College's food drive rewarded

With food prices matching oil in terms of acceleration, self-sufficiency has become the key to survival in credit crunch Britain.

Harper Adams is certainly practising what it preaches: producing 90 per cent of the ingredients for the 2,000 meals it serves each day to visitors, staff and students from its own land.

Its ethical approach has won the university college a platinum eating award run by councils across Shropshire - the highest accolade.

Pork and lamb from the college farm already feature on the dining hall, cafe and conferencing menus; eggs come from the on-campus poultry unit and herbs are grown in the grounds.

Catering manager David Nuttall and head chef Wayne Wright have been working on a sustainable supply chain since early 2007 and have seen the rewards grow and grow.

Mr Nuttall said: "In addition to being sustainable, our approach gives us greater control over the quality of meat we serve; helps the team to develop its skills, as they are having to butcher the meat; cuts down on waste, as we can make use of more of the carcass; saves money by cutting out the middle man and enables our students to see the food go from farm to plate."

When demand is at its peak, the six Harper Adams chefs prepare more than 2,000 meals a day, made from 90 per cent fresh produce, supported by 20 more full-time catering staff and a dozen student part-timers.

Their commitment to making the most of local produce resulted in a platinum Shropshire Healthy Eating Award run by the environmental health departments of all the councils in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin.

Mr Wright said in-house food sourcing had completely changed cooking practices.

"We can be so much more adventurous. We're saving a great deal of money on the basics and a lot of that can be used to buy more products such as luxury yoghurts and ingredients that improve the taste and appeal of our dishes," he said.

"This has allowed us to offer our customers much more choice. Where in the past we would have served a basic lunch, we now offer four or five choices on the menu, and without that choice, we wouldn't have received our healthy eating award."

Factfile:

• Pedigree Lleyns, a native Welsh breed of sheep, are reared on the college farm and taken for slaughter by a firm 10 miles away in Staffordshire before the meat is returned to campus.

• Pork is also now being provided by the farm from pedigree Belgian breed pigs.

• New breeds of animals are also being reared for the college by farm manager Scott Kirby, such as the rose veal, which is expected to be available towards the end of the year.

• Milk from the dairy unit is currently being developed at the Edgmond site.

• Special care is also taken when sourcing foods not produced on campus. Cheese comes from Mr Moyden's Cheese Company in Newport. Milk, butter and cream are from a farm seven miles away. Sausages and bread are both from within 15 miles, and fruit and vegetables from neighbouring Staffordshire.

• The department has embraced the principles of fair trade and is increasing its line of products which already include coffee, cakes, biscuits and chocolate.

• Harper Adams is proud of its green credentials. Its own biomass-fuelled combined heat and power generator provides a quarter of the lighting and half the heating for the main cluster of buildings, including the kitchen.

By Rural Affairs Editor Nathan Rous