The Pathway to Sustainable
Campus Food Systems
UCSC Case Study
UC Santa Cruz
• Establishing a
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Collaborative Working
Group
Building Campus
Community Bridges
Supporting Community
Food System Networks
Moving Towards a
Sustainable campus
Dining Service
Why is the purchase of “sustainable
food” a priority
• To provide students with healthier, fresher
food
• To support and strengthen local economies
• To reduce the use of fossil fuels and CO2
emission
• To reduce local use of chemical fertilizers
and pesticides
• To support socially responsible treatment of
farmworkers
• To support producer cooperatives in the
global south through purchase of Fair Trade
goods
How did we get here?
Forces
The purchase of sustainable food reflects changes
in American food preferences and values and is an
emerging trend on college and university
campuses across the United States
Opportunities
After a six month student campaign to “dump
Sodexho”, the administration ended its 30-year
contract with the corporation in June 2004,
allowing Dining Services to contract directly with
suppliers for the first time. This transition to an
“in-house” service structure allowed sustainable
agriculture and social justice advocates an in-road
to working with the UC administration to design a
more sustainable food system.
How did we get here?
Resources
• UC Santa Cruz is a world-renowned academic leader in
sustainable food systems, and the home of the “Farm,”
a training and research center for Agroecology.
• Many students and faculty had previously worked on
sustainable food system issues and were anxious to use
their knowledge to bring “sustainable food” to the
campus.
• The proximity of UC Santa Cruz to organic farms that
grow a variety of produce year-round ensures an
abundant supply of local organic produce and the
support of local organic farmers.
Processes
• Collaboration, student organizing and outreach, and
ongoing student education facilitated acceptance and
support of sustainable food by both Dining Services and
students.
The Campus Food System
Working Group
• CFSWG is one of many active groups that arose out
of the 2004 Campus Earth Summit
• Its members include environmental and social justice
activists, students, faculty, staff, administration, and
community members
• Prior to the Earth Summit, some of its members had
already been working to lay the ground work for a
more sustainable campus food system
• The group’s goal is to bring local organic food
produced by socially responsible operations to UCSC
dining halls and to create a sustainable campus food
system
Food Systems Working Group
Structure
FSWG Advisory
Board
FSWG
Steering Committee
Outreach &
Education
Subcommittee
Guidelines &
Policy
Subcommittee
Organizational
Reps and
Individual
Members
Food Systems Working Group
Make-up
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Advisory Board Members:
Jim Leap, CASFS Farm Manager
Brett Melone, ALBA Organics, MBOFC
Melanie Dupuis, Faculty, Sociology
Phil Howard, CASFS, Researcher
Jan Perez, CASFS, Researcher
Candy Berlin, CUHS
Yvonne Macon, Purchasing
Julie Guthman, Faculty, CMMU
Marisol Assetta, BFBL Coordinator, CAFF
Terrence Welch, Pinnacle Brand, MBOFC
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Participating Organizations:
Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food
Systems
Program In Community & Agroecology
Students for Organic Solutions
Friends of the Farm & Garden
Community Agroecology Network
Santa Cruz Food Systems Network
UCSC Dining Services
UCSC Purchasing
Education for Sustainable Living Program
CSSC UC Foods
Monterey Bay Organic Farmers Consortium
Community Alliance for Family Farmers
FSWG Priorities
The top priorities that emerged from the 2004 & 2005
Campus Earth Summit were:
• To develop guidelines for purchase of socially just,
organic food by campus dining services
• To educate and organize students to demand
socially just, organic food in the dining halls
What Were Some of FSWG’s
Activities in 2004/05 ?
• Holding farmer/ chef meetings to encourage dialogue and
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introduce food production managers to the seasonal available
locally.
Holding meetings with Purchasing and Dining Services to
discuss purchasing from local farmers
Setting up meetings with local farmers to establish an entity
that could meet Purchasing’s contractual requirements.
Helping to facilitate large-scale local organic College dinner
nights
Assisting student organizations with outreach and educational
events around local and organic food
Engaging in the Santa Cruz Food Forum and Food Policy
Working Group for the County
Guidelines
In May 2004, CFSWG drafted preference guidelines and goals to
guide Dining Services in bringing “sustainable food” to campus
dining halls.
– Buy local: local food is grown within a 250-mile radius of Santa
Cruz.
– Buy seasonal: seasonal produce is produced locally during a
given time of the year.
– Buy certified organic: chemical residues on non-organic food
may be harmful to human health.
– Buy humanely produced animal products: humanely
produced animal products are cage free, range fed, and antibiotic free.
– Buy direct: cultivating closer relationships between producer
and consumer helps to eliminate middlemen, deliver more
income at the farm level, and empower producers.
– Buy certified fair trade: certified fair trade products are
produced according to an established set of social criteria.
