How to Be a Conscious Eater

Hospitals, K–12 schools and entire school districts, corpo-

rate employers, and colleges and universities are having an

even greater impact in terms of improving food systems. These

farm-to-institution relationships provide benefits in several

areas: bolstering local economies; serving as a launchpad for

food literacy through educational programs, on-site farmers’

markets, and field trips for students, employees, and patients;

and supporting rural farm communities by giving farm-

ers larger and more reliable incomes. This financial stability

can help farmers build savings to invest in better equipment

and new technologies. Those tools, in turn, can improve crop

yields, land and water use, and their ability to manage risk

and resources, all of which can mean better products and bet-

ter soil health, not to mention more competitive positioning

against major agribusiness producers. Farm-to-institution

relationships can also give you, the diner, more meaningful

and tasty food experiences.

HERE’S A ROUNDUP OF RESOURCES THAT CAN HELP YOU IDENTIFY

LEGIT LOCAL SOURCING EFFORTS:

The Good Food Purchasing Program is an exemplary frame-

work for evaluating an institution’s commitment to all the

tenets of being a conscious eater. Supporting local econo-

mies is, naturally, among their core values. You can search

for whether your local school district has adopted the pro-

gram. Los Angeles Unified School District was the first,

and San Francisco Unified, Oakland Unified, Boulder Valley

School District, and Chicago Public Schools have all come

on board.

Though not an auditor or third-party verifier, the National

Farm to School Network is a resource for understanding

what it might mean to choose a school—and therefore a

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