PORTLAND — At Oregon Health & Science University recently, the lunch offerings included sandwiches made with organic chicken breast — locally sourced — on focaccia bread, baked locally and delivered daily. Plus salad made from local greens. Not a pre-packaged, mass-produced item in sight.
This is hospital food?
Providing minimally-processed, nutritious food at a hospital, where the clientele includes patients, doctors and nurses, medical students and visitors, seems like a solid idea. And OHSU, the teaching hospital that employs 13,700 people and has one of Oregon’s biggest economic footprints, was an early adopter of the practice.
The greater impact, however, could be to what a recent study referred to as “Ag of the Middle.” That is, the farmers, ranchers and processors who are too big to make a living selling solely at farmers’ markets and CSAs, but too small to compete at the commodity level.
The study by Ecotrust, a Portland nonprofit, identified institutions as a prime market opportunity for middle-sized producers.