Catering Food Waste at UVM: Benchmark Data & Recommendations

The 2012 Universal Recycling Law in Vermont ban food scraps from landfills and offered a food recovery hierarchy for food waste that prioritizes first reducing waste at the source, and then donating extra food to food insecure individuals. Based on survey data that 15-20% of UVM students are food insecure, UVM Dining engaged a graduate student to 1) gather data on the magnitude of food waste produced at catered events in one location and 2) provide recommendations on how to best address catering food waste. Through an audit of 15 catering events on campus, the study reports that 17% of catered food was composted, 61% was consumed by the client, 9% was eaten by catering staff and 13% was re-utilized by the catering kitchen. Despite data collection being interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the data and observations of the graduate student allowed the development of short-term, medium-term, and long-term recommendations for UVM Dining to reduce catering food waste and food insecurity on campus

Dining on Campus: Plant-based Food Offerings at UVM

University of Vermont’s students today are earth and health-conscious, with 42% of students choosing UVM because of the institution’s commitment to these values. In response to student interest in plant-based food options, this study gathered baseline data on the percentage of vegetarian and vegan meal options available at unlimited dining halls on campus. Using three methods, the study found that the majority of foods offered at these dining halls are vegetarian and/or vegan. This data will provide students, UVM administrators and Sodexo leadership and chefs a clearer picture of the current plant-based food offerings on campus. These findings can be used to drive purchasing shifts and can be shared with UVM students and student groups, providing a catalyst for collaboration around improving or adjusting food options on campus

The Working Landscape: Vermont Land Trust and Farmland Access in Vermont

The number one challenge facing young farmers is access to land. Other challenges include rising student debt, high real estate values, health insurance costs, and discriminatory lending practices. As well, there are rising concerns that farm viability and the agricultural landscape of the US is in peril as the sector sees an aging farmer population, loss of farmland to development, and a decrease in the number of mid-sized family farms alongside a proliferation of very large industrial farms that dominate markets. Farms do more than just provide food to their communities; they are a cornerstone of rural economies and play an important role in providing ecosystem services and combatting climate change. Land trust organizations use land conservation tools to make farmland more affordable for farmers, which, in turn, helps to maintain our working landscapes. In light of expectations that up to 300 farms will be changing hands in the next 10 years in Vermont, this project (a collaboration with Vermont Land Trust [VLT]), used Participatory Action Research to engage farm seekers in a survey and focus group sessions to explore the characteristics, needs, knowledge, and barriers of farmers looking to access land through VLT. From the analysis of the qualitative data, the findings offer a set of recommendations at the organizational, community, and systemic level around how VLT can work to make farmland transitions that positively impact the sustainability, equity, regeneration, and viability of Vermont farmland

Vermont Seed Saver and Producer Survey: 2020 Summary Report

This report summarizes findings from a 2020 survey of seed producers in the state of Vermont. This survey, which was part of a larger research project aimed to characterize Vermont seed systems, aimed to identify areas of opportunity and concern for seed producers across the state. Data collected include types and valued characteristics of planting material produced from food crops in the state, information on motivations, challenges, and preferences that non-commercial and commercial seed producers perceive in their production of planting material, sourcing and distribution of planting material, forms of exchange that exist between seed producers and the community, and demographic data. Seed producers in this survey produce material mostly from open-pollinated and heirloom varieties, produce most commonly as a hobby or leisure activity, are least motivated by economic considerations, are concerned with both environmental and policy challenges to seed systems, anticipate more challenges to production in the future, gift or barter seeds within informal networks, and maintain a high degree of crop diversity. Diverse planting material serves as the basis of resilient, sustainable agriculture, and through this survey, we have found that seed producers maintain this essential resource in their gardens and fields across the state of Vermont. The first report from the Consortium for Crop Genetic Heritage at the University of Vermont, this summary report gives us valuable insight into the goals, actions, and motivations of seed producers in Vermont, which will allow us to focus energy in the future toward strengthening and supporting seed producers and the seed systems they utilize across the state

Vermont Agriculture and Food System Plan 2020 -- A Review of Recommendations (Part One)

Key Findings in reviewing the Vermont Agriculture and Food System Plan: 1. All recommendations in this review have been coded into eight thematic categories to be used more effectively by stakeholders. 2. We identify four clusters of recommendations to assist stakeholders in understanding the relationships between categories and enabling understanding of the various stakeholders and resources necessary to implement recommendations from different briefs 3. 87% of recommendations either request direct funding for an initiative or recommend a capital expenditure. With financial challenges amidst COVID-19, we highlight eight recommendations for a Vermont Food System that could move forward without financial resources. 4. In the future, giving authors a guide for writing recommendations would make them easier to categorize and implement

The Farm-Community Nexus: Metrics for Social, Economic, and Environmental Sustainability of Agritourism and Direct Farm Sales in Vermont

Viable working landscapes, vibrant communities, and healthy ecosystems are the building blocks of sustainable food systems. Small and medium farms are connective tissue, creating a system that is greater than the sum of its parts by linking consumers to producers and promoting environmental stewardship. Our approach considers sustainability through connections between farms, their communities, and visitors within an agritourism framework, including on-farm experiences, direct sales of agricultural products, and farmer-consumer interactions at markets. The goal is to contribute to the understanding, operationalization, and integration of metrics built on the ideals that viable, sustainable, and resilient food systems must support social, economic and environmental goals. The approach presented in this white paper: 1. Applied a sustainability framework to identify metrics relevant for social, economic, and environmental dimensions across farm, household, community, and statewide scales. 2. Identified existing data sets and current data gaps. 3. Identified linkages and impacts between social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability across scales and different frameworks. 4. Considered sustainability applied to direct sales and agritourism, with particular emphasis on the social floor required to promote individual, farmer, and community well-being, while protecting the environment by respecting our planetary boundaries. We categorized priority metrics under primary sustainability dimensions: Environmental – Open Space, Farm Products, Stewardship, and the Vermont Brand Economic – Economic Impacts, Consumer Spending, Farm Profitability, Farm Labor, and Farmland Social – Cultural Ecosystem Services, Labor Opportunities and Conditions, Social and Informational Infrastructure, Sense of Community, Demographic and Cultural Diversity, Good Governance, and Health, Safety, and Wellbeing Based on our assessment of existing and needed metrics summarized in this white paper, key recommendations to the UVM-ARS Center include: 1. Catalyze and synergize efforts and resources in Vermont to holistically address sustainability. 2. Explore and identify ways the Vermont brand—an important component of the state’s social, ecological and economic identity and culture—supports sustainability. 3. Focus on informational and data needs that are central to understanding and ensuring sustainability in Vermont, including longitudinal producer and consumer surveys. 4. Support a deep convergence of social and natural sciences in addressing sustainability. The goal is to provide an essential foundation for future research that will place the UVM-ARS Center for Food Systems Research at the forefront of this critical transdisciplinary area