Local foods become more accessable to UVM students

This coming fall, for $15-20 a week, students will be able to get food from local farms delivered to them on campus.

The service will be provided by the Intervale Food Hub, a nonprofit organization in Burlington that has developed a system where 23 farms work together to provide a variety of crops, graduate student Faye Conte said.

This system is called Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), Conte said. 

"The Intervale Center will extend this program to students starting next year, delivering baskets to campus on a weekly basis," Conte said.

The program will run from Sept. 6 to Dec. 6, following the school's semester schedule, Brianna Farver, an Intervale Food Hub coordinator, said.

Students have the choice between two food basket options. The first is the Basic Student Share, which costs $225 and consists of a variety of vegetables, fruit and cider and could feed one or two students, Farver said.

The second option is a Deluxe Student Share, which costs $300 and is the same as the Basic Student Share, with other items such as eggs, maple syrup and pesto, she said.  

"Students will pay the Intervale Food Hub up front, but costs will end up equaling out to about $15-20 a week for food," Conte said.

Research shows that the Intervale Center's multi-farm collaboration is a successful way to connect consumers and producers in a convenient, profitable manner, Conte said.

"Our goal is to return a fair price to the farmers," Farver said.  "In joining a CSA, you're deciding at the beginning of the season that you're going to support the farmers by giving them the money up front."

The farmer receives 70 percent of every dollar paid for a CSA share. Since  this money is paid up front, the farmer can use it to run the farm, she said. 

"Almost all of the farmers are certified organic, and a couple are still working on getting certified, but still practice organic agriculture," Farver said.

The Intervale Center's CSA is unique because it involves 23 farms rather than just one. Although having 23 farms requires more coordination, there are many benefits, Conte said.

Having multiple farms allows room for difficult growing seasons, without the effects felt by end consumers, she said.

It also allows farmers to specialize in certain crops, rather than trying to satisfy consumers with a variety, Conte said.

With the current format, the CSA can offer a diversified high quality product mix from different producers, she said.

"The program is becoming more profitable each year, it isn't self-sustaining yet though because it has to support overhead costs," Conte said.

The primary overhead cost is employing a coordinator. The coordinator acts as a liaison between farmers and consumers by delivering the food baskets, and making sure that there are no product overlaps and that each farmer is treated equally, Conte said.

"The goal is for this to become a farmer-owned cooperative, but right now a portion of it is still grant-funded by the Intervale Center," Farver said.

Students who are interested must sign up for a CSA share by May 31.

Registration is available on the Intervale Food Hub's website, www.IntervaleFoodHub.com.