Fresh, local/regional, sustainably produced foods for schools, preschools, hospitals, colleges, senior care, and other institutions—and support for local producers.
Guiding Principles
- Our local sustainable producers—established and beginning farmers—need our support in the marketplace, the community, and in local/state/federal policies. Producers Need Our Help
- We need viable alternatives to unsustainable industrial foods for health, social, and environmental reasons—and this is an urgent need. Sustainable vs Industrial Foods & Choosing Good Food
- In rural SW Colorado, combining demand from several institutions should help our food hubs be able to serve more remote communities.
- Fair prices for producers and affordable prices for consumers is the responsibility of our society, not producers alone.
- Good Food: Healthy, local, green, fair, affordable
The Importance of Institutional Gardens
Growing, eating, or just seeing food grown in institutional gardens can raise awareness of:
- the value of fresh, whole foods
- the need to reward producer’s hard work with fair prices
- the value of sustainably produced foods
Resources and Examples:
- Hospitals:
- Farm to Hospital Toolkit
- Health Care Climate Challenge
- Hospital prescribing food from its own farm in Pennsylvania
- Schools and Preschools:
- Senior Care Centers:
