On an unseasonably cool, drizzly afternoon in May, Jamie Moore drives to Susquehanna Mills, a canola oil processing plant in Montoursville, central Pennsylvania. As director of sourcing and sustainability for the Pittsburgh-based Eat’n Park Hospitality Group, it’s Moore’s job to cultivate sources of quality food for his division, Parkhurst Dining Services, and to make sure that as much of that food is as local and as organic as possible. In his mind, there’s no other way to do so than to follow food to its origin. So, he’s inspecting oil and meeting processors.

Moore, 41, is passionate about coordinating food supply chains that use sustainable practices and aim to benefit everyone, including his own company and clients. Here’s the chain he envisions for canola oil: He shows dairy farmers how to raise rapeseed, the seed used to produce canola oil, which will give them an additional stream of revenue. Parkhurst will purchase and use this oil in its vinaigrettes, French fries and many other menu items available in its dining halls and catered venues. Used oil will then be converted into biodiesel fuel, which again will benefit green-minded consumers.

His crisscross of rural Pennsylvania has produced the kind of win–win relationship that will ultimately reduce his company’s carbon footprint while supporting local farmers and the environment. And both sides of the equation recognize that Moore’s work is helping to improve the value of their own.

“One of our focuses as a local company has been to support our communities, and we also wanted to work in a way that got us away from processed foods and moved us back to basics and real cooking from scratch,” says Nick Camody, Parkhurst’s chief operating officer. “If you’re going to do that, you have to use quality ingredients, and getting local products is even better. Jamie is bringing us products that are so local and so good that we’re really happy to have him. And because of his passion, he is actually saving some farms in this region, so we see the sustainability director position as a benefit to our community and our guests.”