In the past a pantheon of distinguished visitors have graced the Brown campus - just this fall, former presidential candidate Howard Dean, Muslim feminist author Irshad Manji and Nobel Laureate and physicist Douglas Osheroff paid a visit - but today between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., Brown welcomes a more bovine guest: Candi the Ayrshire cow.
Hay bales and a string band will contribute to the ambience on the Main Green, and locally produced prizes will be awarded to the lucky few who can guess where Candi will drop her cow patties.
Candi's purpose? To spread awareness about the new initiatives Brown Dining Services has taken to improve the quality of food served in the Sharpe Refectory.
"The cow is demonstrating that Brown Dining Services is striving to make some big-time changes," said Louella Hill '04, food systems coordinator for BuDS. "Things don't happen by clapping your hands. We're trying to change a system, and from my perspective there has been rapid progress."
This particular program is coordinated in conjunction with the Rhody Fresh Dairy Cooperative, a network of Rhode Island dairy farmers that for the past two years has worked with politicians and agricultural officials to market local milk under the Rhody Fresh brand name. Since its inception, Rhody Fresh has expanded its market exponentially and is now distributed to over 100 stores statewide, including small groceries, Stop & Shop and, after a recent business deal, Shaw's. Starting Friday, Rhody Fresh will be available at the Campus Market and on Friday only at the Blue Room for coffee.
"The stars have aligned for us," said Louis Escobar, lifelong farmer and owner of Escobar's Highland Farm in Portsmouth. As president of the cooperative, he has witnessed a slew of changes since the preliminary plans took shape nearly a decade ago. Once home to 400 dairy farms, during the last half of the 20th century Rhode Island has seen that figure diminish to 17 today.
Those that remain are attempting to resurrect the dying industry, and thus far they are doing it successfully.
Escobar has a great deal of pride in the product. "At present we're still very young, and none of our farms have seen any money," he said. "If the farmers wanted lots of money, they would sell to developers, but for any of us to sell our family farms would be like for non-farmers to sell a child."
Currently, negotiations are underway with the co-op to at least partially replace Garelick Farms, a conglomerate corporation that processes milk pooled from all over New England, with the premium Rhody Fresh brand produced in the immediate vicinity of the Brown campus.
"When (Rhody Fresh is) ready to expand their market to large institutions, we're first in line," Hill said. "We can't have a local cow here unless we have local farms, and we can't have local farms unless we're supporting those dairy farmers."
Rhody Fresh might be a reality at Brown over the next few months, but an exact date is uncertain. An average workday for a dairy farmer begins at 5 a.m. and ends at 7 p.m., and any other work must be compressed into the remainder of the day. Efficiency, however, is not the issue.
"Right now we could bring Brown all the milk they could ever want," Escobar said. "They could have a whole pool of milk." Rather, the complications lie solely in the packaging. In order to cater to institutional dining, Rhody Fresh needs to market larger containers than the half-gallons currently distributed. "We're not turning any business away, but if we have to develop a new product for the customer it takes a long time," he said.
Until then, Brown students and faculty will have to wait, but Hill thinks it's well worth it. "I think you can taste the fact that the cows roam in green pastures," she said. "Not all the cows from the other dairies are free range. It's a little hokey, but the happier the cow, the healthier and tastier the milk."
