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Main Image for What is BardEATS?

What is BardEATS?

Guiding Bard’s sustainable & equitable food initiatives.
BardEATS (Education, Advocacy, Transparency, and Sustainability) is a collaborative partnership among Bard students, dining services, faculty, and staff committed to making our food systems on campus more sustainable and equitable, elements which BardEATS believes to be intrinsically interterconnected. Through programs, advocacy, and education, BardEATS aims to increase food purchasing transparency, reduce waste, decrease the College’s carbon footprint, promote food access and security on campus and in the community, support local farms and sustainable products, shifting financial resources to support BIPOC-owned farms and producers, and advocate for racial equity. BardEATS is committed to working institutionally for the needs and desires of our student body and throughout our region for the broader needs of communities.

     

The History of BardEATS



In 2008, Bard College committed itself to purchasing sustainable food and supporting local producers and farmers. This commitment began as a relationship between Bard’s dining services and Old Saw Mill Farms which brought local Hudson Valley stone fruits, produce, and proteins to campus. In 2009, Bard created another local relationship with the dairy cooperative Hudson Valley Fresh. In 2009, Bard removed its trays from the dining hall to save water, food waste, and energy. From 2009 to 2010, campus local produce purchases increased by 30%. In 2010, Bard’s dining services introduced 100% compostable disposable wares and added locally produced juices and ciders to the on campus grocery store, the Green Onion Grocer. In 2010, the Bard Community Garden expanded to hire John Paul Sliva who would then go on to become director of the Bard Farm, continuing to be our 1.25 acre farm located on campus. 
In 2012, the college’s president, Leon Botstein, agreed to donate $40,000 dollars from the school’s funds to create a farm on campus if students could raise $25,000 for the project in three weeks. Carter Vanderbilt (‘15) organized a Kickstarter campaign to fund the Bard Farm and the goal was successfully reached. Later that year, the 1.25 acre Bard Farm broke ground under the leadership of Paul Marienthal, Farm Director, and John Paul Sliva, Farm Coordinator. The first year yielded 6045.5 pounds of local, fresh, organically grown veggies that were served to the Bard Community. The farm is currently operated by student labor and sells its yields directly to Bard Dining Services.
In March 2013, President Leon Botstein signed the Real Food Challenge Commitment, pledging to dedicate 20% of purchasing to "real food" (food that is local/community-based, fair, ecologically sound, or humane as defined by the Real Food Challenge criteria) by 2020. In Spring 2015, Bard reached an average of 21% purchasing of Real Food, beating the goal five years early, and by 2019 Bard reached 27% Real Food.
Bard Dining Services has purchased from many Hudson Valley producers over the years including, Bread Alone, Hudson Valley Fresh, Winter Sun Farms, Purdy & Sons, Feather Ridge Farm, Wild Hive Farm, and Red Barn Produce, to name just a few. Bard dining continues to seek out local and sustainable products and providers.
In 2020, COVID-19 did not stop BardEATS from creating programs and continuing to reach sustainability and equity goals. Bard gained a new dining service, Parkhurst Dining, which has worked with BardEATS since day one to provide sustainable and local food to students, facilitate pre-consumer and post-consumer composting in dining locations, and work to find new local and/or BIPOC producers for Bard to buy from. BardEATS celebrated another year of Campus Crunch where local apples were enjoyed, as well as creating a new Family Food Share program where students who were not able to go home for break due to the pandemic could find meals in Kline that reminded them of home and partnering with Wellness at Bard and Parkhurst to increase food security for students over winter break.
 BardEATS ended 2020 thinking about ways to do better and be better as students, faculty, employees, friends, and coworkers, now committing themselves to an anti-racism initiative starting in 2021 where future and current programing will be focused on showing how interconnected sustainability work and anti-racism work is.

About Our Programs

BardEATS works with the student body, the Office of Sustainability, and our on-campus food provider to create more equitable, sustainable, and supportive food systems on Bard Campus.

  • Food Recovery Program: 
    • With a team of dedicated staff and faculty volunteers, Bard dining donates excess food to organizations that support people who have insecure housing. Watch the video we presented at the New York Sustainability in Higher Education Conference!
  • Composting Initiatives:
    • Working to make our campus produce Zero Waste, BardEATS coordinates pre- and post- consumer composting systems on campus. We compost about 230 lbs of food waste daily!
  • Choose Your Menu Program:
    • Each week, Bard students have the opportunity to engage directly with dining by voting on their favorite meals, to be served each Thursday night at Kline.
  • Urban Cultivator:
    • Student workers through BardEATS propogate and harvest microgreens that are served on salads and sandwiches to students.

About Our Anti-Racism & Food Sovereignty Initiative

BardEATS has committed to un-learning, re-learning, and tackling inequities within our food systems on campus and beyond. This semester, we are joining forces with other teams around campus to help us become stronger for doing this work. 

Get Involved!

  • About Our Anti-Racism & Food Sovereignty Working Group: Join us this spring!
  • Soul Fire Farm Uprooting Racism in the Food System Training: Join us on April 7th, 2021!
  •  Building a Sustainable and Equitable Food System - Resource Guide

Our Partners

Bard Office of Sustainability

Bard Office of Sustainability

BOS works to enhance the sustainability of the College in its operations, academics, and outreach.

