The local foods movement at Cornell University began in the late 1990s, with Elizabeth Karabinakas and other students, mainly from the Nutrition Department. Like many student-initiated movements, however, the impetus to create change subsided after these leaders graduated. In 2005, the local foods movement was revived by Dana Shapiro, who had just returned from studying abroad, where she was introduced to Slow Food and inspired by food-centered sustainable rural development projects in Europe and Hawaii.

In fall 2005, Shapiro founded Slow Food Cornell, one of the first university-based convivia (local chapters) in the country.  That winter, Shapiro wrote a proposal to transform the Green Dragon, a café in the basement of Sibley Hall, into a local foods eatery on campus. The proposal won first place in the Cornell Undergraduate Business Idea Competition, raising interest in the concept of an on-campus café dedicated to sourcing local ingredients. 
A large meeting was held at the Green Dragon to discuss the proposal, with interested students and members of Cornell Dining. Though this meeting did not result in the materialization of such a project, it helped connect Shapiro and fellow Natural Resources student, Ethan Rainwater, to the Mann Library Café steering committee, which they were invited to join. This committee eventually helped establish the Manndible Café, now a local foods-centered eatery in Mann Library’s lobby.

Simultaneously, Shapiro, Rainwater and others, including graduate students from the New World Agriculture and Ecology Group (NWAEG), continued to engage in a conversation with Cornell Dining about how to increase procurement of local foods at the institutional level. These efforts eventually gave rise to the Cornell Dining Local Foods Advisory Council, or CDLFAC, envisioned as a collaborative platform for chefs, Dining administrators, Cornell Cooperative Extension agents, and students to work together.

During the 2006-2007 school year, a student organization focused on local foods—Farm to Cornell—was formed, and students from this group have attended CDLFAC meetings ever since.

In fall of 2006, students worked with Cornell Dining to organize the first Fall Harvest Dinner – featuring local food from nearby farms. On September 21st, 2006, the autumnal equinox, Frances Moore Lappé, author of “Diet for a Small Planet”, came to speak. The event was a collaboration between Farm to Cornell, NWAEG, and the CDFLAC. It drew over 200 people from throughout Cornell and the Ithaca community.

In 2007, Joe Salatin, the farmer from the documentary “Food, Inc.” came to speak; he is also featured in Michael Pollan’s “The Omnivore’s Dilemma.”  Later that year, environmentalist and founder of 350.org, Bill McKibben, came to speak at the 2nd annual Harvest Dinner. In addition to helping coordinate these educational events, Farm to Cornell produced a month-by-month ‘cookbook calendar’ for three consecutive years.  This publication featured recipes and artwork from the Cornell and Ithaca communities, to raise awareness about the many benefits of supporting local farmers. Proceeds from this calendar have gone to create a fund to support student efforts that advance sustainable agriculture and food systems in Tompkins County.
Farm to Cornell has been organizing the Farmers’ Market at Cornell for the past year. Many members of the club as well as other food enthusiasts serve on the Student Assembly Dining Committee and the CDLFAC, now known as the President’s Food Focus Team.