Below are many recommended resources and Web sites to help you start or expand a farm-to-college project. Please contact us if you have additional resources or Web sites to suggest.
Publications
General Resource Guides for Starting a Program
Bringing Local Food to Local People: A Resource Guide for Farm-to-School and Farm-to-Institution Programs
Building Local Food Programs On College Campus: Tips for Dining Administrators, Family Farmers & Student Advocates
Farm-to-Cafeteria Connections Handbook
Humane Purchasing Guide
Linking Farms with Colleges: A Guide to Understanding Farm-to-College Programs for Farmers, Food Service, and Organizers
Linking Farms with Schools: A Guide to Understanding Farm-to-School Programs for Schools, Farmers and Organizers
National Farm-to-College Research Report
Supplying Local Food to Educational Institutions: A How-To Manual for Use by Educational Institutions, Farmers, and Advocacy Groups
For Students
Buy Local Food and Farm Toolkit: A Guide for Student Organizers
Real Food Challenge
For Foodservice
Farm to Hospital: Supporting Local Agriculture and Improving Health Care
A Guide to Serving Local Food on Your Menu
Local Food Connections: Food Service Considerations
For Farmers
Farmer Resource Guide: Managing Risk Through Sales to Educational Institutions
Food Safety and Liability Insurance for Small-Scale and Limited Resource Farmers
Local Food Connections: From Farms to Schools
Nuevos Mercados Para Su Cosecha (New Ways to Sell What You Grow)
What Producers Should Know About Selling to Local Foodservice Markets
Curricular Resources
Agriculture in the Classroom
Feeding Young Minds: Hands-on Farm-to-School Education Programs
Teaching the Food System
Teaching Organic Farming & Gardening: Resources for Instructors
Case Studies
Behavioral Economic Concepts To Encourage Healthy Eating in School Cafeterias: Experiments and Lessons From College Students
Going Local: Paths to Success for Farm to School Programs
Sustainable Food Policy Research:
Healthy Farms, Healthy Kids: Evaluating the Barriers and Opportunities for Farm-to-School Programs
CIAS Research Brief #55 on Dishing up local food on Wisconsin campuses
CIAS Research Brief #39 on New Markets for Producers: Selling to Colleges
Something to Cheer About: National Trends and Prospects for Sustainable Agriculture Products in Food Service Operations of Colleges and Universities
Other Publications
College Farm Guide from The New Farm
Multimedia Presentation–The Benefits of Local Food
Selling to Institutions: An Iowa Farmer’s Guide
USDA Agricultural Marketing Service’s information on “Good Agricultural Practices” and/or “Good Handling Practices”
Research Conducted by Students
Bringing Sustainable Food into Youth Outdoor Education
Feasability Study of Farm to College program at University of Cincinnati
Selling Local: The Application of Social Marketing Theory to Institutional Buying Programs
A Strategy for Community Economic Development: Increasing Purchasing of Washington Agricultural Products by Washington Institutions
A Survey of Farm-to-College Programs: History, Characteristics and Student Involvement
The Taste of Green: Corporate Integration of Bioregional Foodstuffs in College and University Foodservices
Resources for Organizing or Locating Local Farm Product Supply
Information on Distribution Infrastructure
Delivering More: Scaling Up Farm to School Programs
Farm to School Tips, Tools & Guidelines for Food Distribution & Food Safety
Sysco’s Journey from Supply Chain to Value Chain: Results and Lessons Learned from the 2008 National Good Food Network/ Sysco Corporation Pilot Project to Source and Sell Good Food
USDA Moving Food Along the Value Chain: Innovations in Regional Food Distribution
Information on farmer-owned/managed cooperatives
Keystone Development Center
Mid-Atlantic Guide to Cooperative Development Resources
USDA Rural Development: Business and Cooperative Programs
Innovative Marketing Opportunities for Small Farmers: Local Schools as Customers
Federation of Southern Cooperatives
New North Florida Cooperative
How to locate farmers or farmer organizations
Networks or distributors that work with local farm products
The following list of networks, organizations, and distributors have been identified as helping to build connections between farms and local institutions or other markets:
Service Area: National
Association of Family Farms 3880 Rodman Street, NW Suite C213 Washington, DC 20016-2824 Phone: 202.997.1112 Email: david@familyfood.net
Farmplate.com is a great place to find farms and other local food sources in your area. If you don’t find information for your area, FarmPlate will research and add sources to its database. Just email your request to Jeff Gangemi at jgangemi@farmplate.com
Also, you can use FarmPlate.com as a place to map your food web, which is the web of relationships between your school and its food sources. Go to the Farmplate College Guide for more information, and to see a few examples of FarmPlate profiles with active food webs.
