Local produce brings fresh tastes to Vassar

Stacey Locke Guest Writer Jesse Small Guest Writer

Collective efforts toward pooling resources on and off campus often fall under the radar of college life. With Local Foods week coming up, now is the time to find out a little more about environmental sustainability in your home away from home.

One of the easiest ways to get involved in environmental action in the community is through the Poughkeepsie Farm Project (PFP). Created in 1999, the PFP is a non-profit organization working toward a sustainable food system in the area, educating those in the community about food and farming and improving access to healthy local food for Vassar and Poughkeepsie residents.

“It creates links between food, land and people,” said Wendy Burkhart-Spiegel, a Farm Director from the PFP. It also helps support local farmers, she said, granting them financial stability.

“Farming is a really tenuous job,” Burkhart-Spiegel said. The greatest benefit of the PFP is that “members share in the risk of farming from the beginning. [They] have a guaranteed community of supporters.”

Burkhart-Spiegel noted how society is becoming more reliant on non-local food products, wasting energy and resources shipping foods in from far away locales. “It’s not a sustainable way to live,” she said.

There are various ways in which students can contribute to the PFP and many already have gotten involved. There are year-round opportunities for simple volunteer work if you don’t mind getting your hands dirty. The PFP also offers internship opportunities through the College’s Field Work Office.

The best known PFP project on campus may be its sponsored shares program through the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.

CSA members receive fresh, in-season produce each week from local farms in return for a small financial and labor commitment. Not only do CSA members receive delicious foods, but their participation in the farm-share program helps support the local economy.

Betsy Wieand ’08 and her housemates purchased a farm share. The share cost about $230, or about $55 per person in a four-person senior apartment.

“You get an enormous number of vegetables and some fruit as well,” said Wieand. “It’s very cost effective.”

Wieand encouraged juniors who may want to take part in the farm share to start thinking about it sooner rather than later, as the shares tend to fill up before the end of the school year.

“I think it’s a wonderful thing,” she said. “Everything is organic, so there are no pesticides used. I’ve seen several professors theredoing pick ups as well.”
Share owners must put in a total six hours of work in three hour shifts.

“It’s meaningful for people to have firsthand contact with the land and the food, to experience the spiritual connection between the rain, the soil and the sun,” said Burkhart-Spiegel. That connection, she said is “not something you realize without going out onto the farm.”

In keeping with the sustainability effort, Vassar has also been moving toward a more environmentally- and economically-friendly coffee. The Kiosk and All Campus Dining Center offer shade-grown, organic coffee from Chiapas, Mexico called Just Coffee. This new effort cooperates with the farmers in Mexico who grow, sell, package and ship the fresh coffee. By purchasing coffee from Mexico, the College can be sure that the profits stay in Mexico, helping both the farmers and employees to earn a sustainable wage. With greater economic profit, there will be less likelihood of illegal immigration and better living conditions for the workers.

Next time you go to one of these vendors, make sure to buy Just Coffee and take part in the effort to increase Vassar’s sustainability.

For more information about the PFP or CSA, visit farmproject.org