This past winter, UC President Janet Napolitano was eating high-end organic food at legendary Berkeley restaurant Chez Panisse with a group of UC chancellors, an event hosted by famed restaurant proprietor Alice Waters.

Among the topics were population growth, world hunger and sustainable farming practices. Napolitano found the meal and conversation so inspiring that she reportedly started scribbling out ideas for a universitywide compact on a napkin. And then, in a moment that would have made John Hancock proud, all the people at the table signed it.

In July, Napolitano went public with this ambitious plan to develop food practices systemwide, expand classroom offerings about sustainable food, and increase sustainable farming practices at all UC campuses. The UC Global Food Initiative will harness the University of California's resources to address one of the critical issues of our time: how to sustainably, equitably, and nutritiously feed a world population expected to reach 8 billion by 2025.

UC Santa Cruz is poised to play a pivotal role in the movement because the campus is nothing less than "the Mothership" of sustainable agriculture, said Daniel Press, executive director of UC Santa Cruz's Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS).

"There is no other university with such a well-established sustainable agricultural program," said Press. He met with Napolitano in June to discuss how the campus can help push the initiative forward. After all, CASFS has been an epicenter for sustainable farming for more than 45 years, and many of the organic farmers on the West Coast have trained at the center.

Since 1967, UC Santa Cruz has been a destination for those interested in learning organic farming and gardening skills. Trainees have come from around the world. "The training we provide here is being picked up in Latin America, Europe and Asia," said Press.

With its long history as a training ground, CASFS has a national reputation for the skill and knowledge of its instructors and researchers. The center recently received a $4 million gift that is being used to create an endowment to keep CASFS a leader in the sustainable food world. This gift from an anonymous donor is the first step in building a $10 million endowment that will ensure the center's long-term productivity and impact.

Along the way, knowledge and best practices exported from UC Santa Cruz have helped "sustainable" and "organic" go mainstream.

The world has changed since the days when a group of hardworking UC Santa Cruz apprentices set up makeshift tents on the 30 acres of campus land that have become the Farm & Garden.

"Sustainable farming is no longer seen as a 'flaky, hippie' activity," said Press. "The world has taken a different view of organic agriculture than it used to."

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Food for thought