Sustainability Action Plan

FOOD STRATEGIES

PLANNING, DESIGN, AND DEVELOPMENT

WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE FOOD?

Ensure that UDS adopts a definition of local and community-based food in accordance with the AASHE STARS 5 definition Utilize the Real Food Calculator 6 , which accounts for all the sustainable food options detailed above Track local and community-based and third party verified (to be ecologically sound, fair and/or humane) food purchases each year Make this annual percentage of local and third- party certified food purchases available to the campus Develop goals to increase this percentage each year (e.g., increase by 2% each year) Offer diverse, complete-protein vegetarian and vegan options at all meals Develop and implement specific annual protein assessments for: Work to ensure that conventionally produced animal products comprise less than 30% of UDS’ total food purchases (per AASHE STARS) Develop a UDS student sustainability position to measure and manage sustainable food efforts and act as liaison with UW-Sprout Campus Garden Look at developing new markets for UW-Sprout Campus Garden Conventionally produced animal products vs. sustainably produced animal products Complete-protein vegetarian and vegan options

Food that is sourced from local community- based producers (grown and processed within 250 miles) directly or through distributors The Association for the Advancement of sustainability in Higher Education’s (AASHE) Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS) offers this definition for “local and community based food”:

OR

Contain raw ingredients that are third-party certified and/or locally harvested and produced

In 2011, UW-Stout created an administrative procedure for waste reduction, allowing for campus-wide composting and recycling.

AND

Exclude products from Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), products with minimal nutritional value, and products from producers that have been convicted of one or more labor law violations within the previous three years.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Offer more curriculum and research collaborations between UW-Sprout and students, faculty, and academic staff Dedicated internships with Marketing, Business, Hospitality and Tourism, Environmental Science, Dietetics, and other majors or programs Collaborate with faculty and academic staff who teach courses in which sustainable food and sustainable agriculture could dovetail with curriculum, such as Sustainability Capstone, Environmental Science Capstone, Quantity Food Production, Industrial Design, Engineering, and others

Provide training to all UDS employees with regard to:

Sustainable food

Provide education and/or signage for customers with regard to: Complete-protein vegetarian and vegan options

Sustainable food and offerings

Complete-protein vegetarian and vegan options

Healthy options

Provide internship opportunities for students within UDS (e.g., Dietetics, Sustainability minor, etc.) Offer a Meatless Monday (or Low Impact Dining Monday) campaign Provide outreach programming through the UW-Sprout Campus Garden Canning classes with garden produce through a partnership with UW-Extension’s Master Canner Program Gardening education for children in the Child & Family Study Center Gardening and fresh food workshops (e.g. in partnership with the Peer Health Educators) Health and nutrition education in partnership with UW-Stout’s Dietetics program

Create a plan to expand garden size

MANAGEMENT

Create a proposal to increase budget for student positions, to allow for more students working in the garden and selling food that will eventually make the student positions self-sustaining

UDS and UW-Sprout partnership to offer more local food in UDS facilities

Ingredient swap-out for healthier recipes within UDS

Implement additional hoop house(s) at UW-Sprout for season extension

Implement solar power at the garden

5 The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) offers the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS) tool for tracking campus-wide sustainability. UW-Stout has completed this assessment multiple times. More here: https://stars.aashe.org/institutions/university-of-wisconsin-stout-wi/report/ 6 The Real Food Calculator is a tool for tracking institutional food purchasing. It plays a crucial role in helping schools increase their real food purchasing. More here: http://www.realfoodchallenge.org/calculator

Establish a process for allowing students, faculty, and staff to access kitchens on campus (e.g., Heritage Hall kitchens) to offer food-related programming

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