The Oberlin Review
<< Front page News April 15, 2005

The real dirt on local foods

OSCA local food distributors junior Claire Cheney and senior Kevin Herschman gave an audience of approximately 40 students and community members insight into the “real dirt” on their food last Saturday. Along with senior Allison Shauger, Cheney and Herschman organized this event, held at the Cat in the Cream, at which speakers addressed the nationally increasing awareness people are developing in where their food comes.

Oberlin alum Brad Masi (OC ’93) delivered opening remarks, expressing hope at the implications of communities “taking interest in the farmers down the street.”

Yet Masi also cited statistics suggesting that mass consumption of locally grown food is still far from a reality.

“The average food molecule traveled 1,300 miles from farm to plate in 1992,” he said. “I think currently it’s around 2,500. The casualty of this journey is that farmers receive only four to 18 cents for every dollar of food purchased.” The rest, he stated, goes to advertising, processing, packaging and especially shipping.

Hershman spoke next, detailing OSCA’s dedication over the years to local producers. “In the fall, 32 percent of OSCA’s food budget was spent on local foods and products,” he stated.

He also compiled a report of campus co-op spending in the recent past and declared OSCA has spent three quarters of a million dollars on local foods in the last five years.

DeCafé manager Gina Fusco also addressed the audience about the contribution of Bon Appetit, the College’s food provider, to local farmers and producers. “We have made a commitment to purchasing as much local food as possible,” she said.

Fusco said letting students know about the College’s loyalty to local vendors is the most difficult dining issue they face. “Marketing is Oberlin’s toughest problem,” she stated. “It’s hard to find the time to advertise where we get our food.”

Local 7th generation dairy farmer Doug Daniels then spoke, voicing distress at the changes he has witnessed in agricultural policy during his lifetime. “I have to do five times as much as my father to get out the same amount of profit he did,” Daniels said.

He remains dedicated to grass-fed cow production, however, despite its inefficiency, due to the quality of the nutrition in milk they produce.

The final panel presentation was delivered by Maurice Small, food coordinator and manager of Cleveland-based organization City Fresh. Small spoke of the nutritional plight of residents of the inner city and their lack of access to quality produce. “My job is to bring about an understanding between the farmer and the city dweller,” he stated.

Small emphasized in his address the responsibility of Oberlin students in helping the aim of City Fresh. “Students here have the privilege of eating well. You all have a responsibility to these people in the city. You all know what well-balanced, good food is.”

The forum came to a close with an address by the keynote speaker, local Amish farmer David Klein. Klein spoke on the responsibilities of farmers to the families they service, the importance of a variety of good, nutritional food and the financial woes currently faced by the agricultural industry.

“We farmers aren’t out to make a killing,” he said. “But we need to make money or we can’t continue...We owe it to people to grow the best plants we can.”

Klein echoed Masi’s call to eliminate the journey crops take to reach their final, distant destination. “We need to eliminate corporations and the middle men,” he stated. He also addressed the need for good food in urban areas stressed by Small.
 
 

   


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