Dr. Tso-Cheng Chang was a pioneer of “no pesticides or herbicides” farming in the United States. His farm, which grows vegetables for his award-winning restaurant in Amherst, Mass., not only is one of the largest bean-spout producers in the nation, it also grows schizandra berries—which might be the ginseng of this decade.

Long before “shop local, buy local” became something Americans came to value, Dr. Tso-Cheng Chang grew his own Chinese vegetables to serve at his award-winning restaurant, Amherst Chinese Food, on Main Street in downtown Amherst, Mass. So when in 1983 he converted his farm in nearby Whatley into a small factory designed to mass-produce bean sprouts, it barely caused a ripple on the local business scene.

That same factory on Dr. Chang’s Farm recently celebrated its 30^th anniversary with the distinction of being one of the largest soybean- and mung-bean-sprout facilities in the United States.

“You would say from the success of his restaurant and the sprout farm that Dr. Chang epitomizes the American dream, but his story goes beyond that,” says Steven V. Dubin, spokesperson for Dr. Chang Naturals, which grows and wholesales the company’s certified schizandra berries. “In fact, it’s quite fitting that his farm is in a region known as Pioneer Valley because Dr. Chang has pioneered a number of things, most notably ‘no herbicides or pesticides’ farming.” 

Chang’s journey began in a small town in Shandong Province, China, where he was born in the late 1920s. He earned an undergraduate degree in agronomy from Taiwan University in 1953 and later emigrated to the United States, where he earned an M.S. in crop science from Michigan State University in 1966.

A collegiate culinary-arts program in central Oregon and a high school in Phoenix earn top honors for exemplary practices in—and innovative teaching of—ecological sustainability.

Kendall College in Chicago and the Annapolis, Md.-based Center for the Advancement of Foodservice Education (CAFÉ) presented 2013 CAFÉ/Kendall College Green Awards to two culinary-arts training programs during a June 20 reception at CAFÉ’s 9^th-annual Leadership Conference for foodservice educators in Miami, Fla.

Cascade Culinary Institute (CCI) at Central Oregon Community College in Bend received this year’s award. CCI’s Jungers Culinary Center, which opened in late-2011, was built to Earth Advantage gold-certification standards. Successful management of day-to-day operations includes composting, recycling and use of green chemicals for ware washing. Additionally, CCI’s public restaurant and student training lab, Elevation, focuses on locally sourced produce, proteins, cheeses and grains.

“Even more impressive is the institute’s creation of one of the nation’s first culinary-arts certificates in sustainable food systems,” says Christopher Koetke, CEC, CCE, HAAC, vice president of the Kendall College School of Culinary Arts and the Laureate International Universities Center of Excellence in Culinary Arts, who oversaw evaluation of award entries. “Students earning the certificate learn current industry standards of sustainable restaurant practices via a pioneering curriculum that includes applied growing and raising of farm plants and animals, applied harvesting and food-preservation principles, farm-to-table and sustainable-cuisine practices, and even a 200-hour internship in farming and regional agriculture.”

A significant profit center in any foodservice operation is energy efficiency and savings.

By Jay Fiske

As the economy and the foodservice industry appear to be gaining steam, are you prepared to reap the full benefit? While operators are conditioned to keep a tight rein on food and labor costs, when it comes to overhead, many throw up their hands in frustration and resignation. You might not be able to change the terms of your lease or rising property taxes, but with a few easy actions, you can control much of your energy destiny.

Best of all, every energy dollar saved is pure profit. For an operation with an 8% profit margin, you’d have to increase sales by $12.50 to add just one dollar in profits. To keep that in perspective, if you cut $500 a month in energy expense, that adds an additional profit of $6,000 per annum. To generate that profit in the traditional way, you’d have to increase sales by $75,000. So there’s not a moment to lose!

Key metrics show that U.S. pork producers have reduced the pork industry’s carbon footprint by more than one-third since 1959.

As the world celebrated another Earth Day on April 22, research shows that America’s pork producers have made huge improvements in environmental management over the last 50 years. The research, titled “A 50-Year Comparison of the Carbon Footprint and Resource Use of the U.S. Swine Herd: 1959 - 2009,” found that modern pork production methods have led to a 35% decrease in the carbon footprint, a 41% reduction in water usage and a 78% drop in land needed to produce a pound of pork compared with a 1959 baseline.

“As a pork producer, I'm proud of the accomplishments we've made as an industry,” said Conley Nelson, National Pork Board president and producer from Algona, Iowa. “But today's competitive market demands that we do even more to improve how we produce pork. That’s why pork producers are working together to fund new environmental research that will help us build on the progress we've made over the past 50 years.”

An eco-chic restaurant and catering service in Santa Monica wins the 2013 Sustainable Quality Award Grand Prize.

The Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce, Sustainable Works and the City of Santa Monica's Office of Sustainability and the Environment recently announced Tiato & An Catering as a grand-prize winner of the 2013 Sustainable Quality Awards (SQA). The SQA Grand Prize is awarded to businesses for combined excellence in three areas: economic development, social responsibility and stewardship of the natural environment.

“We are so honored to be awarded for our contribution in making the restaurant industry more sustainable,” says Catherine An, founder and owner of Tiato. “It is a commitment to run a sustainable and profitable business, yet every day we make these efforts to improve the lifestyle of where we work and live.”

Tiato & An Catering are committed to a role of environmental leadership in all facets of their business. Engagement in the community is a major component in their success, from Santa Monica neighbors and fellow business professionals to the farmers who grow the produce to keep their shelves stocked. The restaurant and catering services source local, healthy and sustainable products, hire locally and utilize sustainable goods in their retail market, restaurant and catering services.