New Summer Course Offers Tour of Vermont Food System
MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – This summer, Middlebury College will be one of six Vermont educational institutions to host undergraduate and graduate students as part of a 21-day study tour of the Vermont food system. The for-credit course of study—taking place from May 31 to June 20—is the inaugural initiative of the recently formed Vermont Higher Education Food Systems Consortium, an alliance of colleges and universities with longstanding and diverse expertise in food systems research and development. Joining Middlebury as a founding member of the consortium are the University of Vermont, Sterling College, Vermont Technical College, Vermont Law School, and Green Mountain College.
“The consortium is tapping Vermont’s agricultural traditions, unrivaled educational opportunities, and entrepreneurism to introduce students to new ways of thinking and earning school credit in agriculture, science, community development, law, and policy,” said Paul Costello, the executive director of the Vermont Council on Rural Development. “Vermont sets the standard for healthy food, innovation, beautiful and productive working lands, and food systems education.”
Believed to be the first for-credit study tour of its kind, “Food System Dynamics: The Vermont Experience” will explore the question of Vermont’s traditions and innovations firsthand, by visiting the land, people, farms, businesses, NGOs, initiatives, policies, and governmental agencies that have made Vermont’s food system so successful.
The tour will conclude in Middlebury with a three-day session titled “Small State in the Big Picture: Leadership for a Climate of Change in the Global Food System.” Sophie Esser Calvi ’03, global food studies coordinator at Middlebury, who will help lead the session, says food is the perfect medium for studying the liberal arts. “Our strength as a diverse, global institution allows us to cultivate leadership in a dynamic way. Being a part of this Consortium and this food studies tour demonstrates Middlebury’s commitment to food systems education. The challenges we are being faced with can only be addressed through collaboration.”
“The Vermont food system education experience reflects Vermont’s identity, cultivating and inspiring the next generation of students interested in stewarding the working landscape while enhancing food systems enterprise development,” said Vermont Secretary of Agriculture Chuck Ross. “By feeding Vermont higher education, a key economic driver, students are supporting the state’s working landscape, seeding the next stage of entrepreneurial activity, and creating an innovative sustainable food systems model that may be replicated in other communities and other regions. There are endless opportunities to learn among our leaders, right here in the Green Mountains.”
Further information about the consortium, the academic programs of the six founding members, and the summer study tour can be found on the consortium’s Food and Farm Education website: vermontfoodeducation.org.