Food Sustainability Panel Provides Networking For Students

By Tyler Pistor

Miami University journalism student

Getting involved with the sustainable food industry is easier than many might think -- you don’t have to major in farming or business to be able to land a job in that field.

Panelists speaking at Miami University on Feb. 28 shared their experiences in the industry.

The panel was organized by Career Services and was designed to provide an opportunity for students to learn what it takes to become a farmer or food production worker.

The seven panelists who took part included people from big businesses such as Kroger as well as others who worked independently and found success in the field.

One of the panelists was Larry Slocum, the manager of the Oxford Farmer's Market Uptown. Slocum talked about how he had originally started out wanting to teach, then sold insurance, before becoming the manager of the farmer's market.

"I ended up in February saying 'We need to get a farmer's market manager, these are the qualifications for the farmer's market manager,'" Slocum says. "And they said 'Well when do you want to start?' So because I had just sold my business and wasn't exactly sure where I was going with this whole thing, I decided to do the farmer's market."

Suzanne Lindsay-Walker provided a big business perspective. Lindsay-Walker works at Kroger as the Director of Sustainability, having graduated with a degree in civil engineering.

"What now would be called sustainable site design is what I started to do in order to create an operating environment for these retailers that would come in," says Lindsay-Walker.

Impact On Students

The panel, one of several Career Services is organizing to help students better understand the industries they hope to find jobs in, helped many students in the audience see how they might meld their majors and their career goals.

“I’m really interested in seeing how I can impact food through a business perspective,” says Kayla Lawson, a student at Miami University.

Lawson is a Supply Chain and Operations Management and Latin American Studies double major, with a double minor in Spanish and Business Analytics. Lawson is a graduating senior and will be working for Smucker’s after graduation.

The interaction between farmers and the business world was something Lawson and several of the other attendees found interesting.

“It was cool to hear the big business part inside of it all, and from some of the smaller independent farmers,” says Zack Shane, a senior and a Health Promotion major. “I thought the panel was great, I liked it and I liked how they had the diversity up there."

Environmental Earth Science major Senior Rachel Edwards says panels like this one help students get a better idea of what their working lives might look life after they leave Miami.

“I think it helps students be able to see a wide variety and different career paths, and that they can go from small independent businesses and big businesses, and everything in between,” says Edwards.

Photo: Sustainable food panelists wait for the event to begin, talking to each other as they wait for more students to arrive. --Photo by Tyler Pistor