What We Do

Vision

This plan was created by Dr. Ian Weaver’s ENG 579; Kayla Hoopes, Sara Meissner. UNCW has shown a strong commitment to sustainability on campus in many ways. This goal aims to help that commitment by increasing the number of products bought locally and sustainably, providing the campus with vegetables, fruit, meat, seafood and possibly some non-perishable items as well.

Not all necessary food products can be locally sourced, like some grains and fruits, but ones that can be should be. The goal of this whole plan is to be able to take advantage of the bounty of North Carolina and other local sources, and transition to sustainable sources when local ones are not available. These actions will provide the dining facilities on campus an opportunity to provide a greater variety, in addition to expanding vegetarian options and seafood choices.

For environmental benefits, buying local can drastically reduce the carbon and pollutants created by long-distance shipping, and buying only sustainably grown products will lighten our footprint even farther. On top of a program of food-waste-reduction through monitoring, we can make a large impact. And making these changes and engaging students, faculty, and staff with these plans could encourage them to make meaningful differences in their own lives by evaluating their purchasing options off-campus.

What UNCW currently has

UNCW already has a strong commitment to bringing local, sustainable, and humanely grown foods to campus dining facilities. But the percentage of food products in those broad categories currently stands at around 15%, with local foods claiming about 10% of the total offerings.

Our position between coast and rich agricultural lands gives this campus a perfect opportunity to expand our local offerings. And on campus, a community garden offers food for individuals with food-insecurity. Though we do not have as much room to expand as a rural campus, this source could modestly grow in coming years to increase supply.

UNCW has made great strides with sustainable practices in its dining services. Cutting down on plastic use, streamlining waste management and recycling have made our dining areas some of the leaders in the area. But local foods, which can offset the impacts of even the worst environmental offenders like beef and pork, are available at our doorstep and underutilized.

Currently, UNCW offers local food seasonally at Dub’s Café, Wagoner Dining Hall (through Feast Down East), Green Spot, and the POD stores. Additionally, at least one food truck offers locally raised pork BBQ, taking advantage of the industry just to our north.

The POD stores have partnered with local businesses like Veggie Wagon, Flaming Amy’s, and Mount Olive Pickles, to bring baked goods, fruits and vegetables, meat products and desserts to the campus community. So the connections are already in place to advance this beneficial program.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT CAMPUS DINING

CAMPUS DINING SUSTAINABILITY

The problem and potential benefits

UNCW has many campus dining facilities that are utilized by the students, faculty, staff, and even community members. The meal options vary; many places have vegetables, meat, seafood and more. All of these provide a good selection of meals for everyone to choose from.

The problem we face as a university is where the meat, seafood, and produce come from. Another problem is that local and sustainable products might be more expensive than what the campus is purchasing currently. Currently, students, faculty and staff purchase meal plans and this revenue goes towards the food budget of the campus. This number could potentially increase with the growing inclusion of local foods, though offsets from reduced shipping costs may also occur.

We have the potential to bring in more local and sustainable goods. Doing this would not only help our campus, but it would help the local community. Buying locally will help put funds back into the local economy and foster a more beneficial relationship between the school and the community. It would also provide more seasonal variety in menus. For example, local seafood will rotate throughout the year as different species come available.

This will allow students to have healthy options year-round and provide them with opportunities to try new things. Additionally, fresh produce is a great option for healthy planning. And when needed products cannot be sources locally, we can make sure that they are at least produced sustainably and shipped responsibly.

And through all these source alterations, the resiliency of the campus will be benefitted. Buying local means that supplies are not impacted by political and meteorological disturbances elsewhere in the country or world. And when local sources are not available, products created with sustainable processes are more likely to be stable than those produced unsustainably because of a forward-thinking mindset.

It is also important, when thinking about resiliency, to consider the consequences of local disruptions in supply. Our coastal area and all of North Carolina is subject to hurricanes, flooding events, and irregular freezing at times.

For these reasons, secondary supplies outside of our immediate area should be contacted in case of emergencies. But like our goal, these supplies should also be sustainable producers. Our investment in the local community will help us all rebound stronger from damaging weather events, if we do so responsibly.

Campus involvement opportunities

To bolster support for expanding local offerings, campus engagement should also be a focus. Here are some possible options, in a social-safe world:

• Involve campus clubs (or create more) to help with local harvest of fish, vegetables, and fruits.
  • A credit program could be started that gives students a discount or Seahawk Bucks when they volunteer with local farmers that supply the campus.
• Similar to the Seahawk Wildlife Society’s Beast Feast, campus could host a cooking “competition” for recipes using only local ingredients, with the winning plates being incorporated into dining options.
  • “Teams” could also be formed, so that students could compete against faculty, employees, and administrators.
• Invite local farmers to campus for panel discussions or informal chats with students and faculty about their lives, methods, and products.
• Expand the Sustainability Wall in Wagoner Hall as the local options grow, letting students know where their food is from and farmers that they are benefitting. Consider installing similar Walls in some of the other dining areas.
• Encourage and inform students and employees about available apps that help to track sustainable food purchases off-campus, such as the Seafood Watch app from Monterey Bay Aquarium.

