Hand To Mouth

Opportunities In The New Food System

Today brings a great new article on the Huffington Post about the opportunities that the new food system is creating, and why those of use who are involved in it have to re-double our efforts to get that message of opportunity across to both conventional producers, most of whom are struggling even with government subsidies, and consumers, who have been fed a line of PR bull by the industrial ag lobby for years.

Check it out here.

Vermont Farmers Markets

An essential part of any visit to Vermont is the farmers markets. I am continuously amazed at their quality and the abundance of the produce -- especially because I know first hand just how unforgiving the weather here can be (frosts in both early June and September, for example).

Yet here we are, Fourth of July weekend, at a producer-only market (once where you can sell only what you produced yourself) and the crops far surpass what is available at the Shepherdstown farmers market, where the growers have an extra 4-6 weeks of growing time at both ends and where they allow selling stuff that was bought in. I'll post some pictures from there when I get home.

Londonderry VT

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Londonderry is at the head of the West River Valley, at an elevation of about 1200 feet, which puts it in about USDA zone 3b-4a, with annual minimum temperatures of -40F possible (I have a picture of -42F in my own Londonderry garden), an average snow-free date of April 15 and an average frost free date of June 1-10 (I have recorded frosts every month of the year, though). Now, most of these growers are from lower elevations nearby, and some are using unheated tunnels or even greenhouses, but that is beside the point.

Londonderry is just a crossroads in the center of southern Vermont; the town is very small and isolated. Yet this market has grown over the past 15 years from three vendors to almost 30, and one told me this weekend that they expected sales of $1000 on that one Saturday.

Oh, and let's not forget Londonderry's cheesemakers, now winning awards statewide and nationwide. Twenty years ago the valley had only two remaining dairy farmers; now the local cheeses are sought out both by chefs and tourists.

 

Dorset, VT

 

';[    iih[oihoihoih[oih[oi[ih[k Dorset is west of Londonderry, at the southern end of the Mettowee Valley (one of the most picturesque in Vermont and bordering upstate New York) and at a much lower elevation, so it is not nearly as cold. Dorset is also  considerbly larger town, and more upscale, but then its market -- easily now the equal of Londonderry -- is much younger. Some of the same vendors attend, but there are also a number from over the line into the Hoosick Valley of New York.

Of particular note (beyond the general quality of the crops) is the fact that there are multiple bread vendors, all of whom do well, and the potato guy, who is a fourth generation Vermont farmer who saw the potential of specializing to save his farm. This is just the beginning of the season for him, and when I asked him if he was going to have any of my favorite (Blossom, a particularly beautiful spud IMHO) he not only knew the variety but indeed would be digging in them a few weeks. THAT is a local food culture taking root!

But I have to say that my favorite vendor there, because of her marketing savvy is the Filthy Farmgirl, who sells her own artisanal soaps. That woman gets it!

Emerging Issues in the Organic Industry - 1

A new report just out from the USDA Economic Research Service outlines the many issues facing the new organic food system both due to its meteoric growth and the relative retrenchment caused by the current economic decline. I expect be posting multiple times about things I notice in reading it through, but for this post I want to talk just about a comment about organic grains (a shortage of organic grain is inhibiting the growth of both organic dairy, and organic meat).

On page iii, the authors note that:

The low organic adoption rate for grain crops continues to be a bottleneck for expansion of the U.S. organic livestock sector, as organic livestock producers struggle to find reliable sources of affordable feed grains. Only 0.2 percent of U.S. corn and soybean crops were grown under certified organic farming systems in 2005, according to ERS estimates.

All too true. I was hired, back in 2004, to head up a program at the Rodale Institute funded by the USDA Risk Management Agency to address specifically this issue. The idea was two-fold: build an online "calculator" (like the ones years ago that helped you figure out how much you needed to save if you wanted to retire comfortably (forget about that now! <G>) and the ones these days -- I worked on one last year -- that calculate your carbon footprint so you know how much to "give" to grease your guilt over excessive consumption) that calculated a comparative profit and loss from conventional and organic commodity grain production; and (given the even-then obvious difference in favor of organic due to price differential) an online training program to help (the now-convinced) conventional farmers convert to organic production.

The plans were grand: we'd distribute copies of the software to all the FSA (Farm Service Agency) offices nationwide; put CDs next to the cash register in tractor dealers; do satellite training sessions to all the land grant universities. It was a heady time, a time when it first seemed that USDA was going to give some support to organic and actually help get the new organic market going. The grant was in the $3 million dollar range, and, I thought, had the potential to effectuate real change. That was before the bureaucracy (Rodale, not USDA) had its way and choked all the innovation out of the project (known then as FarmSelect). The site today, while still useful, never was allowed to live up to its potential (which I will, perhaps, detail at some point in the future).

