Kalamazoo College has a long history of environmental stewardship and leadership in commitment to sustainable practices. For the past 5 years, Farms to K, a group of students, faculty, staff, and community members has been educating the College about the importance of developing strong local food systems and has urged the College and its food service provider to purchase more sustainable local food1* for consumption in the cafeteria and elsewhere on campus. Farms to K has also built capacity, on campus and in the community, for institutional purchase of sustainable local food. Farms to K and supporters from across campus ask the College to adopt the following Sustainable Local Food Purchasing Policy. The Policy provides a set of purchasing priorities and guidelines, and makes four main recommendations: 1. That the College set a quantitative goal for the college’s level of sustainable local food procurement and goals for incremental increases in purchases of sustainable local food. 2. That our food service provider hire a Forager (a half-time position) to facilitate local food procurement. 3. That progress on purchasing goals be reviewed every six months by a Sustainable Local Food Procurement Collaborative. 4. That our food service provider (and specifically the Forager) will track the origins of all of the food purchased for consumption on campus.

This policy is actively being shaped.  By signing below I pledge my support to the stated goals and urge that Kalamazoo College adopt this policy as soon as possible.