Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University

• Type: Public, Land Grant, 4 yr, Grad School, >25,000, Rural
• Region: Southeast
• Address: Drillfield Drive
• City: Blacksburg
• State: VA
• ZIP: 24060
• URL: http://www.vt.edu
• involvement in the Real Food Challenge?
  Level 1: Connected to the network
• Food budget: 8 million
• Provider: self operated
• On campus concessions: Pizza Hut, Au Bon Pain, SBarro, Chick-Fil-A, Burger King, Freshens
• Dining Services Director/Executive Chef: Rick Johnson
• Farm size: 1
• Farm operated by students? yes
• Needs and challenges: -A land-grant University with ties to commodity agriculture. -Multi-thousands of mouths to feed daily; needs reliable source of food -Food purchasing policy only based on pricing -Difficult "in" for smaller scale growers
• Successes and achievements: -Sustainable Food Corps at VT founded in Spring of 2008 -"Farms and Fields Project" venue opened in Owens Dining Center that serves only local, sustainable, and/or organic foods
• Composting: pre-consumer food waste
• Food activities: student farm/garden, organic purchasing, humane purchasing, local purchasing, student organizations
• Farm functions: other educational
• comments: Began in summer of 2008. Run by the Sustainable Food Corps at Virginia Tech.
• Relevant academic programs: Extracurricular Activities, Student-run programs
• comments: May be "Sustainable Food Minor" in the works.