FOOD DAY 2015:

LOCAL FOOD DEMAND ON CAMPUS

Submitted 12-15-2015

Submitted By:

Brandon Hunt

Leah Strain

Megan Geierman

Melanie Wong

Jacob Brown

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SUMMARY

Food Day is an event focused on celebrating our food system. Our aim for the

Food Day event that we hosted was to educate about local foods and the benefits they

have on the community, provide resources for finding local food outlets, and connect the

Greater Lansing food community to Michigan State’s student body. Through these

actions we wanted to encourage MSU students to take part in our local food system.

During our Food Day event, we communicated the benefits of eating locally

produced food, while encouraging the university and its students to become larger

players in this local food system. Student engagement included a survey to better

understand interest and access to local foods, educational materials on Michigan foods,

raffle drawings for relevant prizes, and a social media activity celebrating eating local.

Allen Neighborhood Center, the MSU food bank, and the East Lansing Food Co-Op

(ELFCO) participated through educational tables. Local organizations and businesses

supported us through educational resources such as flyers and raffle prizes.

We found that the vast majority of students want to see more promotion and

labeling of local food in cafeterias and retail stores on campus. Also, we found that the

biggest obstacle for students who would like to eat locally is that they’re unsure of

where to purchase it, or that it’s not convenient for them to purchase it. In light of our

findings, we suggest that the university highlight local food by providing more on

campus, and to integrate support for Michigan products into the Spartan identity.

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INTRODUCTION

Food Day is an event that challenges campuses across the nation to rethink their

diets and buying habits. The event is sponsored by Real Food Challenge, an

organization that aims to “leverage the power of youth and universities to create a

healthy, fair and green food system.” (“The Food Project”, 2015). At Michigan State,

the event is organized by students from the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems

(SAFS) minor program. Each year the students select a relevant focus building on the

research and efforts of past Food Day events.

The 2013 Food Day group gathered data through surveys distributed at four

cafeterias on campus. The surveys of about 500 students indicated that students value

local food the most (82%) out of other dining preferences, second came organic (60%),

then international cuisines (55%), and finally, Fair Trade (47%) (Harper, et. al, 2013).

The 2014 Food Day group focused their efforts on getting Michigan apples in campus

stores and cafeterias. From their findings, 82% of those surveyed said that they would

prefer a Michigan apple with a blemish to an unblemished apple from out-of-state (Allan,

et. al). The research conducted during past Food Day events provided overwhelming

evidence for strong student interest in supporting Michigan made products. This

information helped us define our scope and understand the current knowledge base on

campus regarding local food. Drawing from these statistics and our own experiences

with local food on and off campus, we decide to continue the theme of local food and

highlight the many opportunities students have to interact and support local food in the

Greater Lansing area.

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According to Eat at State’s website, Michigan State University currently partners

with over 450 local and regional farmers and vendors that supply products to various

dining halls and various retail stores on campus. The university defines local as being

250 miles from campus and regional as within 600 miles of campus (“Sustainability”,

n.d). For the Food Day event, we elected to focus on fresh produce grown in Michigan,

while highlighting the health and community benefits of a more locally oriented food

system.

One of the objectives of Food Day 2015 was to gauge the current

interest/demand of students for Michigan products. It is necessary to recognize that

our research is specific to Michigan State and the greater Lansing area. Our research

and data interpretation does not speak for all universities nor may it be feasible for other

universities. However, since food systems are of interests to a huge variety of students

and universities across the country, it is possible to compare our efforts at Michigan

State with institutional buying from other universities.

For example, Iowa State University has implemented a local food program within

their food service. Similar to MSU, Iowa State is a land grant University and holds many

of the same values that MSU does, such as promoting local food systems, supporting

state agriculture and forging a community through agriculture. ISU emphasizes the

importance of promoting and labeling of local foods on menus, packaging, and their

websites. ISU also focuses on uniting the three components of agriculture, food, and

community. Their extension work deals closely with local producers and they strive to

increase profitability through mutually beneficial relationships, and community-based

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learning. ISU extension also helps to organize events like local food festivals that have

become very popular in the state (Strohbehn, et.al, 2003).

Montana State University has also made considerable effort to include local

foods into their food service. They are presenting it to the public as an integral part of

their residential dining program. Montana State has implemented a “Montana Made”

program that “provides both outreach and resources to Montana growers, producers,

and manufactures while using the purchasing power of University Food Services to

provide an institutional marketplace that promotes our local foods community.”

