http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?id=3284&utm_source=apr09&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=S3_hdr

 

From: Berea Ernst [berea.ernst@gmail.com]

Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 4:02 PM

To: Scott Meltzer

Subject: Farm to College at Centre

Hi Scott,

Thank you for contacting me about this possibility. I am a Centre 03

alum and have been working with Kentucky's small scale farms for

several years to build new markets for produce. In 2005 and 06 I

helped CentrePeace set up a couple of local food luncheons in Cowan to

start a discussion on procuring local food, which well very well

attended with 70 people packing the private dining room. Our efforts

came to a halt when we learned Sodexo's requirements for being

approved as a vendor, which are designed for large-scale suppliers

such as Sysco and prohibitive for small farms.

Since then, however, I've been involved in the creation of Kentucky's

first all-local food distribution company, which we call Grasshoppers

Distribution. Our warehouse is based in Louisville. We make wholesale

deliveries to restaurants and grocery stores on Fridays, and this year

we may branch out to make Lexington deliveries. Part of the reason for

starting this business was so that producers would have the liability

insurance and centralized distribution needed to serve larger

institutions, such as colleges and universities. At this time we are

in the process of being approved as a vendor at U of L, which is a

Sodexo account. If we are successful in becoming a vendor with Sodexo

at U of L, we will be approved to work with other Sodexo accounts too,

including Centre.

Assuming we do pass that hurdle, we would need to address the issue of

delivering to Danville which is currently not on a delivery route. We

do have several producers in the area so some back hauling

opportunities would be possible. If we could serve some other accounts

in Danville, such as the hospital downtown, it may become worth the

drive.

I would very much like to see a Farm to College program at Centre. I

know what the quality of food is like there, and bringing in local

food would raise the standards dramatically.  I just returned from the

4th National Farm to Cafeteria Conference in Portland, Oregon, where I

learned that in a survey of colleges and universities, half of them

said they either had a Farm to College program or were just beginning

one.

University of Kentucky and Berea College have taken the lead in

Kentucky. UK has "in house" food service, meaning it is managed by the

university instead of a food service contractor. This allows them much

more freedom and they have switched over their hamburgers and milk to

100% local (that's 15,000 lbs of ground beef a month). Berea College

is a Sodexo account but they have their own organic farm on campus and

have been able to use some of the food that they produce.

Please check out our website to learn more about Grasshoppers, at www.grasshoppersdistribution.com

. Another good resource is www.farmtocollege.org. After we are

approved as a Sodexo vendor, which is scheduled for June, I'd be happy

to come meet you for lunch in Danville to talk more specifically about

the challenges of starting a program at Centre.

Sincerely,

Berea Ernst

GRASSHOPPERS DISTRIBUTION

Phone 502-489-1097

Fax 502-227-1743

grasshopperberea@insightbb.com

www.grasshoppersdistribution.com

Louisville Office 502-708-1881