UVM Food Feed

Social Media Post Has Larger Implications for UVM Local Food Partnerships

Posted by Guest Author | October 31, 2018

By Anastasia Tsekeris

UVM Dining has recently been on the receiving end of student social media posts about the discovery of insects in food at on-campus dining halls. On September 27, an account on Instagram posted a video in the dining hall of a fork with a cabbage worm on it. Many students commented on the post, some poking fun at UVM’s commitment to local, organic, while others commented in disgust.

UVM Dining responded to the post in a comment:

“One of the benefits of sourcing organic food is that you know you are eating clean product that has not been treating with lots of chemicals. However, it can mean that small, harmless bugs go undetected, even through triple and quadruple washes. This is a cabbage worm and we have shared back this info with our local supplier. Thank you for letting us know, as we work with our amazing producers to bring local, quality, safe produce to campus every day. #realfoodcomesfromthedirt”

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Posted in Education, UVM | Tagged farming, local foods, UVM | 1 Comment

Erica Morrell to Speak about First Food Justice Nov. 7 at UVM

Posted by Guest Author | October 30, 2018

By Allison Spain

Erica Morrell, PhD, a Mellon C3 Postdoctoral Fellow in Sociology at Middlebury College, will speak at UVM on Nov. 7 about “Knowledge, Power, and the Politics of First Food Justice.”

In her talk, Erica will draw on her ethnographic research with La Leche League, the Navajo Nation Breastfeeding Coalition, and the African American Breastfeeding Network to explore how knowledge and power function together to shape injustice and justice in America. She will connect these three groups’ work explicitly to food systems and public health initiatives, offering insights for improving food and medical practices to advance equity for all.

We talked to Erica about her background, research, and the barriers to accessing first foods.

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Posted in Economic | Tagged academic research, Economy, UVM, weekly food events | Leave a comment

Two Farmer Training Students Find a Future for Farming in the Northeast

Posted by Erica Houskeeper | October 18, 2018

Sid Silverman and Elisa Daus left California in search of a more sustainable way to farm.

The couple arrived in Burlington in May to enroll in the UVM Farmer Training Program. Their plan was not so much to learn the basics of farming, but rather how to successfully farm in the Northeast.

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Posted in Education, UVM | Tagged farmer training program, farming, local foods, UVM | Leave a comment

Uncertainty Abounds with Farm Bill Expiration

Posted by Guest Author | October 8, 2018

By Kate Whitney

September 30 marked the deadline for the passing of a new Farm Bill, the primary agricultural and food policy tool of the federal government, which would have replaced the legislation that has been in effect since 2014.

Although the bill’s expiration does not affect the funding of major, long-standing programs, lawmakers left the futures of many farmers hanging in the air as the failure to pass a new bill leaves dozens of programs in limbo, including some which support conservation, bioenergy, rural development, research, nutrition, organic agriculture, farmers markets, military veteran and socially disadvantaged farmers.

A farmers’ market in Burlington’s Old North End.

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Posted in Economic, UVM, Vermont | Tagged academic research, farming, UVM | Leave a comment

Dignity and Devastation in Vermont’s Dairy Industry

Posted by Guest Author | September 25, 2018

By Teresa Mares

The following is an excerpt of a August 2018 article published in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development.

After years of challenging economic conditions, the first several months of 2018 spelled disaster for a number of Vermont’s dairy farms. As reported in a local weekly newspaper article, “Selling the Herd: A Milk Price Crisis Is Devastating Vermont’s Dairy Farms” (Heintz, 2018), the ongoing downturn in milk prices has led a number of farms to close shop. This leaves just 749 dairy farms in a state where more than 11,000 existed seven decades prior. Alongside increased costs of production, this article also reveals that dairy farmers are receiving little more for their milk than they did in the late 1970s, despite the ever-increasing costs of production and environmental pressures.

Associate Professor Teresa Mares