President Prager Brings Corn to Support UEPI

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Author: Jacob Goldstein and Linni Kral

President Susan Prager shucked corn in the quad alongside students and faculty last Wednesday, October 24. The 500 ears of Sloughhouse sweet corn were brought by her husband, Jim Prager, from Davis Ranch in Sacramento, where Occidental’s 13th president grew up.

“Jim approached UEPI (Urban and Environmental Policy Institute),” UEPI’s California Farm to School Program Manager Moira Beery said. “We have been wanting to increase the Farm to School connection at Oxy and bring attention to issues we focus on at the Center for Food and Justice (CFJ),” Beery said. California Farm to School is a program housed in CFJ, which is run by UEPI. About four months ago, Occidental’s CFJ received a 2.4 million dollar grant from the W.K. Kellogg foundation to expand with other Farm to School Partners from around the country, and it was used to fund this event.

“Jim knew we’d received funding,” UEPI Director and Professor Bob Gottlieb said. “He said the corn is very good right now and that he would bring some down and link it to the Farm to School program,” Gottlieb said. So far, the program has begun working with Campus Dining to start buying from local farmers, but Beery hopes to expand these efforts and possibly bring other local farmers to campus.

“There’s a lot that they [Campus Dining] could be doing,” Beery said. “They could buy a lot more food from local farmers, like dairy and meat, or buy more sustainable products.” Beery also said they could reinstate the composting program that ended six years ago, look into plastic alternatives for to-go containers and even have tray pick-ups in the quad to discourage the use of plastic containers.

Produce for the organic potato bar in the Marketplace is currently purchased through the Grower’s Collaborative, a virtual farmers’ market that connects family farms that practice sustainable agriculture with regional institutional buyers. CFJ also has a Farm to Institution program that caters to facilities such as nursing homes and prisons and strives to bring them organic or sustainable foods. The corn from the Pragers’ farm is not organic.

In addition to these efforts, UEP hopes to offer a food politics course in the future. Gottlieb will be teaching a Food Justice CSP course in the spring and said several UEP courses have segments that focus on food, such as the senior seminar and UEP 101. UEP students also have the option to intern with farms that offer summer opportunities where students can learn how to farm, such as Full Belly Farm in Yolo County near Sacramento.

“I think it’s exciting that our new president grew up on a farm and is interested in promoting that background. It’s a heritage that’s been lost in America,” Beery said.

“This event is going to elevate these issues more among students and we are really responsive to that,” Gottlieb said.

At 6 p.m., Prager and her husband, Jim, joined the student body in the Marketplace to eat the Sloughhouse area corn. The corn was featured as part of the night’s regularly scheduled organic potato bar.

Professor Gottlieb, Associate Vice President for Hospitality Services Amy Munoz and UEPI’s Farm to Institution Program Coordinator Vanessa Zajfen introduced Prager, who spoke on the importance of Sloughhouse Farms to her and her husband, as well as her hopes for future California land-use policy laws.

Munoz explained that the history of organic products at Occidental can be traced back to the early 1990s, when a student group named “Manic Organic” was instrumental in setting up the precursor to the current organic salad bar. Today, the Marketplace regularly offers organic entrees and produce, and both the ice cream and the bagels in the Cooler come from local companies that use only all-natural ingredients.

Zajfen elaborated on the Farm to School Program, saying, “This is symbolic of what makes this school special.” She urged students to let Campus Dining know that they’re enjoying the organic produce and that they would like even more organic produce in the future. She also noted Oxy’s uniqueness in its commitment to organic produce and local farms.

Next, Prager spoke about Sloughhouse farms. She acknowledged that her family does not actually farm the land-the farm is now leased to a distant cousin who is responsible for its daily upkeep. She also explained that the corn is normally sold exclusively in Sloughhouse and the surrounding Sacramento area.

Prager then spoke on her hopes for California’s land use policy. While she and her husband no longer own the farm, she explained that they remain committed to the future of the land. “I hope that future land use policy in California will preserve the remaining farmland,” she said.

Prager ended her speech by reemphasizing the school’s responsibility to support local farms. Drawing on Los Angeles’ agricultural past, she reminded students that Oxy used to be surrounded entirely by farm land. She also noted her delight at the ever-growing availability of organic foods. “When I was in grammar school in the 1940s, we were eating canned goods,” she said.

After her speech, Prager noted her excitement at bringing Sloughhouse corn to the student body. “It is a way for students to connect with important work of the UEPI and an opportunity to enjoy fresh produce,” she said. “My husband picked up the corn from the farm yesterday and then drove it up to Occidental. Jim and I wanted to donate the corn to highlight the work of UEPI and the importance of local agriculture”

Prager also said it was “very fun” to shuck corn with students at lunch, and that she was very appreciative to Campus Dining for being receptive to the event as a whole.

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