Farms to K

Farms to K is a group of Kalamazoo College students, faculty, administrators, and staff joined by local farmers, our Sodexho food-service manager, and the community advocacy group Fair Food Matters .

We have been working since Fall 2005 to build relationships between the College and local farmers to increase the amount of locally-grown food served in our cafeteria.  We strive to educate our group members and our campus about the importance of buying and supporting our local food system.  We are a service-learning organization and work with the Mary Jane Stryker Institute for Service-Learning to further engage with people in the surrounding community. 

There are multiple reasons to buy and eat local foods: 

For taste:  Food (found in supermarkets) travels on average 1,300 miles.  Fruits and vegetables can spend 7 to 14 days in transit.  Many of these fruits and vegetables are grown to travel, not for taste. 

For the economy:  While corporate growers have almost doubled their profits since 1990, in 2002 farmers earned the least they have since 1940.  Local farmers spend money within the local economy. 

Farms to K continues to raise awareness of the local food movement on campus and to build the infrastructure and partnerships needed to achieve our overall goals for the College cafeteria.  We have provided opportunities for all stakeholders to share information and ideas about local food advocacy; organized local food tasting events for the campus community; brought together K College students and alums with interest and experience in agriculture and sustainability; used service-learning courses to understand teh local food movement in national and global contexts; and linked our efforts to the work of other environmental organizations on campus and to other institutions in the area who are developing similar projects. 

Click here to check our Brochure. 

Click here to check our Poster.