Currently there are 14 remaining acres, 9.7 of which are arable land. Alarmingly, these acres are under threat of development: valuable infrastructure such as green houses are all but destroyed,  and plans for a new structures such as a Whole Foods are in the pipes.

courtesy Berkeley Daily Planet

To date, one of the most well known occupants of the space was the UC Division/International Center of Biological Control, which operated between 1945 and 1996. During this time the land was used to develop ecological pest control methods, with both local and international academics running experiments. The last 20 years of research also resulted in the land being cultivated using organic methods. Sadly, in 1996 funding for Biological Control was cut, and most of the experiments were moved to the Oxford Tract, closer to the university. At present, UCB professor Miguel Altieri conducts agroecological research on about a third of the land. He is the last standing testament to the ecological legacy of the Gill Tract.

courtesy orphanjones

Although we lost a valuable resource when the Center was closed, there is still opportunity to reinvent the Gill Tract into an interdisciplinary research facility that benefits the University, the students, and the public. Many schools nationwide have farm programs, such as UC Santa Cruz,  Dartmouth and Cornell. Berkeley could not only bolster their research, but also stand out as the only University to conduct agricultural research in an urban setting.

Given that the Bay Area is home to countless urban farms – City Slickers, People’s Grocery, Sunnyside Organic, just to name a few – and backyard gardeners, thousands of people stand to benefit from local urban agriculture research. In addition, students in the departments of Natural Resources, Geography, Biology, City and Regional Planning, and the many student groups on campus would have a conveniently-located experiential learning facility. The campus dining commons, which are already taking steps to source local and organic food, could have an extremely local source of fresh vegetables. Finally, the many middle schools in the Albany, Berkeley, and Oakland Unified School Districts would have a place where they could experience a larger, integrated version of their own school gardens. In short, there are many opportunities that the Gill Tract can afford us. If we are to join the rising tide of foodsystems awareness, we cannot afford to let them slip away.

My colleague Justin Wiley and I started working on reviving the Gill Tract movement last year during an Environmental Education class. Although we have since graduated, we are still committed to seeing this land become a productive part of the community. We are now in the second year of rallying community groups such as the Albany Teen center and Architects, Designers, and Planners for Social Responsibility around the resurrection of the Gill Tract as a research and teaching facility. We are currently focusing on a nascent urban farm-to-school program with participants from the Albany teen center. This fall we are planting an organic fall garden with the students, exploring relationships with university professors, staff, and student groups, and raising money and awareness of the project. In the spring we hope to increase class size and cement partnerships with more local non-profits such as Food First, California Food and Justice Coalition, and People’s Grocery.

We are encouraged by the steps that UC Berkeley has already taken to support local, sustainable agriculture. Our wish is that our school will support a long-term vision that can only bring much-needed resources to the Bay Area, and that will increase our public wealth of knowledge.

If you are interested in learning more about our project, or want to get involved, please email us at: gilltract@gmail.com

Website coming soon; meanwhile check out our Facebook page. These old links to past projects at the Gill Tract are also informative: Village Creek Farm and Garden, Bay Area Coalition for Urban Agriculture

Doom is Done

“The shorthand ‘ag’ is taking over the agricultural lexicon. The press and the experts love to write and talk about ‘ag industries’, ‘ag products’, ‘ag exports’, ‘ag markets’, ‘ag statistics’ ‘ag engineers’, ‘ag equipment’, or to use parallel locutions like ‘agribusiness’, ‘agri-economics’, and Conagra, the name of an ‘ag’ corporate giant. Lasley’s point is that this shortening of the word is an unfortunately apt reflection of the state of agricultural affairs. The culture part of agriculture is going, going, and, say many, perhaps soon gone entirely.

Perhaps we should see these changes as just that: changes, not losses. Perhaps it is just romanticism to see them otherwise, for it is just as cultural to enjoy the Big Machine way of agriculture as it is to enjoy styles of farming that bring the farmer close to ‘nature’. There is a culture of machinery too. Perhaps we are just seeing a new rural culture developing, and there is no ground independent of culture from which to weigh one against the other.”
-Michael Mayerfeld Bell from Farming for Us All

Yesterday night I went to talk to a group of students about a gleaning organization that I’m working with to see if they were interested in participating. I was there to represent, and hopefully recruit, student interested in changing the food system for the better. Our group has taken it upon ourselves to positively affect our food system. Doing this requires an understanding of the shortcomings of our food system, as well as visionary solutions. Most importantly, it requires action. I was going to make my announcement after the meal. While standing in line for dinner I met a professor who had also been invited to speak. She asked me what I had come to speak about.

“I work with an organization where we go harvest excess fruits and vegetables from peoples’ yards and give it to food banks and local shelters”, I said.

From there we conversed about agriculture, ethical eating, farmworkers, ecological degradation, human rights abuses and various other parts and consequences of the food system. She was upset about the state of things.