The Food Alliance
Northwest office and national headquarters: 1829 NE Alberta, # 5, Portland, OR 97211
Phone: 503.493.1066, Fax: 503.493.1069, E-mail: info@foodalliance.org
Organic Valley/Organic Prairie One Organic Way LaFarge, WI 54639 Phone: 888.444.6455 Ext. #3444-Consumer Relations Dept.
Protected Harvest 1211 Brunswick Court Arnold, MD 21012 Phone: 410.757.4234 Fax: 410.626.7732 E-mail: info@protectedharvest.org
Service Area: Northeast, OH, WV, and MD
Black River Produce PO Box 489 North Springfield, VT 05150 Phone: 800.228.5481 Email: info@blackriverproduce.com Service area: VT, NH, MA, NY
Dole and Bailey 16 Conn Street Woburn, MA 01801 Phone: 888.777.2648 Fax: 781.935.9085 E-mail: Info@DoleandBailey.com Service area: New England
Maine Foods Network Service area: Maine
Northern Tier Sustainable Meats Grantville Summit, PA 16926 Phone: 570-364-5212 E-mail: pharper2@frontiernet.net
Paragon-Monteverde Joel Ankney 55–36th Street Pittsburgh, PA 15201 Phone: 412.621.2626 1.800.934.6495 Fax: 412.621.2829 E-mail: jankney@pmfoods.com Service area: western PA and neighboring areas in Ohio, WV, and MD
Southeastern Massachusetts Agricultural Partnership (SEMAP) One State Bog Road, P.O. Box 569 East Wareham, MA 02538 Phone: 508.295.2212 x50 Email: info@semaponline.org Service Area: Southeastern Massachusetts
Service Area: Midwest
Home Grown Wisconsin Suzanne Rubinstein General Manager P.O. Box 6171 Madison, WI 53716 Phone: 608.341.8939 E-mail: manager@homegrownwisconsin.com
Service Area: West
California Certified Organic Farmers 1115 Mission Street Santa Cruz, CA 95060 Phone: 831.423.2263 Email: ccof@ccof.org Service area: California
Ripple Riley Thomas 2559 Grosse Ave. Santa Rosa, CA 95404 Phone: 707.569.7377 Service area: California
Veritable Vegetable 1100 Cesar Chavez Street Santa Francisco, CA 94124 Phone: 415.641.3500 Fax: 415.641.3505 Service area: California
Service Area: South
Grayson Natural Foods, LLC Gary Mitchell, Managing Partner Phone: 276.773.3712 or 276.768.8768 Service area: SW Virginia & NW North Carolina and would consider other distribution areas
Sustainable Food Center 1106 Clayton Lane, Suite 480W Austin, TX 78723 Phone: 512.236.0074 Fax: 512.236.0098 Email: Andrew@sustainablefoodcenter.org Service area: Austin, Central Texas
Service Area: Canada
Local Food Plus 1965 Queen Street East, Suite 2 Toronto, Ontario M4L 1H9 Phone: 416.699.6070 Email: info@localfoodplus.ca Service area: Canada
Websites
Organizations/Businesses/Projects
The Campus Kitchens Project
Food Security Learning Center farm-to-cafeteria page
National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture
Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA)
Sustainable Agriculture Education Association
Sustainable Foodservice Consulting
Sustainable Table
Networks
Community Food Security Coalition
FoodRoutes farm-to-college page
National Association of College and University Food Services
National Farm to School home page
Real Food Challenge
General Sustainability
Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)
The College Sustainability Report Card
Discussion Lists
Farm-To-Cafeteria Listserv
Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) Dining Services Discussion Forum