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Real Food Challenge has 35 colleges sourcing more local food

 

 

By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER

Ohio Correspondent

 

COLUMBUS, Ohio — What if Ohio farmers could provide some of the food served through Ohio State University (OSU) food plans? A student group, Real Food OSU, is encouraging the university to do that by committing to procure 20 percent "real food" by the year 2020.

To that end, they have been meeting with the university’s dining services, the administration, and held a rally before one of several meetings with OSU President Michael Drake; he has been receptive.

Real Food OSU is part of the Real Food Challenge (RFC), a national student-led campaign to shift $1 billion of university food purchases away from industrial farms and junk food and toward community-based, fair, humane and ecologically sound food resources – what RFC calls "real food" – by the year 2020.

"We built a lot of relationships with community members and farmers," said Rachel Metzler, a fourth-year student and president of Real Food OSU. "We’ve heard from them that they need a commitment around institutional policy for purchasing and transparency in order for them to scale up and work at that level, knowing that the university will buy their product."

Metzler, who is in OSU’s sustainability program and is focusing on food systems and community development, said working on food issues is a way to make a larger impact.

Joe Logan, president of the Ohio Farmers Union (OFU), agrees. Ohio is well positioned to provide food products directly to Ohio consumers and institutions. Farmers Union encourages OSU to lead by example and help Ohio farmers and industries redevelop the infrastructure needed to do that.

"Ohio has an array of livestock and grains to help provide sustenance directly to Ohioans," Logan said. "We think it makes great sense to use local markets first and then look to international markets."

While there is an administrative challenge initially to develop a network of locally grown commodities, the extra cost is debated, Logan said. Some studies indicate that there are no additional costs, rather, that there are inherent efficiencies in shopping locally.

Nationwide, 35 universities have signed on to RFC’s policy document, said Katie Blanchard, assistant director of RFC. They pledge to do several things – the main ones being shifting 20 percent of their food purchasing to real food by 2020 and creating a campus and community food working group. That group will create a policy outlining how the university will achieve those goals.

Many more universities and students are using the Real Food Calculator. This is a tool, designed after RFC did research and talked to experts in the field, that determines exactly what "real food" is. Students and colleges can use the tool to access and research their food programs.

"I understand that initial reaction (that using real food will cost more), but the reality is that it isn’t true," Blanchard said. "University food service is controlled by a few companies. There is not a lot of opportunity for competition ... it is sort of a corporate policy to not necessarily allow flexibility in the purchasing."

The greater challenge is that many vendors are not allowed to sell to universities. RFC is tackling that challenge, Blanchard said.

Added Metzler: "There are large dining programs across the country that have instituted this. I think it might take some creativity, but I think there is a lot of room for growth in ways that we might have cost savings."

10/28/2015