Hospitals Are Getting Into The Organic Food Business
August 25, 2015 Growers investing in the organic food movement could serve a growing new area with vegetable transplants and starts, as well as produce, as hospitals begin to prescribe healthy diets and nutrition, and even go so far as to grow their own food.
As part of a new phenomenon among progressive hospitals, health professionals are beginning to realize that without health and nutrition, programs and techniques may be done in vain or worse — obsolete. As more patients seeking a healthy diet turn to nutritionists, who recommend sugar-free, alkaline diets to prevent disease and aid in recovery, hospitals recognizing this trend are taking action.
St. Luke’s Hospital in Bethlehem, Pa., recently contracted with the nearby Rodale Institute to manage an organic farm, established in 2014. The hospital, part of a six-campus network, aims to provide excellent healthcare, part of which includes educating patients about the benefits of a plant-based, organic diet.
“One of the best ways to do that is to lead by example and show them how delicious produce grown on our farm tastes,” said Ed Nawrocki, president of the hospital’s Anderson campus, in an article on offgridquest.com.
The hospital started sending all new moms home with a basket of fresh produce, recipes and literature about the importance of a healthy diet. In its first season, the farm at St. Luke’s grew 12 varieties of vegetables on 12 acres, producing 44,000 pounds served to patients and sold at weekly farmers’ markets on campus. This year, the farm expanded to 10 acres and 30 varieties of fruits and veggies, the article said.
Who supplies the veggie starts? Lloyd Traven of Peace Tree Farm sits on the board of directors for the Pennsylvania Association of Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) with Mark “Coach” Smallwood, executive director at the Rodale Institute. Peace Tree has been supplying young plants to the Rodale Institute’s research farm, and now is on the ground floor supplying organic veggie starts to St. Luke’s Hospital.
“We were a very natural turn-to,” Traven says. “The project was presented to us as a concept, as in this is the direction that St. Luke’s would like to go. They have quite a bit of land there available for development. They want to start community supported agriculture programs, a local food bank and a community garden, as well as supply the hospital group. We fully support it; We’re not directing or planning — we’re a Sherpa for the program.”
Other growers can get involved in their local communities, too. There is a growing interest in serving organic, locally produce at hospitals. Some buy produce from local farms, others allow the community to use their campuses for community gardens, and more hospitals are now also starting on-campus farms, like Stony Brook University Hospital on Long Island, N.Y., and Watertown Regional Medical Center in Wisconsin. St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor Hospital in Ypsilanti, Mich., started its farm in 2010 and has grown to 25 acres.
However, growers wishing to be part of this movement have to be willing to be part of the solution, producing certified organic vegetable starts, and not taking part in green-washing, or the effort will be null and void, Traven says.
“Unless they’re committing to the right kind of production and learning how to grow without the chemistry involved in it, then they’re not going to be participating in this. It’s a system – it’s not just about the greens, it’s how the greens are grown. It makes a big, big difference.”
Visit offgridquest.com to read the full story about hospital organic farms.
Subscribe to eNewsletter