“It’s just awful what we are doing, and you know I just don’t think we can solve it. At least not until people start dying from the water and the air and all the pesticides we put out there. It’s terrible! I’m actually glad that I’ll be dying soon but your generation is going to have to deal with it all! And my generation has really left you a bad deal. Oh it’s just terrible!”

I don’t necessarily disagree with her but my response was horribly inappropriate I’m sure; I couldn’t help it but I laughed.

“Isn’t it awful?” she said.

“Ummmm, yeah,” I said smiling.

Then dinner activities whisked us away from each other.

This apocalyptic prophesying is somewhat common within the green movement. There are different versions, like the tag-on of a weak quote of hope following the dire predictions. Or, as this woman illustrated the highlighting of the generational difference of who caused it and who has to fix it.

Either way, I’m sort of over it.

Framing our world as some huge intractable state of gloom and doom is not useful for me right now. There are sad things and bad things in the world, I’m well aware. People already are dying from the water, the air, and the pesticides but translating that awareness into debilitating fear runs the great risk of informing people that there is no reason to get off their ass.

I spoke to the group about the gleaning organization. I told them about the fruit trees dripping with food that literally falls on the ground to rot in the backyards of our well-off residents while other residents are hungry in an economic collapse.

“Our goal is to connect excess with scarcity” I said. “This work is good work for those reasons… and it’s also fun. You go out, you sit in trees, you eat fruit, you hang out with other people. For extra fruit that has holes or if there is too much to donate we have started processing it so we can cook together and you can learn about canning and baking and eating well”.

Messages of utter despair are not motivating for me. Let me be clear, that at one time they were somewhat helpful. Though I still credit a couple farmers, some deep soil and a cherry orchard with what has become my life today, expanding my knowledge about the atrocities of the world has been critically important in guiding my activities and prioritizing where I want to spend my political energy. However, a life spent dwelling in the realization that the world is unfair and is going to end because of human greed and ignorance ignores the small wonders and miracles of being alive at all.

For some there is the option of shrinking from the truths of human suffering and environmental degradation to live in a plush and privileged world dependent on the processes that create suffering and degradation but this does not feel right either. I do not believe in insulating myself from the world at hand so that I don’t have to deal with the problems that the professor alluded to.

For this moment, instead, I want to focus on culture creation. We are embedded in our social world that has built the structures and systems we supposedly abhor. If we want to change those structures and systems we will have to simultaneously create new culture; think Mahatma Gandhi’s quote “Be the change you wish to see in the world”.

Doom and gloom contributes to an apathy where older folks can tiredly gesture at our generation and say, “It’s up to you now” and our generation can find enthusiasm in a host of televised vices since genuine excitement is lacking in the front lines of doom-fighting. Just because someone gets senior discounts doesn’t mean they get a free pass for complacency in the creation of a new culture. Since culture creation necessitates fun, the same impulse to party that gets a couch potato up, might be used for food-centric work like gleaning and gardening. I don’t want a thumbs up for the tomato soup I canned from gleaned tomatoes, I want you to come can it with me and then let’s go drink a beer and dance.

I think getting off one’s own ass and just doing what feels good is vitally important. Bliss out and help others do the same. And not just other people like you. By not focusing on fighting there becomes a lot less enemies and the “food movement” no longer has to be some insular community separate (and dare I say better?) from the rest. We’re not better because we eat organic food and our separateness is at best mildly exclusionary and at worst condescending.

Instigate pleasure and invite people who are not like you to participate. Go have ice cream with a conservative if you’re liberal. Go garden with someone who has a different native language. Invite macho boys to a drag party and feed them home made food. Don’t be afraid to disagree, just make sure to keep communicating. And RSVP to the invitations of others. Eat pizza and fried food in exchange for friendship and trust.

Expect the end of the world. Laugh. Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful though you have considered all the facts
-Wendell Berry

Bon Appétit Management Company Supports Student Gardens

By Nina Merrill

This summer, I had the privilege of interning at Bon Appétit Management Company, a sustainable food service company that I’m sure many of you have heard about because of its innovative programs and sustainable purchasing policies. On the first day of my internship, I went out to lunch with Katherine Kwon, Bon Appétit’s Communications Project Manager to discuss the projects I would be taking on over the summer. While we were chowing down on salads at a local restaurant in Palo Alto, CA, she explained a recent trend Bon Appétit has been seeing a lot of: students approach their food service provider wanting advice about how to start student-run farms and gardens. With the understanding that Bon Appétit buys a significant percentage of its produce from local and organic producers due to its company-wide Farm to Fork initiative, many of these students contact Bon Appétit with the hopes that it will purchase some or all of the produce grown on their student garden plots. In the past few years, Bon Appétit has developed absolutely incredible (and very unique) relationships with many student gardens, prompting Katherine and Maisie, Bon Appétit’s Vice President, to give me the opportunity to write a guide for student gardeners. This guide was released last week, in conjunction with Bon Appétit’s Eat Local Challenge. I think it is a resource that many of you will be interested in, and so I thought I’d take this opportunity to give a brief overview of its contents.

