Laura Keating
lrk002@marietta.edu
The average American meal travels about 1,500 miles to get from farm to plate, increasing carbon dioxide emissions, consuming precious fossil fuels, and keeping income from family farms. Marietta College dining officials claim students can help reverse these effects simply by choosing to eat on campus.
In 2012, after consistent disappointment in its former food service provider, Marietta College switched to Parkhurst Dining, a regional company. Their website says Parkhurst strives to purchase more than 20 percent of food from “local and family-owned farms.”
John Shaffer, general manager of dining services at MC, along with Executive Chef Beau Dittmar, explained that they are still in the process of establishing relationships with farms in the area. As far as the meaning of local, “you’ve got to give us a 300-mile radius,” Shaffer said.
MC dining services purchased 10 percent of its food locally in 2012, its first year on campus. In January 2013, that number increased to 12 percent.
“We’re on the right path,” Shaffer said.
Apples and milk are the only two foods Parkhurst purchases from within Marietta. Hidden Hills Orchard, a solar-powered apple farm located about six miles from the college, began providing apples to MC in the fall of 2013. Milk comes from Broughton’s Dairy, a distributor based in Marietta. Broughton’s milk is free of rBST, a synthetic hormone commonly used in large-scale farming.
Just a little farther out, bread comes from Nickel’s Bakery in Parkersburg, W. Va., and eggs are sourced from the Cleveland area. All of Parkhurst’s shelled eggs are free range (though its jarred eggs are not). Produce comes to MC from a company called Corey Bros., Inc. in Charleston, W. Va, about 90 miles away.
Corey Bros. is a special case, however, because although the company itself is “local,” the produce is not. Out-of-season vegetables are provided to students year round, which means they have most likely been shipped from warm climates hundreds of miles away – possibly even from another country. The exception to this is Parkhurst’s mushrooms, which are grown in climate-controlled underground mines near State College, Pa., Shaffer said.
Other than Hidden Hills Orchard, Shaffer and Dittmar did not mention any names of smaller family-owned farms. In fact, Dittmar said Marietta College’s location in rural Ohio actually makes it a challenge to feed 1,400 students locally.
“If we were in Pittsburgh your head would spin; everything would be sourced locally,” Dittmar said.
Meat is one commodity they have never tackled. According to Shaffer, it is more cost-efficient to buy meat in bulk, and with the large amount of meat used daily, “a local meatpacker might not be able to keep up.” Furthermore, local meat isn’t necessarily FDA-approved, which opens the door to liabilities.
Parkhurst is currently under contract with Tyson Foods, one of the nation’s largest meat producers, for all of its chicken. As a large-scale factory, Tyson has been scrutinized for its facility conditions and animal-raising methods. However, buying free-range chicken is a feat that would be financially impossible for Parkhurst, Dittmar said.
Justina Fleming, a sophomore at MC from Creston, Ohio, grew up with parents that raised their own cows, chickens, and cultivated a vegetable garden. As a result, she has always known where most of her food comes from. According to Fleming, it is important to purchase from these small farms, some of which are generations old, to keep them in business.
“The people who have smaller farms are more appreciative that you have interest in buying from them,” she said. “It is way easier to buy from a big factory farm, but at the same time those farms might use steroids in their animals or growth hormones that really aren’t necessary. It’s obvious that a family of four can raise animals without those things.”
Other than Hidden Hills Orchard apples, no other food at MC is guaranteed to be organic. Shaffer said they try to purchase organically “when they can,” but that if they do, it’s mostly used for catering because of the expense.
“If we went all organic, your tuition would be greatly impacted by that,” Shaffer said.
Regardless of how much – or how little – organic food Parkhurst actually uses, Shaffer said that their way of preparing food – using no preservatives or additives, and making everything fresh – can be described as “cooking organically.”
As Parkhurst continues to expand its local relationships, Shaffer hopes for MC to start participating in Community Supported Agriculture. CSA would allow Parkhurst to pay a regular fee to a local farm, which would drop off whatever crops they have available each week. He said this will start “possibly next year.”
In addition to local sourcing, Parkhurst recycles and composts all food waste.
