Food: What's Cooking On Campus

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The eco-food movement may appeal to antimultinational globophobes: packaged, refrigerated goods transported from afar use tons of fossil fuels that pollute and release ozone-depleting gases. Locally grown produce typically needs fewer pesticides than big farms use--and fewer synthetic additives for a long shelf life. But as students seek to upend the food-supply chain, they get a gritty lesson in practical economics. Cafeterias are often serviced by billion-dollar behemoths such as Sodexho Inc. and Aramark Corp., which make money partly by purchasing cheap foreign produce and centralizing distribution. Even when colleges operate their own dining halls, the staff is used to making a single phone call to order thousands of meals from distributors like the $30 billion Sysco Corp. Roast beef arrives cooked and sliced, powdered soup requires only added water, broccoli comes in precut florets. When the University of Montana decided to eat local two years ago, four graduate students spent months finding 34 nearby suppliers and organizing logistics. "We couldn't have 10 different farmers driving pickup trucks to drop off tomatoes," said dining director Mark LoParco. They nudged growers into co-ops for delivery and processing. Now the romaine comes washed and chopped--and the farmer gets a higher price. In January the university's new contract with Sysco will stipulate that the company supply bacon from Daily's Inc., a Missoula processor.

If caterers are starting to pay heed, it may be none too soon. University of California students on 10 campuses launched a statewide campaign last month to pressure U.C. regents to spend at least 10% of their $20 million annual food budget on local and organic products. Sodexho, which was ousted from the University of California at Santa Cruz after a student campaign, recently began to draw its supplies from local sources near eight Midwestern campuses. Aramark works with the University of Rochester and Vassar to buy from nearby farmers. And California-based Bon Appétit, which operates dining halls at 67 colleges, has hiked spending on local food to 20% of its budget.

In some cases, cooking from scratch with local ingredients is more expensive. Williams College will pay $85,000 more this year to double local products to 14% of its $2.7 million food budget. But at the University of Montana, even though the price of local beef and safflower oil was higher, the dining bill actually shrank slightly because of reduced spoilage. Liability can also be an issue, as University of Vermont students discovered when Sodexho forced a nearby orchard to buy $4 million worth of insurance. But activists persist. "Students go through purchasing reports to see where we are buying pears," says Robert Volpi, Williams' dining director.