(“Montana”, n.d) The University has made use of three unique logos to promote local

Montana products and sustainably raised food to their diners. This approach allows

Montana made products to become a part of the student identity on campus, this

celebration of local food spreads awareness and encourages students to adopt more

sustainable dietary habits.

Many people, including students, think that eating locally is important but may not

understand why. One important reason to eat local is to economically support the

farmers who make it possible for us to eat. Direct marketing channels, or those with

fewer intermediaries, are often used in local procurement and allow the farmer to

maximize profit to support their way of life. Another important reason to consider is that

supporting smaller farmers strengthens our state and national agricultural industry.

Furthermore, properly managed family-run farms can provide important environmental

assets to support Michigan biodiversity, so supporting local farms is important to keep

our agricultural potential strong (Martinez, 2010). In Michigan, 22% of our workforce is

powered by the agricultural and food industry. Our state is rich in agricultural history

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considering that Michigan State University is the pioneer land grant university (“Morrill”,

n.d). We have a relatively strong state-wide farm structure as approximately 95% of

Michigan farms are single-family operated or are family partnerships. In order to

maintain this high percentage, we need to continue to support local Michigan farms by

purchasing more local food products (“Michigan”, 2015). This is strengthened by the

fact that students who eat foods lacking in nutrients or who have nutrient deficiencies

have shown an increase in tardiness, hyperactivity, anxiety, aggression, low test scores,

and absences. Students who are not lacking nutrients have shown increased

concentration and higher academic performance as well as mental and physical health

improvements (Dodsworth, 2010).

Taking all of this into consideration, we have seen that introducing more local

food campaigns for campus cafeterias and retail stores is a movement which will be

supported by an eager student body, especially at a school like Michigan State that

began as an agricultural college.

RATIONALE

Michigan is the second most diverse agricultural state in the United States, our

variety of microclimates support a range of food and fiber products (“Welcome”, 2015).

With a growing public interest and investment in local and regional distribution,

providing more fresh michigan produce will create an identity that will encompass these

values. MSU has made great strides towards including more local foods into our food

service, including efforts such as “Great Lakes Plate” in South Neighborhood, the MSU

Food Truck, as well as supporting local businesses like Stone Circle Bakehouse and

Woody’s Oasis. However, we think even more can be done for fresh Michigan produce

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in MSU’s food system. Promoting Michigan agriculture by featuring Michigan products

will not only strengthen Michigan farmers, it will create a sense of appreciation and

community that can be inclusive of everyone. In addition, if the university helps to

bolster Michigan agriculture, our state will be in the position to employ/retain more

graduates which will improve Michigan’s economy overall. Our university and our state

benefits when Spartans plant their roots in Michigan. This direction is aligned with our

institutional pledge with Cultivate Michigan to increase institutional food purchasing from

Michigan sourced food up to 20% (“Cultivate”, n.d)

We know that the 2013 Food Day team found that students in cafeterias valued

local foods over other food traits (Harper, et. al, 2013). We wanted to find out how

knowledgeable MSU’s students were regarding our local food system. Our objective

was to educate the community on the local food system as well as to collect data to

pass on to decision makers within the University. We hoped to encourage both

students and administration to become larger players in the local food system by

building off our current programs, institutional history as a land grant university, and of

our research.

METHODS/ACTIVITIES

The following is our project’s general timeline:

Mid September: Submit application for space in front of the Auditorium, begin seeking

stakeholders interested in supporting our cause, delegate responsibilities to group

members

End of September: Follow up with stakeholders interested in assisting us, check on

status of event location, discuss possible activities, work on RFP

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Beginning of October: Refine activities, contact stakeholders and secure donations

Week before Food Day: Location gets approved, advertising starts, survey finalized

and printed, materials for activities secured, social media contests starts

Day of event: Activities held, surveys filled out, social media contest winner picked and

prizes distributed

After Food Day: Thank you cards written and distributed, raffle winners picked and

prizes distributed, began data analysis and final report

The space in front of the Auditorium near the Rock served as location for the

event. This central area assisted with gaining interest via foot traffic and being an easily

identifiable landmark across campus. This location was also beneficial because our

stakeholder, MSU’s Student Organic Farm, had their farmstand set up near our event,

providing a visual representation of the fresh local produce that can be grown in

Michigan. Adding to the atmosphere, a project sponsored by Farmers Feeding the

World (a marketing venture of Farm Journal Media in collaboration with industry

sponsors) called Hunger U, was set up next to us. Their focus was global hunger, but

there was a deep mutual interest in expanding food access among both of our efforts.

