FEED is an undergraduate consulting club at UC Berkeley that promotes sustainable impact by working with organizations and enterprises that are redefining the food system. Throughout each semester, we have projects that require market research, product development and other methodologies… We also host campus events and write on our blog to promote food justice awareness. Last year, we were recognized as the “Outstanding Community Partner” by the Basic Needs Committee. We also helped spearhead a national award-winning campaign on hunger and homelessness, and hosted the Impossible Foods Burger Tour.
In the spring of 2018, FEED partnered with Outside2Inside (O2I) because we admire its commitment towards prevention of food waste and making food accessible to all. A team of six consultants and two project managers worked with O2I on multiple projects with primary focus on the pilot launch of Farm2School (F2S) Program. The FEED team was divided into three smaller committees, namely Outreach, Marketing and F2S Pilot. While the Outreach Committee helped research potential local farms, schools and colleges for O2I to expand, the Marketing Committee worked on analyzing and enhancing O2I’s online/social media presence and the Pilot Committee organized the logistics of the pilot F2S program. We kept close contact with O2I and met regularly. This helped to better understand the project requirements and exchange ideas and suggestions. Some of our work included developing a pitch for middle school students, designing flyers and promotional materials, constructing a social media strategy, and helping out in any way possible to make the Farm2School Pilot program a success.
The FEED team thoroughly enjoyed working with Outside2Inside and also learnt a lot from the experience. At O2I, they are incredibly passionate about reducing food waste through their mission of prevention, recovery, and recycling. They were always available, willing to connect and have meetings with us in case of any queries. Our team members were able to expand their skills in design, marketing, outreach, communications and research. The F2S project was a successful one which in turn resulted in a win-win situation for both the parties.
This fall semester, we have a team of both returning consultants and new consultants working with Outside2Inside on a project to convert produce waste from agricultural farms to animal feed that can be consumed by farm animals. This will involve research on food waste trends, the technical process of recycling produce waste, outreach to nearby farms, and the legalities of creating and distributing animal feed. We are happy and excited to be continuing our partnership with Outside2Inside!
– By Susie Warner & Rachel Bosnyak
(Susie Warner: Vice President of Publicity & Recruiting – FEED, Rachel Bosnyak: Vice President of Food Justice – FEED)