And at a third, international visitors expressed an interest in local, sustainably produced food. Several colleges responding to Johnson s survey reported that there is high student demand for local, sustainably produced food and that customer satisfaction is high for these products. If there is no sure-fire formula, there are at least one or two key ingredients to make the recipe work, Johnson says of initiatives to buy local, sustainably produced food. Successful initiatives often combine a champion for the project with broader college support. Another key ingredient is how the food service is managed and its management s receptiveness to new ideas.
Special events offer a way for a targeted but limited initiative to get going.
With assistance from CIAS, the University of Wisconsin-Madison hosted Home Grown Wisconsin organic meals in 1997 and 1998 in all of its dining halls. Oberlin College in Ohio is similarly planning for an annual All-Ohio meal event. Barriers and potential solutions For those wishing to sell local, sustainably produced food to colleges a mismatch between institutional needs and a farmer's ability to meet them can pose barriers. Johnson says, While small-scale producers sometimes have higher costs of production that result in higher wholesale and retail prices, colleges and universities are seeking ways to minimize and control costs. Institutional food buying has a bottom-line focus, and often paying higher prices for food cannot be justified.