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<p>The importance of buying local food receives a lot of lip service among proponents of sustainable food systems, but what value does buying locally actually provide to local economies? And how can an institution know whether their purchases of local food are really helping local farms and communities?��That’s the question Diane Imrie, director of Nutrition Services at University of Vermont Medical Center, wanted to answer about the hospital’s local food procurement program.</p>

<p>Before Katrina Light came to ����̽̽ to pursue a master’s degree in the��<a title="Food Systems Graduate Program" href="http://www.uvm.edu/foodsystemsgrad">Food Systems Graduate Program</a>, she was managing a film studio in New York City. Jump ahead a few years, and her fast-paced urban life has given way to a series of very different routines. In the summer, she starts her day at 5:30 a.m., milking cows and instructing high school students in farm chores. During the academic year, she crunches numbers to calculate the carbon footprint of��<a href="http://www.bard.edu/bardeats">Bard College’s dining program</a>��and teaches students about the farm to institution movement.</p>

<p>A new book edited by two ����̽̽ faculty dives deep into the ethical questions involved in the production and consumption of food: “<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/food-ethics-and-society-9780199321742?cc=us&amp;lang=en&amp;">Food, Ethics, and Society</a>” (Oxford University Press, 2016) is the result of a multi-year collaboration between ����̽̽ Philosophy faculty members Tyler Doggett and Mark Budolfson, along with their colleague Anne Barnhill at the University of Pennsylvania.</p>

<p>Vermont is famous around the globe for its maple syrup, cheese and craft beer. Soon, the state could add saffron to that list. Saffron? In Vermont? University of Vermont scientists think so.</p>

<p dir="ltr">University of Vermont is on track to surpass its current goal of purchasing 20 percent local, sustainable, fair, and humane food. In the 2015-2016 school year, 19 percent of the food purchased by ����̽̽ Dining qualified as “real” according to the��<a title="Real Food Challenge" href="http://www.realfoodchallenge.org/">Real Food Challenge,</a>��indicating that the institution is likely to exceed 20 percent Real Food by 2020, the current target date.</p>

<p>It’s the height of irony. Irrigation systems designed to buffer farmers from the effects of a warming planet may be causing them to think their local area is cooler and wetter than it is, says research published June 1 in the journal <em>Global Environmental Change</em> – perceptions that other studies suggest may slow their efforts to address climate change.</p>