Local Food Production and Institutional Purchasing: Assessing Producer Consumer Relationships at Duke University

Abstract

Green purchasing policies are one aspect of campus sustainability that has been receiving increasingly more interest at Duke University in the past three years. Concurrently, locally supported food systems have been developing in the Research Triangle area, represented by farmers’ markets, community supported agriculture, and retail cooperatives. Furthermore, within the Duke Dining Services office, increased purchasing of locally produced food has been identified as one of the top three opportunities being pursued by the Dining Director. This study utilizes a farm-based survey to develop knowledge of the producer subsystem of the local food system, and interviews of dining operators at Duke to understand the current use of local food in purchasing policies. Local, small farmers are still relying heavily on farmers’ markets as their main source of income, but many are branching out into other markets such as retail and restaurants. Of the dining operators with the ability to use local food in their operations, six out of ten were currently choosing to purchase locally, although some more than others. This provides the university with a strong base to develop future policies to encourage increased relationships between farmers and operators.