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News Release
RI Department of Environmental Management
235 Promenade Street, Providence, RI 02908
(401) 222-2771 TDD/(401) 222-4462
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For Release: |
October 1, 2004 |
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Contact: |
Gail Mastrati 222-4700 ext. 2402
Stephanie Powell 222-4700 ext. 4418 |
DEM, BROWN UNIVERSITY WIN $21,500 GRANT TO PROMOTE WIDER FOOD SERVICE USE OF LOCAL FARM PRODUCTS
Brown's Current Practice of Using Local Farm Products will be Offered as Model for Other Rhode Island Colleges and Universities
PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management and Brown University announce that they been awarded a $21,500 grant from the Rhode Island Foundation to work with local farmers and institutional dining services to provide local fresh agricultural products in institutional settings such as colleges.
Fashioned after a student initiative at Brown University called Community Harvest, which aims to increase the amount of foods purchased by the University's dining services directly from regional producers, the new Sustainable Food Initiative program will expand that program by offering it to other college and university food services institutions, assisting in logistics, and facilitating contracts and purchases.
DEM's Division of Agriculture and Division of Planning and Development will provide daily assistance as well as office space and supplies. Additional support for the Initiative will come from a $10,000 grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency, and $3,000 from Brown University's Center for Environmental Studies.
Kenneth Ayars, Chief of DEM's Division of Agriculture says, " Brown University has shown insight and leadership in this initiative, and not only understands that local foods are fresher, but also that a commitment to local agriculture is a sound university objective. There is every reason to believe that institutional buying of local agricultural products can have a very real and positive effect on the economic viability and sustainability of food farming in Rhode Island."
The four most immediate goals of the Sustainable Food Initiative are to:
·Continue with the Community Harvest project at Brown University, and improve and expand the contractual relationships between local farmers and Brown University Dining Services;
·Use the Community Harvest project as a pilot project to be exported to other food service institutions, develop personal and business relationships between farmer and buyer, and provide a forum for introduction and discussion of contractual agreements. This will also include development of electronic software for generating purchasing contracts-a contractual boilerplate that will also be designed to tally the number of "food miles" saved with each purchase as well as the amount of money reinvested into the local economy;
·Increase community involvement in the food production process through agricultural education programs, farm tours, "pick-your-own" opportunities, farmers' markets and community supported agricultural programs throughout the region; and
·Improve the connection between local growers and local markets through the creation of a web-based clearinghouse. In addition to facilitating purchases, the website will be a centralized hub for information on regional agriculture, sustainable food production, and community food security. It will also offer information on where to source and how to prepare locally grown products.
The Sustainable Foods Initiative will be overseen by a recent Brown graduate, Louella Hill, hired by Brown University for the initial year of the program. Hill, who has been active in establishing the project and wrote her senior environmental studies thesis about creating a regional food economy, will report to a governing board consisting of representatives of DEM, Brown University, and farm interests.
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