The Yale College Council and Yale Dining Services have sponsored a series of four “Follow the Food” events in which groups of several dozen students visit local farms and producers to learn about where Dining Services sources some of its local products. The series of four visits, with transport courtesy of a bio-diesel fueled bus, included Rose’s Berry Farm, Belltown Hill Orchards, where the students learned about local agriculture and how buying locally benefits the environment as well as the area economy.
Yale buys its locally grown food through produce distributor FreshPoint, which has relationships with about 140 area farms, including the Belltown Hill Orchards and Rose’s Berry Farm. Up to half of the produce used in Yale’s menus are locally sourced, with Dining Services adapting them to accommodate seasonality as the year goes on. Other locally-bought products utilized by the department include bagels, breads, salsas, jams and honey.