– Buy worker supportive food products: worker supportive
products are purchased from companies that incorporate one or
more of the following: 1) have a unionized work force; 2) have a
orientation towards social justice 3) actively seek to build the
capacity of their workers
Features of a Sole Source Contract
with Local Organic Farmers
• One entity –Alba Organics representing the Monterey
Bay Organic Farming Consortium (MBOFC)
• All growers in the consortium are certified organic
(documented chain of custody allows produce to be
tracked back to the field source)
• All produce offered is grown within 250 miles of Santa
Cruz, primarily in the Monterey Bay Area
• All 7 farms in MBOFC have agreed to a cooperative
research relationship with the University.
Where are we now?
• Last year Direct Fair Trade coffee and a few organic
produce items were offered in the dining halls.
• This year locally grown organic produce, including
apples, green beans, beets, broccoli, carrots, chard,
onions, peas, and heirloom tomatoes will be served.
• A “sole source” contract with a local farmer’s
collaborative we created has been delivering to campus
• Biodegradable cutlery and materials are being used
• A pulper machine was introduced to one of our dining
halls
• With energy retrofitting Dining Services was awarded
thirteen thousand dollars last summer
• FSWG sponsors many educational outreach events on
campus
• We assist with the Annual County Food Forum and other
community events
Education & Outreach
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College Nights
Organic Taste tests
Speakers/Field trips
Innovative academic curriculum programs
College Nights
• Linking Farmer to Chef Meetings with
Dining Service Events
• Working with College Activity and Program
Offices
• Planning Fun and Engaging Programs!
Organic Taste Tests
At Cowell & College 8
• Tactile Engagement
• Working with Dining
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Halls and Activity
Offices
Fun and Light-hearted
Curricular Enrichment
Courses:
• ESLP ART
• College 8 Core
Course:
Sustainability
Service Projects
• Center for Teaching
Excellence Grant
Education for Sustainable Living
Program
• Lecture class of 225
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with 9 Action
Research Teams
(ARTs)
16 Students in the
Food System ART
Funding through the
Campus Sustainability
Council and FSWG
Course Foci
We Learned about:
• The conventional
agrifood system
• Issues of pesticide drift
and exposure in
agriculture
• The Organic Movement
• And the larger
Alternative Agro-food
system movement
Activities of the ART Section:
• Organic College Nights
• Strawberry Taste Tests
• Farm tours: Blue Heron & Swanton Berry
• Food System Working Group Meetings
• Student Food Oriented Group Meetings
Campus Food Systems Assessment
Project Areas of Focus:
• Past—labor, purchasing, waste reduction
• Present—purchasing/labor, student
perspective, & waste reduction
• Future—What staff and students would
like to see..
• Resource—funding for future sustainability
efforts.
C8 Sustainability Service Projects
• 355 Freshman participants
• 4 Projects to select from based on the
food system
• Building the capacity for “food citizenship”
Food Citizenship Initiative
CLEI 90
Garden Course
CASFS
UCSC Farm
CLEI 80A
Core Course CLEI80
CLEIC80A
Food Systems
Working Group
Academic Integration and
Assessment Project Team
CTE Grant
ENVS 91 F
Agroecology
PICA
Living/Learning
ESLP CLEI 61/161
Action Research
ENVS 191 F
Agroecology
Food System Network for
Santa Cruz
• Food Forum
• Funding Support:
a) Food Forum
b) Santa Cruz
County Food System
Network Website:
www.scfoodsystem.org
What we learned
• Collaboration, organizing, outreach, and
education were successful strategies
• Ongoing education of students and Dining
Services is critical
• Communication with all stakeholders is a
difficult process that must be constructively
addressed
• Securing funding has been helpful in expanding
our action steps and educational events
Next steps
• Securing UCOP support for purchase of “socially just”
food and a statewide policy for purchasing, Waste
reduction, and green facility standards for campus
dining systems (CSSC-UC Foods).
• Continuing to educate meal plan holders
• Addressing the costs of purchasing more sustainably
produced food
• Continuing to work with local farmer’s collaborative,
MBOFC
• Following through with our commitment to secure
direct marketing relationships with local dairies and
other sustainable food suppliers with Dining Services
• Cultivating a steady rise in sustainable purchasing each
year as student demand for sustainable food and the
capacity of local farmers to supply the University grow
• Looking at how we can work with campus groups who
will focus on the “outputs” of the dining halls
Resources
• UC Santa Cruz Dining
Services
http://www.housing.ucsc.edu/housing/
Dining_Main.html
• UCSC Food Systems
Working Group
http://www.ucscsec.org/blueprint_and
_summit/FSWG.html
PowerPoint produced by:
Linda Wallace, UCSC Food Systems Working Group
Sociology Graduate Student ( Sustainable Development)
Contact info: lindalwallace@earthlink.net
Tim Galarneau, UCSC Food Systems Working Group
CSSC Statewide Sustainable Food Systems Advisor
Contact info: solseeker3@aol.com