Farm-to-Table

Institutional food programs owe it to their consituencies to deliver meals that not only taste good, but use toxin-free foods from safe and reliable sources.

Our clients are primarily aging or mentally ill adults who require the best nutritional possible to maintain their health. But a farm-to-table program can provide many additional benefits for clients and staff, our community, and our environment.

By supporting local growers, we provide steady income for small farms and related businesses. Independent growers continue to be challenged by the subsidized industrial food system, and connections between BACS and local farmers can boost and stabilize our local economy.

By decreasing the number of miles that food travels from farm to table, we reduce fuel consumption and pollution, and over time, expect to significantly reduce costs as increases in fuel cost continue to elevate the overall price of consumer staples.

By supporting organic farmers, we help decrease the use of petrochemical pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and fertilizers, thereby reducing green house gasses.

By choosing antibiotic- and hormone-free foods, we reduce everyone's exposure to hormones, non-therapeutic antibiotics, and other toxins.

With so much recent focus on the links between food, nutrition, safety, and physical and mental health, a
farm-to-table program lets BACS showcase its commitment to health promotion and disease prevention.

Our Commitment

These are our goals as we develop our program:

Contract with local purchasing organizations, distributors, and food producers who support healthy food that meets our purchasing requirements.

Become a "processed and fast-food free zone," and replace non-nutritious "comfort foods" with healthy alternatives that become even more desirable to our clients.

Affiliate with Community Supported Agriculture programs (CSAs) for our kitchens, and encourage our staff and clients to invest in local membership farms.

Use local, nutritious, sustainable food at conferences, meetings and workshops, and encorage the conference centers and hotels we do business with to promote organic and sustainable foods.

Reduce, reuse, and recycle all we can, and continually eliminate waste in all our facilities.

Expand our own gardens so we can grow fresh produce and flowers at our facilities. Gardens provide healthy foods and thriving green spaces for our community.