How others have implemented solutions

Currently, peer and sister institutions have also been pursuing local foods as a sustainability initiative to reduce their environmental impacts and provide nutritious options to students.

• Appalachian State University provides over 25% of their campus dining options from local sources.
• NC State has partnered with Got To Be NC, an initiative of the NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, to bring more local foods and goods to campus.
• UNC Greenville has committed to 12% locally produced foods in their dining facilities, in addition to targeting wasteful food practices and “Imperfectly Delicious” produce.
• UNC Chapel Hill has also targeted food waste on an international scale. They also have a Fair Local Organic (FLO) Food student organization that hosts seasonal farmers markets to encourage students to buy local and try new products.
• UNC Charlotte has made a commitment to increase their local food shares to 20% by this year, and to help spread these initiatives to other states.

5-YEAR PLAN FOR IMPLEMENTATION

First Year

The first year of implementing this plan will involve organization, outreach, and monitoring. A group or panel should be organized to begin cataloguing more closely the products purchased for campus dining and those most wasted. Surveys of diners should also begin to get an idea what products are most popular, and which new items diners would like introduced.

From this monitoring, campus representatives can begin reaching out to local and sustainable suppliers that meet the needs and desires of the diners. Organization of supply chains and backup suppliers should begin in earnest, laying the groundwork for the changes to come. Local and sustainable producers should be the priority contacts, while closest-possible sustainable suppliers will be secondary to fill gaps.

Likely, these steps will utilize most of the time and manpower available for this project, and little expansion of current offerings is expected to be seen within the first year. A plan for reflecting on purchases, their popularity, and the waste they create should also be created.

Second Year

The second year will begin to show real progress. As monitoring of supply chains and waste continues, the percent of dining products being sustainably produced should increase to 25%, with local sources making up 15% of that total.

New food items should be introduced, sparking campus interest in the ongoing process. Campaigns on campus to educate and excite diners should also begin. This is the time when community involvement will begin to see benefits, as local investment and a chance for improved relationships grows.

With implementation gathering steam, problem-solving can also begin to root out current and potential problems in supply. Backup suppliers for goods should be identified.

Reflection at the end of each semester will help to inform choices for the upcoming on, in terms of waste and diner interests. Monetary considerations regarding increased cost from smaller producers vs. savings in shipping costs should be evaluated and balanced against the environmental benefits and diner meal plant costs. As the program expands, this will become a greater consideration.

Third Year

In the third year, the local offerings should continue to modestly grow another 5%, reaching 20%, and the total sustainable offerings should strive to reach 40%. Campus and community excitement should begin to really pick up at this point, as the school makes great strides towards “greener” relationships.

New foods and initiatives should continue to grow in presence on campus, and monitoring of waste, successes/failures, and supply-chain issues need to be kept up.

Fourth Year

The fourth year should bring even greater increases. Food products should now be 60% from sustainable sources, with local sources making up 30% of the total offerings. Programs and monitoring of the success of the program will continue, making changes to the suppliers as necessary to ensure continuous and sustainable input.

Fifth Year

By the fifth year, the campus should be a bright example of sustainable dining for all college campuses. By increasing sustainably purchased food items to 80% and local items to 40% of total campus dining options, UNCW will be a beacon in its commitment to reducing emissions from food and building community relationships.

Monitoring and removal of unpopular or often-wasted food products should continue, as should involvement of campus diners in making their dining preferences known.

Beyond

UNCW should continue to strive towards growing their sustainable and local options beyond the five-year extent of this plan. As constant monitoring and reflection on the progress of the plan continues, the campus will be better prepared to create a resilient dining menu for all diners that can provide consistent and diverse meals through storms and a changing climate.

Additional Resources to Explore

• Food Tank Article
• Local Sea Food Blog
• Coastwatch
• Farm To Institution
• Boston Globe
• King Chiro
• Food Revolution Network
• Go Green
• USDA Why Local Food Matters
• The Whole U
• St Louis Fed
• USDA Economics of Local Food Systems

Vision

The following was created by Dr. Ian Weaver’s ENG 579; Ryan Seagrist. Encouraging active individual engagement and participation is an important factor in the success of any sustainability plan. This goal will provide opportunities for UNCW’s students and the greater local community to take part in CRP initiatives.

Dining services at UNCW does a commendable job at providing many local and sustainable food options for purchase on campus, with local and vegetarian foods available at multiple venues. While having sustainable foods available for purchase is important, it is beneficial to encourage more active involvement in sustainable food choices.

Establishing both a regular farmer’s market on campus and garden allotments for students will offer a personal and visceral connection to food production and local food producers in the Wilmington and greater North Carolina communities.