So, today, five years later, we are essentially in the same place, according to the authors (capable and supportive people whom I met at the time) and organic grain brokers and merchants are still  sourcing a large part of their production overseas. It is momentarily discouraging, but in the end we go about our business and keep working for what good we see with what vision we may each have.

The burgeoning, once merely alternative food system that this blog tracks is testament to the large -- and growing -- number of people who never gave up the dream and who work today to build a more sustainable, earth friendly food system. We all owe a debt to all of them.

USDA to Survey Organic Farmers

After learning through its standard Ag Census that there were more than 20,000 organic farms in the United States, the USDA has decided to do a specific study of their demographics. If you are an organic farmer, go to the USDA ag census site and fill out the questionaire to be sure you are represented.

If you not a grower yourself, but just want to keep in touch with what USDA learns about the modern organic farmer, stay tuned for the release of the results.

Make Earth Day A Local Food Day

Here's a link to a database of Earth Day activities so that you can find an event near you.

Ah, The Rising Sun At USDA

Maybe it's just the fact that organic is profitable and growing, or maybe its the fact that the new Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, insisted, but  despite reports of some resistance from within USDA, not to mention some pressure from without -- the same kind we faced when we did a test of organic turf on the Mall back in 2007 -- there is plenty of support within federal agencies for greening up. It was just waiting for spring to sprout. In case you didn't know it, USDA already has a farmers market nearby, right at the Metro stop!

Starting things of right was none other than Jeff Moyer, farm director at the Rodale Institute, and new chair of the National Organic Standards Board who piloted the big brown and green TRI truck up to the tarp (gotta keep those sidewalks clean...that's what high profile is all about!).

"The Secretary wanted the garden to be certified organic," said Moyer as the load came down, "so all the inputs -- including compost -- need to conform to the National Organic Program standards." And ready to dig in were none other than the acting director of the National Organic Program, Barbara Robinson and board members of the Organic Trade Association. TRI staff were on hand to help as well.

It's enough to make me run into DC and hand over a resume to those folks!

To read the press release from The Rodale Institute, click here.

For more photos of the big dump, visit the photo page.

Merrigan Confirmed as Deputy Secretary - USDA

Late last week before recessing for a two week break, the Senate Agriculture Committee cofirmed Kathleen Merrigan as Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, the number two job! A member of the sustainable ag "dream team," she brings decades of Beltway experience to the job.  From 1987 to 1992, she was an ag committee staffer, and helped craft the legislation that created the National Organic Program (NOP), and then, and from 1999 to 2001 was Administrator of the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of which the NOP is a part.

Her most recent position was as an Assistant Professor and Director of the Agriculture, Food and Environment Program at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University.  

It is hard to imagine a more forward-looking,  progressive choice for this position!

Pigging Out

Food is one the the three, four or five most central needs of humans (depending on who you ask, it includes food, water, shelter, sex and community -- not necessarily in that order). But food preferences, once essential needs are met are definitely subject to change and style. A recent article in the New York Times talks about an old Hungarian pig breed that has come back into fashion for all the worst -- or best -- reasons, depending on your perspective.

Either way you look at it -- or even if you are a vegan and consider there to be NO reason to raise (oppress) animals -- it is an argument in favor of diversity.

This particular breed, the Mangalitsa (in Hungarian pronounced MAHN-gah-leet-za) was saved from oblivion -- domestic extinction -- by a Hungarian animal geneticist and is now a major cash sow [sic} for him, and the few American producers who managed to import brood sows before import restrictions were imposed.

This is classic "slow food" or "heirloom" farming. According to the NYT story the Mangalitsas take an extra six months to raise, and only bear 5-8 piglets instead of the usual 12-14 for modern, industrial breeds.

That means higher costs, and higher prices, but the chefs (who seem to be the predominant buyers at the moment) make up for it by "using everything but the squeal" which is, after all, the way things used to be done. I think we are headed back there, and with new understanding so we don't regress, i think that's a great thing.

For a different angle on the difference between industrial and artisanal pig production, see our post on Big MACC Attack called Free Range Trickiness.

Bridging The Tech Divide

There has long been a disconnect between techies and small farmers -- based in a sort of alienation and concomitant distrust. The techies felt the farmers were less than with it; farmers thought the techies were out of touch with the real world and just a bunch of skimmers. It wasn't often openly expressed that way because the gulf was so great between the two – and I know, having been both. That changed when technology trickled down, and farming trickled up. Thus was borne what is now called the Artisanal food movement (I like to think of myself as an early example of this since I bought my first portable computer in 1982 to assist in the management of my organic specialty vegetable operation.)

