These warm days are a reminder that garden fresh veggies will soon reach my table. They couldn't arrive at a better time since I have eaten about as many tomatoes that look red on the outside but taste like Styrofoam on the inside as I care to. My "fixation with freshness" hasn't always the case. While in college, I could eat more fast food than Morgan Spurlock in the film "Supersize Me" without gaining weight. But times have changed. As my metabolism slowed to the point that I needed to exercise to balance my torrid love affair with Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, I became aware of how my relationship with food is more than a relationship with calories. My food choices not only affect me physically but also the quality of the environment around me.
As someone once pointed out to me, food is a resource that I "use" far more intimately than any other. The molecules that are found on and in the food will eventually visit such exotic places as my heart, my brain and the flap of skin between my thumb and index finger. In doing so, these vitamins and minerals, fats, proteins, carbohydrates and synthetic chemicals can interact with my body and affect my daily moods, my general health and my lifespan.
The food I consume is connected to more than my body's "system." Because it can be grown down the street or halfway round the world, organically or with intensive fertilizer and pesticide application, and with minimal tillage or intensive cultivation, its production can have far more profound impacts than appeasing my hunger. Much of the current agriculture production is transported thousands of miles to its final destination, a process which consumes far more energy than it provides its consumer and which contributes to the increasing rate of greenhouse gas emissions. Some of my food is grown organically and in a manner that sustains both soil and water quality, while far too much is grown so intensively that the soil is damaged and waterways are polluted.
While FDR noted in 1937, "the nation that destroys its soil destroys itself," there are new threats to consider beyond the formation of another Dust Bowl. As the world's population grows and energy supplies dwindle at an increasing rate, it is critical that we maintain the existing agricultural lands and strengthen the local foods network in order to increase the quality and security of NH food sources. In NH, the need for the development of local networks is critical. According to the NH Center for a Food Secure Future (NHCFSF) over 90% of the food we consume is grown out of state while our population is growing, our farms are declining in number and the farmers are getting older.
As a Land Grant University, UNH is committed to the development of more sustainable food systems and is working to reduce its impact on the larger environment. As part of this effort, UNH coordinates statewide initiatives. This includes the NHCFSF, which is a UNH-based collaboration that brings together a diverse range of stakeholders to address the need for coordinated, comprehensive action in order to link agriculture, the food environment and health and nutrition in our state and region. The New Hampshire Farm to School Program (NHFTS) is another program that is designed to connect local farms and farm products to New Hampshire classrooms and cafeterias by integrating agricultural production, school food procurement, and school curriculum. To date, over half of the K-12 schools in New Hampshire are participating in the program by purchasing NH apples and cider while the NHFTS is working to build and strengthen the farm-to-school connections and increase the amount and types of farm fresh food that reach school cafeterias.
UNH Dining also plays an active role by purchasing locally and regionally available processed food and fresh produce. Their produce supplier is committed to sourcing from local farms as much as possible and has buyers dedicated to developing the local market. Dining also purchases cage-free eggs, dairy products, and honey produced in NH. Dining is currently assessing the quantities of regional and local foods consumed on campus in order to set future targets. In the near future, produce grown at UNH may be available in the Dining facilities.
UNH farms also house many research projects that specifically target New England farmers. This includes breeding crops that are well suited to our climate and allow farmers to obtain higher yields during our short growing season. In addition, research is conducted into methods to raise crops that are not traditionally considered suitable to the region, including sweet potatoes. UNH is also the first land-grant university to have an organic dairy and this will serve as a site for research as well as an education center for organic dairy farmers and those considering transitioning to organic production. Through the UNH Cooperative Extension, research findings and knowledge are translated and packaged into workshops for local farmer so that they can integrate the latest knowledge into their operations increasing their sustainability.
UNH students have the opportunity to engage as well. There are graduate and undergraduate research and internship opportunities as well as several classes such as PBIO 405, Sustainable and Organic Food Production, and PBIO 652, Culture of Vegetable Crops, that can increase student awareness as well as provide the skills and knowledge to participate in farming. The Organic Garden Club is a student organization, which provides non-academic opportunities to get involved and get dirty. The org. has a mission to cultivate a campus-community organic farm that will promote social, economic, and environmental sustainability. The OGC grows its food on the University's first certified organic land. UNH Dining is a key partner of the club by purchasing crops grown at the farm. The remaining food is sold at a farm stand on campus throughout the summer and into the fall semester and is also used to provide meals during the Community Dinners held throughout the year at the Waysmeet Center in Durham.
The impact of the UNH food system is not limited to production and consumption, however. Disposal of wastes must be considered as well. The University has an excellent compost program that captures the organic matter and nutrients from food and agricultural which would have been lost had they been sent to a landfill. The University is also working to develop a system where the waste vegetable oil from Dining fryers is collected and converted to biodiesel for use in off-road farm equipment as well as to heat UNH greenhouses and farm buildings. A recent student research project demonstrated a method to use cow manure to create electricity.
The largest impact that UNH will have is that of its current students and graduates. By asking for more locally and regionally grown foods right now in the dining facilities, the school can use its tremendous buying power to increase the strength and size of local and regional food networks. By carrying this demand out into the "real world", the thousands of yearly UNH graduates have the potential to undo the decline in number of N.H. farms and the aging of the N.H. farmer population. This will occur as we make a greater personal commitment to shop at local farmers' markets or participate in Community-Supported Agriculture, where we become "subscribers" that receive weekly "shares" of farm produce direct from the farmer. The impact of our collective demand for fresh local produce would be to send a signal to prospective farmers that New Hampshire is a place full of opportunity.
The sustainability of N.H. farming will be further enhanced by efforts to protect our farmlands. New Hampshire's population has grown 11 percent since 1990 and is projected to increase very rapidly over the next 20 years. This will increase a demand for housing, which threatens valuable farmlands. By working in our towns to protect these lands from development, we can ensure that not only are farmers encouraged to settle here, but that the land needed to provide N.H. grown produce is protected into the future. The sustainability of our society as always lies with our desire to make such a state occur.
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