Unassuming cartons of vibrant red cherry tomatoes lie in the fresh produce aisle of Sixth Market. The rustic logo printed on the carton reads: “Dassi Family Farm.”
Dassi Family Farm is a labor of love located in Encinitas, just 15 miles away from UC San Diego’s campus, and the local source of many of our favorite products.
But many students are completely disconnected from their food’s origins. Dassi is one of many farms that Housing Dining Hospitality sources from, but Dassi is especially known for growing sustainable produce.
Jennifer Dassi, co-owner of the family farm, emphasized the granular nature of managing such a localized operation in an interview with The UCSD Guardian.
“We handle every step of the process — from seed propagation to harvesting, packing, and delivering directly to our customers, including UCSD markets,” Dassi said. “Being a local farm allows us to stay closely connected to the communities we serve, providing produce that goes straight from our greenhouse to UCSD campus.”
Established in 2013, the farm grows produce such as tomatoes and cucumbers using a complex hydroponics system. Instead of pesticides, the farm uses beneficial insects to naturally ward off pests.
HDH has long-partnered with Dassi to provide fresh and local produce to UCSD’s dining halls and markets. But not all students are satisfied with the University’s attempts to balance price and quality.
For students like third-year Kassandra Delgado, a member of the Food Cooperative, these HDH efforts feel inauthentic amid rising food costs.
“I think HDH and UCSD just use their money to create the illusion of performative change,” Delgado said. “Institutions are so detached from student needs and the actual human experience of having something on your plate.”
Delgado said that affordable pricing should be the University’s priority so that it can meet student needs.
“When students don’t have to be worried about the price of the food they are getting, it gives them room in their brain to be curious and have the opportunity to learn and develop a positive relationship with food,” Delgado said.
The University’s perceived miscalculation of maintaining a reasonable price with its sustainable partners like Dassi is what leads students like Delgado to believe that HDH is not doing enough to keep groceries accessible to students. In an email to The Guardian, HDH explained that this calculation takes into account logistical barriers that are invisible to most students.
“Early on, Dassi delivered to a single location once a week and we handled internal distribution, but then we transitioned deliveries directly to the [markets],” said Laura Margoni, HDH executive director of strategic and critical communications. “This was a key shift that made the partnership viable long-term.”
Logistical barriers — such as packing and transporting, adjusting price targets, and integrating feedback from the student body — make it challenging for the University to maintain multiple partnerships with small businesses.
“It is a constant balancing act and a very hands-on process,” Margoni said. “Price sensitivity is critical. … Our analytics team helps us forecast accurately so we’re buying the right quantities between deliveries.”
It is this precarious balance that drives third-year Catalina Bilandzija, campaign director of the Student Sustainability Collective, to work within the system.
Bilandzija, who is actively involved in marketing sustainable food products at the Jacobs Medical Center, takes an optimistic stance on HDH’s commitment to sustainability, but acknowledges that there is room for improvement.
“I think the markets are overall doing a really good job,” Bilandzija said. “Still, I think the dining halls are attempting to educate people through slideshows and projections on TVs, but that doesn’t really mean anything to students if they can’t have a connection to it.”
Bilandzija emphasized the difficulty of maintaining institutional priorities with sustainable targets, all while connecting students with their food’s origins.
Whether it is students spamming orders on the Triton2Go app or eagerly scanning their Just Walk Out codes in the markets to grab a quick bite, the context around the products on the shelves are often overlooked.
Nevertheless, the commitment to being local and sustainable remains personal for Dassi.
“We are real people behind the food you’re picking up — people who grow and eat the same produce we provide to you.” Dassi said. “As the world changes, understanding where your food comes from matters more than ever.”
