Kaitlyn Gengarelly explores locally sourced food for Neilson Dining Hall

It was the mealy, tasteless tomatoes at Neilson Dining Hall that got to Kaitlyn Gengarelly. She figured they had been picked in California or Mexico while still green, gassed with ethylene to ripen them, and trucked across the country. That didn’t make sense, she thought, when lush, juicy tomatoes are grown right here in New Jersey. Like any good scientist, the environmental policy major from Hamden, Connecticut, decided to investigate. Could Neilson serve locally grown food?

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“I wanted to do something that everyone can understand,” Gengarelly said of her George H. Cook Honors Program thesis. “Everyone wants to eat fresh food.” It’s not just a matter of quality, she added. Local sourcing, although not always less expensive, supports area farmers, saves energy, and is easier on the environment. “It’s the right thing to do.”

Gengarelly took her idea to Andrew F. Pleasant, assistant professor of human ecology at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. He and Kevin Lyons, the university’s purchasing director for New Brunswick and Camden, helped her design a study that would analyze existing local food sourcing programs at Yale, Pennsylvania State, and Brown universities, as well as the University of Connecticut, to see if they held any lessons for Rutgers.

Gengarelly found that local sourcing can be more expensive. Local and regional farmers cannot always reliably supply big institutional buyers like Rutgers with seasonal produce, nor can they capture the economies of scale and government subsidies available to large corporate farmers. The result is that they often need to charge more despite shorter shipping distances.

However, Gengarelly did discover some positive potential of local sourcing. At Brown, for example, higher startup costs were mitigated in a few years as more students, attracted by higher-quality food, enrolled in dining plans. Kitchen staff developed their skills and pride in their craft as they work with less processed foods. For instance, they learn to peel and mince whole garlic instead of opening a jar. “They feel more like chefs than cooks,” Gengarelly said.

Gengarelly is quick to point out that Rutgers is already exploring local sources. “They buy some things locally and do a couple of events that showcase local food and businesses,” she said. But New Jersey’s food distribution system does not favor the state’s farmers. And changing the way things are done at a large institution like Rutgers can be challenging. “Sometimes, it’s just a matter a matter of perception,” Gengarelly said.