After working with Valley Food & Farm for two years, Dartmouth Dining Services recently announced plans to provide fresh, regional produce to students by purchasing directly from farms in the Upper Valley.
As part of the Farm-to-Dartmouth program, DDS formed agreements to purchase eleven varieties of produce from local farms: strawberries, green beans, beets, summer squash, green and red peppers, cucumbers, corn, carrots, watermelons and red onions, with lettuce to be added next week. These fruits and vegetables will be sold at Food Court and Home Plate.
"The goal that we set out for this program was that Dartmouth would establish 10 new profitable and satisfying accounts with farmers.
"We didn't set out a dollar goal because as a community-based organization, we know that standing relationships are built on trust," said Lisa Johnson, the Valley Food & Farm coordinator who spearheaded the program.
While in the past DDS purchased its produce through distributors, it now buys it directly from farmers, DDS purchasing manager Beth DiFrancesco said.
"We want to buy the product, try not to spend too much for it if we can help it, and get the product out to our consumers on campus," DiFrancesco said.
While in some cases there is no difference between the market price that DDS expects to pay for seasonal produce and the price of local produce, in other cases the costs of purchasing from local farmers is higher than anticipated.
"We were prepared to spend as much as 10 percent more, but it is substantially more in some instances," DiFrancesco said. "We'll have to evaluate the success of the program after this summer."
The price at which farmers sell their produce to the College is lower than the current market price, so a grant from the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, a U.S. Department of Agriculture program, will cover the difference. Checks were written to farmers to compensate for the difference in market price and the amount they receive from doing business with the College, Johnson said.
Sustainability Director Jim Merkel, who collaborated with DiFrancesco and Johnson on the new policy, said he believed benefits of the switch outweighed its costs.
"With rising fuel prices, for sure we save energy and resources because the food is not transported as far," he said.
Merkel said that another advantage of the switch would be to increase the number of jobs in the Upper Valley, adding that the program might make it easier for locals, including the spouses of professors, to find employment.
"It's not only ecological sustainability but also a social sustainability of our region," he said.
But Johnson does not believe that the program as it now stands will impact regional employment significantly.
"I would say that at least at this point, it won't have any effect of increasing employment," she said. In an unstable market in the long run, however, she said the program "has the potential to make the difference between whether a farm stays in business or not."
This is not the first time the College has moved to support the agricultural life of the Upper Valley.
DDS previously established agreements with Vermont and New Hampshire farmers from whom it purchases wholesale or direct produce. Not all such attempts to purchase local food, however, have been successful.
"We experimented with a beef product that was a disaster," Johnson said, adding that she is optimistic that this summer's fresh produce will be successfully received.
"The fruit sells itself. If it creates the expected excitement on campus, it will give DDS time between planning its budgeting schedules to plan how to fit in this local produce without a subsidy."
Merkel said students should immediately notice the difference in food quality.
"There's nothing like a local strawberry or a local ear of corn," Merkel said.
