Where do you get your food?
Between articles in
National Geographic Magazine about the evolution of diet and observations during the 4th annual Montgomery County (Ohio) Food Policy Coalition Summit last year, I think Michael Malone of
Hungry Toad Farm sums up the answer perfectly:
"Either somebody brings it to you, or you go get it."
The theme of the summit was Distribution--Connecting Producers to Consumers. I sat in on a few sessions* and it was interesting to hear from Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farmers as small as Michael Malone's couple dozen subscribers on up to Carl Bowman of
Bowman & Landes Turkey's multi-state reach.
What I learned was
there is romance in knowing where your food comes from (I agree with Dennis Chrisman of
Dorothy Lane Market's sentiment). Over the past 9 years I've enjoyed meeting the farmers who grow our food. At first it was 'oh look, kids, this is what an eggplant looks like in the field' but it has morphed into wanting to understand the motivations of folks who want to work so damn hard to feed me.
Ben Jackle, together with his wife Emily, had 475 planting sessions last year at
Mile Creek Farm. Holy cow! In order to balance what grows best in the climate and soil of their spread with what their customers want to buy, the Jackles must balance diversity with efficiency. It would be easiest to grow rows of the same crop and systemize the planting/growing/harvesting of a product, but as a CSA subscriber I wouldn't want to get a box of only tomatoes one week or only lettuce another week or only beets . . . ever. I appreciate the extra efforts that crop diversity requires.
"Convenience is a commodity itself"--another gem from Michael Malone. When he says "I don't sell peanut butter or toilet paper" he's right. I don't do all of my shopping in one place, nor would I want to do so. Everyone has skills, and while I appreciate our farm's ability
to grow giant kohlrabi and my neighbor's buddy's ability to grow happy chickens
and tasty beef, I also appreciate the volume discount on sharp cheddar cheese at Costco.
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Keener Family Farm--photo taken by my spouse. |
In addition to getting vegetables that have been grown near you by folks you've met, there are less tangible benefits to joining a CSA. George Mertz of Patchwork Gardens reminds me
there's an aesthetic value of agriculture. Seeing farmland in production is pleasing to the eye, an having a box brimming with (pre-paid) brightly colored vegetables is so much prettier than a cart full of packages waiting for the final total price.
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A typical late summer box: tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, corn and greens. |
People want local food, and according to Dan Carmody of the
Detroit Eastern Market, the breakdown isn't in food production it's in food distribution. Folks all over are developing new ways to connect consumers to producers.
In Seattle, Janelle Maiocco started Farmstr. Producers/Farmers can list their offerings on a central site online, and consumers can order the quantities and pick up locations that fit their needs. In Champaign County (Ohio), a
Virtual Farmer's Market set up by Pam Bowshier and Mark Runyan meets in a YMCA. Folks order their items over a multiway period, then come once a week to pick up their orders.
Even CSAs are evolving. CSA models don't have to be just vegetables, or meat, or cheese. Heck,
there's a beer CSA in Chicago--started by a former intern at our CSA,
Patchwork Gardens. I'd love to
have to empty my firkin before the next pickup date! According to a recent survey by
Local Harvest, farmers are teaming up with other local businesses to sell add-on products (bread, meat, eggs) in addition to vegetables. Multiple payment options and varied length seasons are helping to reach new subscribers. Shoot, back when we started eating from a CSA we stopped getting food in late September. Now we get deliveries into December--and yes, now in February I've still got locally grown squash in the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve as well as put up vegetables in the freezer and pantry.