- The Record Archives
- Volume CXVIII, No. XXII - December 1, 2005 - business
Choose locally-grown foods to eat
Opting not to buy from distributors can often be a struggle
Most of the food we eat travels an average of 1,500 miles before it reaches our plates.
This is a benefit of cheap oil; we can move our food around the world at low cost. What is the problem with getting food from so far away?
This oil-dependent food distribution system is vulnerable, inefficient and unsustainable.
We are too reliant on oil for transportation. We waste more on transporting the food than we actually get out of it, and this distribution system simply cannot last indefinitely.
One proposed solution to this problem is surprisingly simple: buy food locally. If we get our food from the farms of Minnesota instead of foreign soil, we can reduce transportation costs and keep money within our local communities to support small local farms.
The food wouldn't taste of shelf staleness. It would be fresh, rich with nutrients and full of flavor. It's easy to buy food locally. St. Joseph has a farmers market open yearlong where you can buy food directly from farmers.
During snowy months, a winter market is open the first Friday of each month. You can use Web sites such as www.localharvest.org to search for growers within the area.
During spring, Common Grounds, the community supported garden at CSB, offers a CSA program where you can invest in a share of the garden and receive a weekly box of produce.
Although individuals can easily buy food directly from the farmer, some difficulties exist for larger institutions such as CSB/SJU. The colleges require a large and consistent quantity of food that smaller farmers often struggle to provide.
Dave Schoenberg, executive director of dining services at St. John's, said the cost of sourcing food is usually higher, the transportation system is complicated and the availability is sometimes unreliable.
Despite difficulties, the Reef does use apples from Minnesota, flour from a nearby mill and pasta from North Dakota.
Also sourced locally are root vegetables, honey, items from the St. Joseph Meat Market, mushrooms and fresh herbs.
Paul E. Ruszat, CSB chef and production manager, said he has similar difficulties in sourcing food locally such as reliability and budgetary restraints.
Ruszat said he is "always looking at ways to bring more of these products on campus," and likes to see local food enter campus.
"I am a huge proponent of local and sustainable foods and their superior taste and nutritional value," he said.
The struggles to buy food locally are not unique to CSB/SJU. The problems are encountered by many universities around the United States.
Most cafeterias, including CSB/SJU, purchase food from large food distributors such as Sysco. These multi-billion dollar corporations can buy cheap foreign produce. They have an efficient centralized distribution center, which makes it easy for the cafeterias to order everything from one corporation. This is not to say that schools are not adopting local food campaigns.
Many are pushing to increase the percentage of food bought locally and some are even starting their own farms on campus.
"Most colleges that have a local foods policy also have a farm/dairy program on campus and are able to get these products at minimal cost," Ruszat said.
These changes are happening because of persistent student campaigns urging schools to consider buying local food.
Buying locally keeps the money in the local community and supports small-scale local farms versus large agribusinesses.
This is the opinion of Aaron Hanson, a sophomore at SJU. Contact him at a1hanson@csbsju.edu.