By Blake Jackson
The University of Kentucky (UK) Food Connection, an applied food systems center in the UK Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, has recently published the FY23 dining report. The report shows that UK Dining exceeded its local food purchasing benchmarks last academic year (2022-2023) across several key performance indicators.
UK Dining, which is operated by Aramark, exceeded the Kentucky Farm and Food Business Impact (KYFFBI) purchasing initiative's local food purchasing targets in several areas. The total KYFFBI target of $2,208,736 was exceeded by 274%, and the Kentucky Farm Impact portion of the KFFBI was exceeded by 58%.
UK Dining's expenditures with Kentucky farms and food-based businesses increased by 9% compared to FY22. This is the first year since COVID-19 that Kentucky farm impact purchases exceeded $1 million.
This publication is the nineth annual report assessing local food procurement efforts in the UK by Aramark, the private dining service provider that operates UK Dining.
The report also highlights that 93% of food from Kentucky farm operators were all or majority farm sourced.
"It's so exciting to see the original vision behind The Food Connection come to fruition," said Melody Flowers, UK's assistant vice president of economic development and real estate. "It's a unique center born of a public private partnership between the University and our dining partner, focusing on real-world impact both on and off campus. The Food Connection has leveraged the commitment to local food purchasing, codified in our dining contract, to grow and enhance local food."
Access the full publication report at https://bit.ly/3ZY3J4M.
Photo Credit: gettyimage-jamesbrey
Categories: Kentucky, Education