Athens News Writes about Student Farm Food in Dining Halls

A variety of greens grow in the high tunnel at the OHIO Student Farm.

The Athens News reports on Ohio University buying local produce in a story headlined “OU opens the door to more local food in dining halls: OU Student Farm and Chesterhill Produce Auction now food sources.”

…The university buying food from Chesterhill, Morgan County, (about 30 minutes away from Athens by car) and the Student Farm will mean reduced transportation costs, less fossil fuels used, and more dollars going back to the local and regional economies. Plus, money earned from the Student Farm’s sale of produce goes back to funding Food Studies-themed internships for students.

THERESA MORAN, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR and director of OU’s Food Studies Theme, said Wednesday that the university beginning to use this local food, especially from the Chesterhill Produce Auction, resulted from a lot of hard work from the Farm to Ohio Working Group (FOWG). The group includes herself, leaders from OU Culinary Services, OU’s Sustainability Office, Rural Action and Community Food Initiatives (CFI).

The big hurdle that the group needed to overcome in order for the university to buy more local food, Moran said, was for the farmers and producers who sell their food at the Chesterhill Produce Auction to receive GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) certification, a third-party audited process to ensure food safety and best practices at those farms….

Read more in the Athens News.