Purchasing

Local Food

For UMass, local food means ingredients and products that are sourced from producers located in Massachusetts, the New England States, and within a 250-mile radius around the University.

UMass Dining prioritizes local purchasing based on the following ranking system:

Priority #1: within the state of Massachusetts
Priority #2: within the New England region
Priority #3: within a 250-mile radius of UMass

Left: Priority #1
Center: Priority #2
Right: Priority #3

Why Local?

Buying local matters! According to Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA), buying local:

Keeps money in the local economy
Preserves family farms
Reduces oil-dependent transportation costs
Protects our local landscapes
Ensures that fresh, healthy food stays available and affordable to all

“Education, tractors, mowers, barns, new trees - these are all things that UMass has made possible for us by being our biggest wholesale customer. UMass allows us to continue farming, that is the truth of it. Mainly, they can handle the volume of our apples which saves the small farmer from making trips to Boston or competing in farmers markets, both of which are not sustainable avenues for our orchard.”

-- Kyle Kielbasa, Kielbasa Orchards (Hadley, MA)

Local at UMass Dining

The mission of UMass Dining is to contribute to the campus life experience by providing a variety of healthy and flavorful meals featuring local, regional, and world cuisine in a sustainable and environmentally conscious manner.

UMass Dining buys local because:

We value environmental and social responsibility as tools for making a positive impact in our community
We have observed a demand from our students to purchase Real Food, so we take an interest in giving students what they're asking for, thereby increasing student satisfaction
By using creative purchasing strategies, we often find that locally sourced items can be competitively priced with items that we would otherwise source from mainline vendors

The Environmental Issue

A cluster of blueberries ready to be harvested just a few miles from the UMass campus.

The agricultural sector is the second highest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the U.S. We are already experiencing increased volatility in our weather patterns and extremes are becoming the new norm. Rather than arguing about climate change, we need to adapt and create a more localized and sustainable

Our Healthy, Sustainable, Delicious Dining Program significantly reduces our GHG emissions by sourcing more local foods and supporting small and sustainable farms and fisheries.

The Public Health Issue

Some of our greatest health challenges today can be connected to our food system. Forecasts project a 33% increase in obesity prevalence and a 130% increase in severe obesity prevalance over the next 2 decades. If these forecasts prove accurate, this will likely result in alarming rates of diseases, increased costs to the health care system, and more.

To reverse these trends, we will:

Reduce consumption of red meat, processed and fatty foods, corn syrup, & sodium in our Residential Dining Commons
Increase consumption of fruits, vegetables, healthy beverages and more

Most of our apples are sourced from UMass' own Cold Springs Orchard.

The Food Quality Issue

The salad bar is always stocked with fresh, healthy veggies.

Industrial monoculture produces a tremendous amount of produce, but it is of suboptimal quality. One explanation for this is unhealthy soil. Previous efforts to meet rising demand for food through monoculture farming have given rise to depleted soil, creating food that is now nutritionally deficient and hence less prone to preventing disease in humans.

We strive to not only serve healthy and sustainable foods, but the best tasting. That means we support farms that understand the importance of good-soil practices. The healthier the soil, the healthier (and tastier) the foods will be!