Eating Locally at Calvin College

November 30, 2005 == MEDIA ADVISORY

On Thursday, December 1, locally grown food is on the menu - and on the agenda
- at Calvin College when the college will feature a number of events that
promote sustainable agriculture.

First, at 4 p.m. in the Commons Lecture Hall on campus, Tom Cary, director of
the Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council, will speak on "Home from a Diet
of Nowhere: Steps on a Journey Toward Sustainability," a talk that will
highlight the importance and power of food in the community, the environment
and the economy.

Cary will talk about how institutions can incorporate sustainable agriculture
through their decisions about buying and selling food.

Refreshments at the presentation will feature locally grown products from
Visser Farms in Zeeland and H&W Farm in Belding.

"We want to move Calvin in the direction of purchasing more food from local
farmers," says Gail Heffner, Calvin's director of community engagement.

Cary's address is the keynote of the annual Calvin Environmental Assessment
Poster (CEAP) Session.

Following the poster session, all attendees are invited to join Calvin
students in the Commons Dining Hall as they eat a dinner menu created from
locally grown products. And on December 2, Calvin's faculty dining room will
offer similar fare.

"Some of the food we normally have is from Michigan," Heffner says, "and so
the dining hall wants to educate the Calvin community about the food we already
get locally."

Supporting local agriculture is important for a number of reasons Heffner
says.

"It keeps money circulating in the local economy," she notes, "rather than
sending it elsewhere. It reduces transportation costs and energy usage from
farm to table."

Buying locally also allows consumers to develop a relationship with the people
who produce their food.

The impetus for Calvin's focus on sustainable agriculture came from poet,
essayist and conservationist Wendell Berry, who was the keynote speaker at a
CEAP poster session in 2000.

Says Heffner: "During a conversation over dinner, the question was asked,
What could a college do to be environmentally responsible? and without missing
a beat, Wendell said, Eat from the local economy."

Contact Heffner at 616-526-6940 or gheffner@calvin.edu

-end-
Received on Wed Nov 30 13:27:40 2005