Procuring local produce

University Business,  June, 2008  by Ann McClure

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AN IMPEDIMENT TO INITIATIVES FOR EATING LOCAL AT HIGHER ED institutions is often credibility, something Paul Wigsten, the newly minted farm liaison at the Culinary Institute of America (N.Y.), doesn't have to worry about since

he's a farmer himself. In addition to meeting with area farmers prior to the growing season to discuss the institution's needs, such as three and a half tons of mesclun, Wigsten is helping organize a farmers' cooperative, which is good for town/gown relations. "The business principle of going local makes sense," says Wigsten, who has been the CIA's produce buyer since 2004. He points out that local produce isn't more expensive if you consider the cost of throwing away produce that might spoil while being shipped in from out of state.

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Wigsten has some advice for administrators at schools that haven't yet made local food a priority on their campuses. "You're going to find that students are going to start demanding it. When they start hollering, the administrators had better listen." Of course, CIA students are not only eating the food, but preparing it and serving it to the public, so their expectations of what is an acceptable tomato might be a little different. If not, Wigsten is there to help them figure it out.--A.M.

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