Students ended a week-long festival of local foods this weekend at a banquet, partaking in a range of whole wheat bread, chicken salad, apple crisp and fresh-squeezed fruit juices all made from local and organic ingredients.

Students had the chance to honor such food all last week by taking advantage of the “Celebrate Local Foods” conference series. The event, which began May 2 and ended May 7, was sponsored by Ohio Public Interest Research Group and the New Agrarian Center, which operates George Jones organic farm.

Events included a presentation on developing a comprehensive food waste system for Oberlin College; a workshop on growing food on asphalt; a day at Jones farm; and a screening of Hope Seeds & Concrete, an Urban Agricultural Film.

Saturday’s panel discussion, which preceded the banquet, according to event advertisements, dealt with “issues of energy, community and our country’s food system,” according to advertisements for the event.

“We want to build a more sustainable food system, environmentally, economically and socially,” said Brad Masi of the New Agrarian Center in his opening address. “We’re in the midst of a lot of changes in our food system.”

Other panelists included Wayne Wengerd, an Amish manufacturer of horse-drawn equipment at Greenfield Farms; Tracie Haynes of City Fresh; Ed May of Trailsend Farm; Gina Fusco of Oberlin College Food Services and Bon Appétit; and F. W. Owen of Owenlea Dairy Farm and the Homerville Produce Auction.

May, whose farm boasts naturally-raised black-angus beef, said that he sees the potential for local meat to rise in popularity.

“It’s presumptuous to say that small farms could not supply the country with all the meat they need,” May said. “As local meat comes to flourish, small farms will become more widespread and will supply a greater portion of consumers.”

Wengerd’s portion of the conference seemed to expand on May’s hope that small farms would become more prosperous in the future as he spoke about the state of farming in the United States, past and present.

“Our ancestors in the 1600s and 1700s brought the best farming practices with them to the United States. We produced what we ate and ate what we produced,” Wengerd said. “Forty years ago we could compete with American agriculture — 80 percent of males were full-time farmers.

“Today less than 10 percent of our men farm, we can’t compete due to the mechanization of farming and volume of production. Land prices are high.”

Wengerd’s proposed solution to this problem was to raise awareness of the advantages to eating naturally-grown produce and free-range meat.

“Fifty percent of Americans don’t care what they eat; 20 percent care a lot. We want to get those people as consumers to our farmers. We want to preserve the individuality of our farmers and our community while getting the benefits of increased volume. Cooperation can bridge that gap,” Wengerd said.

Owen emphasized that many local farms are being sought after by larger businesses: “The biggest buyers we have are local chain stores. Most of the stuff goes to farm marketers at the edge of Cleveland.”

Bon Appétit, the company that manages CDS, is one such large business.

“Bon Appétit is a corporation, so we can see what kind of agribusiness we are supporting, whether it’s sustainable, whether it uses any hormones or antibiotics,” Fusco said.

One theme that emerged from many of the speakers’ panel portions was that of community building through local food and farming.

Haynes works to promote food access and economic opportunities to marginalized communities.

“An inner-city neighborhood did about 60 food bags as a part of City Fresh, and volunteers are also interested in market opportunities and market gardens,” she said. “If you can get a group of committed people who all work on this idea of bringing food right to the communities, it’s pretty exciting.”

Wengerd also emphasized the importance of community in the field of farming.

“There is no better place to teach our children a work ethic, responsibility [and] about life and death,” he said. “Animal welfare and environmental issues were never an issue because we lived with them. We need our animals to be happy and healthy. We live in the environment, so we don’t want to spoil that. Somehow, we have come to create more value on less acreage.”