This guide focuses primarily on how students can develop a successful relationship between their school’s food service company and their student garden. It offers suggestions and stories from student gardeners and Bon Appétit staff and is broken up chronologically into five sections: Plan It; Grow It; Promote It; Bond Over It; and Improve It. Bon Appétit hopes that students will be able to pick up this guide at whatever stage of the garden game they may be in, and feel support in growing a portion of the organic food eaten on their campus with their own two hands.

According to recent statistics, only 8% of today’s farmers are under the age of 35 and only 1% of the US population is involved in agriculture. Through learning to sustainably cultivate even a half an acre, students are showing the world that they choose to take on the challenge of becoming part of the next generation of sustainable agrarians. The fact that students actually want to grow their own food is something that should be supported with every available resource; I hope this guide provides the first official step in that direction! I’m so anxious to hear what you all think of this guide and to hear what is happening on your campus in terms of student farms and gardens. Let’s hear it!

School Food Project

By Nicole Wires

Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) is in the process of becoming the second school district in the nation to fully revamp its school food program. No longer will the food served in Boulder Valley school cafeterias acquire intimidating nicknames like “Mystery Meatloaf.” The mission of the new School Food Project, where I interned this summer, is to source all food locally and regionally when possible, and to prepare all food fresh every day. In the long term, Boulder Valley schools hope to build school gardens and incorporate garden curriculum into science and health classes. This exciting new episode in food system reform attempts to address many problems in our current food system at their roots: by teaching young kids healthy behaviors and giving them reasons to care about the provenance and biography of their foods, BVSD hopes to grow a generation of conscientious eaters.

Food system reform that begins in school cafeterias exists at the intersection of a growing number of interrelated problems and, if successful, has the potential to kill many metaphorical birds with one stone. Healthful food in school cafeterias might just be the long-sought response to growing obesity and diabetes epidemics. School districts represent vast purchasing power, enough to keep struggling sustainable farmers afloat and to support local economies, simultaneously minimizing the environmental degradation resulting from industrial agriculture. And school food reform might be an answer to the contemporary criticism of the “sustainable food movement”: that it is elitist and out of reach for low-income consumers. The school cafeteria can function as a great equalizer: with federal support for the Free and Reduced School Meal Program, low-income students receive federal subsidies to buy cafeteria meals, making healthy, environmentally sustainable food within reach of all students in the school system.

But the transition to a new school food system, as I learned at BVSD this summer, is not so easy. Cafeteria assistants need to be re-trained to cook and not just reheat school lunches. School kitchens, most of which have no production capacity, need to be remodeled. Sanitation standards are strict (for good reason) making this restructuring even more challenging. But the biggest problem is that the system must pay for itself. Boulder Valley hopes to absorb some of the increased costs with increased sales and economies of scale—with good, healthful food served in school cafeterias the program administrators anticipate that more parents will opt in to the school cafeteria program as opposed to preparing their own lunches for their children.

But the biggest compromise the program has to make in order to balance the budget is to accept some USDA commodity foods. “Commodity”, as it is called, is excess food the USDA purchases from farmers as a form of support. In a convenient transaction for the government, Commodity is purchased from the farmers and delivered to public schools at no expense to the school. Sounds great, except that most of the food is highly processed, transported thousands of miles, and sacrifices nutritional value for a large environmental footprint. In order to incorporate the expense of more healthy, seasonal and local produce, BVSD often fills in its menus with Commodity foods at the “center of the plate”: the ground beef in the tacos, the pepperonis on the pizza, the turkey in the deli sandwiches. This unfortunate but necessary trade off limits the success of the School Food Project in implementing its goals and accomplishing its mission.

It is easy to argue that BVSD school meals are healthier and more environmentally sound under the new School Food Project scheme, but when the USDA Commodity program makes public schools the garbage disposal of an unsustainable federal subsidy program for unsustainable farmers, the hopeful silver bullet of school food reform is derailed, and public school students take the brunt of the loss.

Running to be Sustainable

The list of things I do everyday to lead a more sustainable life is long one and what most of the conscience world does: I shop at the local farmer’s market, I compost and recycle, I take public transportation to and from work, I have the reusable shopping bags, coffee mug and lunch containers, I even have special bags that decompose faster for pooch poop clean up; however, I am an addicted and loyal runner who drives to practice everyday, where I use a reusable water bottle, as well as to races, where I throw my paper water cup on the ground (don’t worry they get cleaned up after).

Post college I wanted to continue with competitive running so I joined a club- I had coaches and regular practice- what I needed to do though was drive to get to practice, 13 gallons of gas a week worth of driving. One morning on the way to my run I realized the irony- one reason why I started running was because of the low carbon footprint of the sport: pull on shoes and run out your door.

‘Runner’s World’ ran a special issue in November 2008 about green running, they detailed a shoes journey from factory to foot, green running technical gear, green races and how to green your running routine. I read it with moderate interest but to be honest I wrote it off as preaching to the choir, and while some people are snobby about imported food and wine, I am snobby about my running gear- why am I willing to make so many compromises in all other aspects of my life, except for my running?