Dartmouth Dining Services is considering changing food suppliers, a decision that could affect the quality, freshness and origin of the meals students eat.
Vital Communities, a nonprofit organization in the Upper Valley, has received a grant funded by the USDA's Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education to study the possibility of DDS switching to local farmers as suppliers.
The first part of the project, according to Dining Services Director Tucker Rossiter, is to identify the number of certain food products that Dartmouth uses and investigate the possibility of buying locally.
In order for DDS to go through with a transfer, Rossiter said that local farmers must provide quality products priced competitively.
Currently, DDS buys from various suppliers, such as the firm White River Produce. White River and other companies receive their food from all over the nation, with a concentration in products from California and Florida. During certain seasons, DDS food has even come from as far away as South America.
Right now, the only effort on the College's part to supply Upper-Valley-local food occurs over the summer, when DDS works with the Dartmouth Organic Farm to provide organic produce for Collis Cafe.
Rossiter said that the Organic Farm meets the specific needs of Collis, but not completely.
The Organic Farm and Collis situation highlights the biggest problem the Vital Communities study faces. The study must prove that local farmers can meet DDS' demand.
If local farmers were able to produce the certain amount DDS needs, and they are able to price their products competitively, DDS would be interested.
"There wouldn't be a reason for us not to buy," Rossiter said about the above conditions.
"This is a win-win situation," said DDS purchasing manager Beth DiFrancesco. "It brings fresher products to our door while striving to help support those who struggle to keep alive business and a way of life so historically important here."
Rossiter added that DDS would even consider paying more to go locally, but repeated that the products must be "competitively priced" on top of being local.
Most details of the study have not been worked out, so DDS wasn't able to promise they would buy from local farmers no matter what the cost.
The project is set to begin soon and will occur over three years. It includes introducing farmers and College chefs and sampling products to students. As well, the most effective products to introduce will be established, meaning that DDS won't necessarily receive all products locally in the future.
Student involvement is another important aspect of the study. College students will be engaged in part of the research of the study.
In addition, DDS will need to advertise the change in suppliers to student consumers, according to Vital Communities.
"This grant is going to let Dartmouth students finally get their hands on the best of what Upper Valley farms have to offer and that is going to make everyone at the dining halls happy," Dan Bailin '05 said in an official Vital Communities statement.
Rossiter confirmed this sentiment.
"I think that students would like to know that this produce came from a local farm," he said.