Fact is, internet and computer technology have now spread through all demographic groups, and a lot of the early tech pioneers have now taken an interest in "food and wine." Add to that the early wisdom of a large proportion of young people -- who are much more widely tech savvy than their parents, and more open to the ideas of the eco-sustainable-healthy food system, and you have the makings of a movement where the considerable powers of computer technology are put at the service of solving logistical problems that were simply insoluble when I got started in this business.

 

Fresh Fork Market -- its software, and its business model -- are a classic example. I spoke with Trevor Clatterbuck, who gave one of the presentations at the Forum on Rural Innovation in Winchester, VA earlier this month.

He was one of four students at Case Western Reserve who got involved in this whole question because of a school project. But once in the door, they looked around and saw not only positive social action, but also opportunity. The food business is $60b a year, and $15b of that is local, just the kind of business space that Fresh Fork is trying to enter. Though convinced themselves, they have had a hard time convincing investors that this is a growing and profitable market (I have been through this stage myself, years ago, and I empathize). But I think history (and demographics) is on their side.

These guys are doing something that SO needs to be done, and my guess is that they are going to succeed at it. They may in fact be the first here in the US to succeed at it. The model is not unlike Aarstiderne in Denmark, or such demand concentration businesses as Unistar LLC.

In essence the idea is an Ebay type of concept, where you consolidate demand and you consolidate supply, and then you remove the market dis-communications between them. On the light side that seems easy to understand, and in the case of non-perishables it is. I sell books on Ebay and Amazon and a host of other sites myself and it is pretty simple from a logistical viewpoint . You are looking for a book, I have it, I package it up nicely and mail it to you, and Amazon or Ebay serves as the broker, handling the money. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of groundbreaking code that had to be written to make Amazon and Ebay the behemoths they are today – but perishables are a whole different game. Farmers are not shipping crops via USPS Media Mail. (I have friends in the mail order business -- where I spent most of my adult life -- who have tried to make this work, without success).

Certain parts of the current system will have to be retained. There are still going to be produce wholesalers with warehouses and refrigeration unless we regress to some sort of pre-industrial society. And the boys from Fresh Fork Market determined that early in their analysis. At the moment they are operating as wholesalers themselves, because they have to provide "proof of concept" and nobody else seems to want to take the risk (heard that anywhere else recently?) but they see that as only a "Phase 1" strategy.

What they want to do long term, Trevor told me, is to piggyback on the existing logistics systems and utilize that capacity. For example, Whole Foods deadheads a lot of reefer trucks to it distribution centers after deliveries to its stores. It wants to buy more local food. If there was a way for those trucks to stop at farms and pick up local product, it would be a win-win. The question is how one gets the information necessary to analyze the system and the food geography to make that feasible.

The Whole Foods trucks aren't a problem; knowing where they are and where they have been, and when they have been there, and with what periodicity is trivial (in the computational sense) since they all have GPS units. (That is the plus side of the big firm, corporate world -- data is available and fairly standardized.)

The problem is with the producers, the overworked farmers who, if they want to take part in this whole scheme, are going to need to keep their often unique, often fragile, inventories up to date so that the characteristics of a free flowing, scalable food system -- think x1, x2, x3, and x4 as Trevor puts it in his Powerpoint -- can be maintained with enough integrity for all the players (or stakeholders in progressive-speak) can feel secure enough to commit to the new system that will eventually (I do believe it is damn near inevitable unless the environment collapses -- see my other blog, Boiled Frog for that aspect of my demented, schizoid view of life) replace the centralized, industrial food system that is now providing for us, better or worse (and which I cover on my other food system blog Big MACC Attack).

More On The White House Garden

The Washington Post ran a big front page photo of the White House Chefs breaking ground for the new veggie garden this morning (a busy news Saturday!) with a link back to the front of the Style section, where the story continued with another picture of Michelle Obama and the kids (this one below the fold). But the realest picture was on C-7, showing the first lady, clasped hand (NOT a fist!) in the air, exorting the kids to love those veggies, with a photographer clearly in the background. One assumes a complete cordon of photographers, and thus it would be kind of hard for any of them to get a shot without one of their fellows somewhere in it.

One wonders when the actual work will begin, as the tools deployed by the chefs are certainly not up to the job, not for removing 1100 sf fo established turf that is. Again, one assumes...always assumes given that this is on the clear side of that big iron fence along Constitution where at the end of the 60's so many marched in sadness and disgust at what was happening in the big white house up the South Lawn.

One hopes this will work out much better, and one assumes that next week the Park Service equipment will be on site to actually start work on putting in the Nation's organic vegetable garden.