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Conference Focuses on Local Food Sourcing

By Buzalka, Mike
Publication: Food Management
Date: Thursday, September 1 2005
HEADNOTE

Exploring ways to make the farm next door a supplier.

The theme of the second National Farm to Cafeteria Conference didn't mince words: "Putting Local Food on the Table-Farms and Food Service in Partnership."

The

conference, held in mid-June at appropriately bucolic Kenyon College in the midst of central Ohio's picturesque farm country, provided clear evidence that interest in utilizing locally produced foods is a strong and growing trend in onsite foodservice.

True, the roster of attendees was heavy on small local producers looking for dependable new markets, as well as the inevitable scattering of idealistic back-to-the-earth activists pushing alternatives to "Big Food" corporate suppliers. But it was the presence of dozens of on-site foodservice directors that made this meeting a significant event for the industry.

The conference program itself concentrated on practical sessions addressing issues like the USDA's and the Defense Departments Farm-to-School programs, the mechanics of forming farm-to-institution contracts, how to solve distribution problems and understanding procurement constraints in institutional foodservice. Specific sessions dealt with the healthcare, K-12, higher education and even contract management company sectors of the onsite foodservice universe.

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Subject: Farmers, Purchasing
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