This made for an interesting dynamic as our events coincided with each other.

Additionally, Food Day 2014 was held in a nearby location in both prior years, so by

having the event here we continued the place recognition for the annual Food Day

event.

To secure the space for our event we jumped through multiple hoops and

university policies. With the help of our main stakeholder from the SAFS department,

Julie Cotton, we secured the location going through MSU’s Infrastructure and Planning

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(IFP) department and later MSU’s Student Life department. We also were able to rent

chairs and tables for our event through IFP for a nominal fee that can be seen in the

budget.

Our main marketing channel was social media; we created the hashtag

“#EatLocalEL” as a way to track posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram before and

during the event. We also ran a contest through the hashtag -- participants were asked

to share our event on their social media using the hashtag, a random winner received a

box of produce from the Student Organic Farm as a prize. There were roughly twenty-

eight entries from Facebook, one from Twitter, and one from Instagram. Additionally, we

used word of mouth as another way to advertise by telling friends, classmates, and

various student organizations about our event.

Food Day 2015 was held on October 22, 2015 from 12pm to 4pm. Our event

was made up multiple activities, all supporting our data collection and education efforts

regarding the MSU community’s knowledge and receptivity to local food. The activities

at our event included:

● Student survey

● DIY salad board where participants pinned images of ingredients that

made up a salad later discovering if they those ingredients could be grown

locally

● Representation and materials from: MSU food bank, Student Organic

Farm, Allen Neighborhood Center, SAFS Department, East Lansing Food

Cooperative

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● Photo-booth where participants wrote why local food is important to them

on a whiteboard and had their image taken with the board.

● Free local food, including Michigan apples and Michigan grown and

produced potato chips.

Our short survey consisted of a dozen checkbox questions. The final survey,

found in Appendix A, gave us information regarding participant profile (year, major, etc);

their current buying habits (checking labels, choice of store, etc); and allowed us to

measure their current interest in local food (paying more for local food, challenges

buying local food, etc). The surveys were printed on half sheets of yellow paper and

pens were distributed at our table. Knowing that data collection can seem somewhat

tedious for participants, we added incentives to encourage participation. Those who

participated in the survey received an entry into the raffle that included multiple gift

cards and prizes sponsored by local businesses and organizations our stakeholders.

With a maximum budget of $200 we decided to allot $50 to purchase gift cards for the

raffle (name the businesses). A few additional businesses were generous enough to

donate additional gift cards. Through the support of East Lansing Food Co-Op, Foods

For Living, Allen Neighborhood Center, as well as the SAFS department, we able to

offer $140 worth of gift cards/ store credit to six survey participants.

Attendees could also participate in our DIY salad board activity and our “What is

local to you?” photo-booth to receive additional raffle entries. Winning raffle tickets were

drawn and winners contacted via email and Facebook messages within a two week

period after our event concluded.

BUDGET

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Category Items using SAFS funding Sponsored Items Estimated Cost of Event without

additional sponsorship

A. Materials, Supplies & Publications

$2 tables (8) = $16$0.35/chair (16) = $5.60Educational materials = 16.12

-Tents borrowed from Allen Neighborhood Center and Friends (two total)-Cork Board borrowed from Julie Cotton-Supplemental handouts offered to community members

-Tent rental= $200 from Events to Rent for 10 x 20 ft-4 x 3ft cork board= $83.99 from Staples-Educational Materials= $37.72

B. Travel N/A

C. Other Direct Costs

Hopcat gift cards for raffle= $50

-$25 from Foods for Living-$15 from Allen Neighborhood Center (ANC)-3 cases of Apples (approx 150-180)-2 cases of Great Lakes Potato Chips (approx 80 single serving bags)

-Hopcat gift cards= $50-Foods for Living gift card=$25-ANC Market Money= $15-Apples= $120-Great Lakes Chips= $76

TOTAL A+B+C Approx. $87.72 $607.71

CONCLUSION

Over the course of the semester, our group was able to successfully promote

Food Day and the community members that were represented. Our aim was to inform

MSU students of the benefits local foods have on our community, while providing

resources for finding local food outlets and connecting the Greater Lansing food

community to MSU’s student body. Between social media outreach, word of mouth,

and the event itself, we were able to connect with many students and faculty to

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communicate the benefits of purchasing and eating locally produced foods; as well as

advocate for local foods to become a stronger part of the university’s food system.