Learn More

  • Bard Dining
    Parkhurst Dining seeks out local and sustainable products and providers to improve our sustainable food options.
  • Bard Farm
    The 1.25-acre, student-run Bard Farm supplies organic produce to Parkhurst Dining, the campus dining service.
  • Dean of Student Affairs Office
    DOSA encourages undergraduates to actively participate in all aspects of our community, including campus-wide sustainability efforts.
Reducing Our Carbon Foodprint

Reducing Our Carbon Foodprint

Parkhurst, the food service provider for Bard College, works in collaboration with BardEATS to help reduce food-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Currently, we are reducing GHG emissions by:
  • Reducing red meat consumption,
  • Facilitating the shift to locally grown produce from the Hudson Valley and New York State,
  • Increasing plant-based options at every meal,
  • Encouraging use of compostable products whenever possible,
  • Creating food waste reduction programs including composting and community donations,
  • And giving back to our land by improving composting practices in dining areas.

Increasing “Real Food” on Campus
BardEATS Food Days at the Montgomery Place Campus.

Increasing “Real Food” on Campus

BardEATS has been so effective that Bard met its pledge to purchase 20 percent “Real Food” (local/community based, fair, ecologically sound, and humane as defined by the Real Food Challenge) five years ahead of schedule, and recently upped its pledge to 25 percent by 2020. How did Bard Dining reach this goal? By supporting local Hudson Valley farms and business, including Bread Alone, Hudson Valley Fresh, Winter Sun Farms, Feather Ridge, and Wild Hive, among many others. 

Bard: A Sustainability Case Study

Food Systems Equity

Food Systems Equity

Sustainability work is anti-racism work. BardEATS is focused on the necessary statement that Black Lives Matter. We recognize that the goals we have, to eliminate food apartheid and increase access to healthy, local food, are not goals that can be achieved equally amidst systemic racism. We believe that all those working to promote just food systems must be an active part of anti-racism work.The interconnectedness of anti-racism and sustainability is important to acknowledge as much of our food, agriculture, and food systems have come from People of Color in the United States. This country was built on the backs of Black slaves and Latinx immigrants using stolen Indigenous land, and the food we eat has effects of continuous exploitation of these same people.

    BardEATS Commits:

    BardEATS is committed to racial justice in food systems work and beyond. We will:

    • Shift institutional purchasing power to support BIPOC farms and distributors,
    • Educate the student body through workshops, events, and share of materials on the interconnectedness of food sustainability and racial inequity,
    • Support local food justice organizations,
    • Advocate for policy changes that support land redistribution, closing income inequality, and provide increased opportunities for Black people to farm,
    • Recognize and uplift the existing powerful work being done by BIPOC in food systems and sustainability discourse, 
    • Educate about the traditionally racist histories of the American food systems that erase the perpetual contributions of and violence against BIPOC on this land,
    • Create space to do the personal work of anti-racism education, reflection, and accountability for those who are non-BIPOC.

    Get Involved

    BardEATS Council

    BardEATS Council

    If you’re interested in sustainability, farming, reducing waste, supporting local farms, food systems, or all of the above you’ve come to the right place. We care deeply about exploring these topics, and finding ways to engage with them.

    If you have questions about BardEATS, suggestions, or would like to join our council meetings, please contact Melina Roise (mr8208@bard.edu) or Olivia Tencer (ot4804@bard.edu).

    BardEATS Council

    • Bard Office of Sustainability (Laurie Husted)
    • Bard Farm Manager and Educator (Rebecca Yoshino)
    • Center for Civic Engagement Representative (Sarah deVeer)
    • Executive Chef (Jacob Smith)
    • Parkhurst General Manager (Brittany Muthard)
    • Parkhurst Catering Manager (Nicholas Crocetti)
    • Director of Health and Wellness Education (Annia Reyes)
    • BardEATS Student Co-Chair (Olivia Tencer)
    • BardEATS Student Co-Chair (Melina Roise)
    • BardEATS Zero Waste Intern (Khadija Ghanizada)
    • BardEATS Media and Engagement Intern (Dylan Lalanne-Perkins)
    • BardEATS Choose Your Menu Intern (Marsela Doko)
    • BardEATS Urban Cultivator Intern (Artin Krasniqi)

    BardEATS Programs and Initiatives

    BardEATS Programs and Initiatives

    BardEATS operates a variety of mission-based programs that focus on sourcing, education, advocacy, and accountability. These include the Urban Cultivator, which grows microgreens year-round in the Campus Center; Teaching Kitchen; Choose Your Menu; Family Food Share; and the annual Food Days series. Join the student-run Zero Waste Club and help reduce food waste through its food recovery program and composting initiatives across campus. Check out the Bard Office of Sustainability’s newsroom for more ways you can get involved!

    BOS Newsroom

    Bard Family Recipe Book

    Through our Family Food Share and Wish You Were Here Wednesday programs during fall 2020, BardEATS collected recipes cherished by Bard students, faculty, and staff. Find our recipe book below (& share your foods & stories here!):

    BardFamilyRecipeBook.pdf
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