These programs will provide opportunities for integration of CRP initiatives and ideas of sustainability into educational programs at the university while providing important leadership opportunities for UNCW students.

What UNCW currently has

While there have been periodic farmer’s market events on campus, no regularly scheduled market currently exists at UNCW. While a local farmer’s market exists in Wilmington, it would still be beneficial to institute a similar regularly scheduled program on campus for students.

Student gardens or allotments are not currently available on the campus. With only 42.10 of UNCW’s 1,631.73 acres of land covered by buildings, and seeing that UNCW Landscape Services takes issues of sustainability seriously, there should be ample space and buy-in available for the introduction of small student garden allotments at UNCW.

The problem and potential benefits

Having sustainable and climate-friendly foods available for purchase and consumption on campus is important, but providing personal connections to issues will ensure a better understanding and the prolonged adoption of sustainable practices.

There are many other benefits and opportunities in the establishment of a farmer’s market on campus including improved engagement with the local community, the chance to highlight vendors whose products are already served in campus venues, student involvement in the organization and leadership of the market, and the possible integration of the market to educational programs.

Student allotments gardens will offer a direct connection to food that fosters deeper connections to issues of sustainability and health, while providing more opportunities to directly link educational programs (agriculture, science, biology, etc.) to CRP initiatives.

How others have implemented solutions

A large part of the successful sustainability program at Wayne State University in Michigan involved the establishment of both a farmer’s market and student garden allotments on campus. As the market was initiated as a social enterprise, aspects were linked to classes at the business school.

The market proved to be more complex than expected, and extensive planning, buy-in from faculty and students, funding, and the integration of sustainability into the university structure would all be necessary to successfully implement a similar program at UNCW. The allotment program at Wayne State included 36 students as volunteers and attendees.

5-YEAR PLAN FOR IMPLEMENTATION

First Year

The first stage would involve gauging the interest for both a regular farmer’s market and garden allotments at UNCW. Surveys should be conducted to assess enthusiasm and support with students and faculty. These programs would likely need a faculty sponsor, and efforts to identify one should be undertaken.

Second Year

The second year would involve the initial planning stages for both programs. A committee that includes student and faculty representation would have to be created. Regular meetings should be established to move both projects forward.

The farmer’s market would involve extensive research in the organization of the market as a social enterprise in logistic, financial, and operational terms. Procuring the land for student allotments would necessitate meetings with both UNCW Landscape Services and UNCW administration to identify and secure areas on campus that might be suitable.

Third Year

An initial farmer’s market should be scheduled and completed with oversight from the committee. This would involve procuring vendors, advertising the event, and all other logistic concerns.

A meeting should be held after to identify areas of opportunity and takeaways from the event in order to ascertain the viability of regularly scheduled events. By this point, hopefully areas for the garden allotments will be obtained, and efforts to organize volunteers and participants for the initial distribution should be started.

Fourth Year

The forth years should see regularly schedule farmer’s markets occurring on campus. The garden allotment participants should be selected and assigned their spaces on campus.

Fifth Year

Efforts to expand both programs should be looked at in this period. The committee should assess both the market and allotment program to identify educational programs that could integrate into the sustainability efforts in these areas.

Resources

David M. Chen, Bronwen Tucker, Madhav G. Badami, Navin Ramankutty, Jeanine M. Rhemtulla. “A multi-dimensional metric for facilitating sustainable food choices in campus cafeterias.” Journal of Cleaner Production, 135, 2016, pp. 1351-1362.

Walter Willett, Johan Rockström, Brent Loken, Marco Springmann, Tim Lang, Sonja Vermeulen, Tara Garnett, David Tilman, Fabrice DeClerck, Amanda Wood, Malin Jonell, Michael Clark, Line J Gordon, Jessica Fanzo, Corinna Hawkes, Rami Zurayk, Juan A Rivera, Wim De Vries, Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, Ashkan Afshin, Abhishek Chaudhary, Mario Herrero, Rina Agustina, Francesco Branca, Anna Lartey, Shenggen Fan, Beatrice Crona, Elizabeth Fox, Victoria Bignet, Max Troell, Therese Lindahl, Sudhvir Singh, Sarah E Cornell, K Srinath Reddy, Sunita Narain, Sania Nishtar, Christopher J L Murray. “Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems.” Lancet, 393, 2019, pp. 447–92.

Kameshwari Pothukuchi. “Building sustainable food systems in a single bottom-line context: Lessons from SEED Wayne, Wayne State University.” Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, Vol. 2, Issue 3, Spring 2012.

Jaana-Piia Makiniemi, Annukka Vainio. “Moral intensity and climate-friendly food choices.” Appetite, 65, 2014, pp. 54-61.

Robert D. Gifford, Angel K. S. Chen. “Why aren’t we taking action? Psychological barriers to climate-positive food choices.” Climatic Change, 140, 2016, pp. 165-178.