Our findings reinforce previous studies and movements to promote local foods on

university campuses including previous Food Day events and the recent partnership

with Cultivate Michigan. There is a clear demand for an increase in the labeling and

marketing of local foods on campus. Our university has an amazing opportunity to

address the values of the student body and local community because we're located in

the heart of the second most agriculturally diverse state in the nation (Michigan, 2015).

Along with our access to local foods, we have a history of supporting Michigan

agriculture. MSU is the pioneer land grant university and we have a responsibility to

carry out our mission of teaching and supporting agriculture.

This year, our team decided to look into the ways in which the university can

point students in the right direction when it comes to buying food. Our aim was to

inform students, who are transitioning from meal plans to buying food on their own, of

ways they can supplement their diet with locally produced foods. This is a crucial time

in which many students form a consumer sensibility, a time where educators can inspire

new buying habits that will benefit Michigan’s agricultural industry, and the university as

a whole.

Michigan State has already created a favorable environment for Michigan made

products, but more should be done considering current student demand. The conclusion

we have drawn, through speaking with partners for this legacy project like Colleen

Matts, is that the most effective way to integrate more local foods into a the average

student’s diet is to highlight one specific product each year, and emphasize its potential

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role in our food system. Food Day is an event that will continue to spark dialogue about

issues surrounding food. The university has an opportunity to use this event, and others

like it, to provide students with an atmosphere that is compatible with the values

outlined in the “Be Spartan Green” and “Spartans Will” media campaigns.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

We would like to acknowledge the community members who supported our event:

● Thank you to Julie Cotton from the SAFS department at MSU, without her

mentorship and guidance this project would not have been possible.

● East Lansing Co-Op and our contact person, Julia Kramer, for their gracious

donation of gift cards for our raffle and time spent speaking to students about

food co-ops at our tabling event.

● MSU’s Student Organic Farm (SOF) for their donation of a CSA share for our

social media marketing contest and participation in our tabling event. Much

thanks also goes to Joe Fox for representing SOF and Bailey Urban Farm at

SOF’s table.

● Simon Dongha Lee, the photographer who covered Food Day providing us with

beautiful images of our event.

● Foods for Living for providing us with a gift card for our raffle as well as

connecting us with Great Lakes Potato Chip company who donated two cases of

potato chips to us (approx 80 bags)

● RHS Sustainability for sponsoring us with three boxes of Michigan apples

(approx. 150-180 apples)

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● The Allen Neighborhood center for their donation of $15 of market money to use

at their farmers market, supplemental materials, and for letting us borrow their

tent.

● MSU Food Bank for participating in our tabling event providing students with

information on accessing pantry staples on campus free of charge.

Appendix A:

Survey

Year of School: Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior, 5th year, Graduate student, Staff (omitted from data)

Major: Fill-in-the-blank

Campus meal plan: Yes, No

How often do you look at a food label or a display in a market or restaurant to determine where food is grown/made? Always, most of the time, about half of the time, less than half the time, rarely, never

Would you be willing to pay more for locally produced food, compared to what you would pay for non-local food? Yes, maybe, no

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If yes, then how much more would you be willing to pay? 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%

Approx. what percentage of your weekly food purchase are local products? Fill-in-the-blank

Would you like to see more labeling of local food products on campus? Yes, no

Where do you buy most of your food? Select from the following: Supermarket, cafeteria, local independent shop, farmers market, CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), don’t buy food, other

From the following list please select the 3 most important things to you when choosing fresh food: Price, quality, organic, animal welfare, local, amount of packaging, organic, environment, other

Select 3 things that make it difficult for you to buy local food: Don’t know where to buy it, more expensive, not convenient, quality not as good as supermarkets, not familiar with foods or how to cook them, not interested, other

Where do you usually eat on campus? Cafeteria, Union, International Center, Other

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