Afton Hupper: Connecting local food to Maine
Transcript
I’m researching the feasibility of a food hub for the Bangor region. This food hub could service businesses, institutions, restaurants, and retailers within a 50 mile radius of the Bangor area, and it would help to move local produce from farms in Maine to the table.
I’m very passionate about food and also the environment, and I think this is a project that can really connect people in a meaningful way that would also provide some economic development for the region, opening up new opportunities for farmers it’ll provide a market for them. If this if this project proves feasible and we decide to go through with it it open up new channels that have never been really available to the small diversified farms before now.
When this opportunity presented itself — when I was emailed about the sustainable food systems research collaborative — I thought what better way to combine my major — my environmental science passion with my food passion.
I think the University of Maine provides such a variety of course options as well as minors. I don’t know of any other college in Maine offers a sustainable food systems minor, so that’s something that I’m really happy about. I didn’t even know about that until my second year so that’s sort of something that just came along, but it was great to find.
When I came to college I wasn’t — I’m like every student who came here, unsure nervous, I didn’t have a clear path. I knew that I was passionate about certain things. I was passionate about environmental issues and social justice but also had a passion for food. I was never really sure how that was going to fit in, but when I discovered the minor and when I was able to participate in this research collaborative I found a way to mend the two that was really inspiring to me and something that I’m so happy about because I really don’t think I would have found this opportunity anywhere else.