Where does food come from? How was it grown? Where was it produced? Many people don’t realize that food production places enormous demand upon our natural resources, and the modern food industry often has deleterious environmental and social impacts. Our food choices at Furman have a significant impact on our health, culture, environment, and local and global economies. We are committed to limiting these impacts by using fresh, locally and sustainably produced foods. Furman’s dining services are dedicated to being sustainable in their operations and adding as many local and organic food options as possible available to students.

Did You Know?

The Furman Farm is a ¼ acre organic practice garden with a comprehensive composting program.  The Farm grows thirty-five different fruits and vegetables and sells its produce to the Furman Dining Hall. The composting program handles all of the pre- and post-consumer waste from the dining hall, which it uses as a natural fertilizer on the farm and also processes much of the university’s landscaping waste. Most years the farm composts over 40 tons of food waste!

 Bon Appetit, the university’s food provider, has removed plastic straws from its campus facilities in an effort to curb plastic waste.

Bon Appetit’s Farm to Fork program is a company-wide initiative to buy local food, with over 20% of foods served within the dining hall coming from within 150 miles of campus. Their goal is to purchase seasonal ingredients from small, owner-operated local farms and ranches when possible.

The dining hall provides its leftovers to a local food bank, Loaves and Fishes. 

What’s Next?

We will continue to increase the sustainability of our campus food system and aspire to:

  • Increase the amount of food sourced locally and sustainably in our dining facilities.
  • Move to all compostable items and eliminate our plastic waste stream within the dining hall.
  • Reduce and eventually phase out the sale of bottled water across campus.