CANTON, Ill. — Prior to launching the local foods certificate program at Spoon River College, instructor Jeff Bash tested the waters for it.

“As the interest in locally grown food is starting to become important economically and health-wise, we have just kind of moved our program closer and closer to sustainability,” Bash said.

Starting small, with a grant from the college’s foundation, he said the first step was to start composting, using cafeteria waste. The next step was a small garden, with the help of teachers and local graduates of the University of Illinois extension’s Master Gardener program, with the produce being used in the cafeteria.

“Then last year, I went to a conference on (teaching) sustainable agriculture in higher education. I talked to students and teachers from colleges all over the U.S.,” Bash said.

The conference made him even more energized and convinced him the Spoon River College program was moving in the right direction. Returning to school, Bash said he talked with the cafeteria manager, who agreed to buy produce from the program for the salad bar.

“We put up a high tunnel this fall to extend the growing season on each end. We can have items for the salad bar all the way to Christmas break and then start harvesting in the spring again in April,” Bash said.

About the same time he was working in the garden, he said the Illinois Community College Board approved the locally grown food certificate. “Now the big question is, do you build the program first or get the students and then build the program? That’s been the hard part. We decided to build the program first,” Bash said.

He’s aware of at least two other Illinois colleges “doing some cool stuff as far as locally grown foods. And they are ahead of us.”

Bash said programs at John Wood Community College in Quincy and Richland Community College in Decatur were established with stimulus dollars from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Richland publishes a weekly newsletter and offers a weekly produce market through October.

“I’m excited,” Bash said. “There are opportunities here. If you want to be a farmer, you don’t have to own 2,000 acres to be a producer. Only 4 percent of the money we spend on food actually goes to the farmer, and most of our food dollars go outside the state.”

For more information, Spoon River College can be found online at http://src.edu while Richland is at www.richland.edu and John Wood is at http://jwcc.edu