Connecting Local Agriculture to Local Economy
Just wrote a post for a WV Day (our 146th Birthday) project a friend of mine put together to have bloggers in the state identify a problem and suggest solutions to create A Better West Virginia. I went off on local/organic and the need to create local agricultural economies, foster their development, and provide support to link them in a Statewide network.
So I'm doing some post-post research and want to ask you all to talk about examples of institutional community support for local agriculture economies.
What do your local farmers' markets do to connect farmers and consumer beyond the physical market? What kinds of non-profits are connecting food from your community to tables in your homes, schools, restaurants, and hospitals?
Can a national organization connect the efforts in different states as well as State organizations can connect efforts in local communities?
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4 Comments:
Sounds to me like someone is trying to bite off more than they can chew. I think that local farmers markets are about to see a major surge in business, especially where there are already people engaged in truck farming.
Regular grocers have some competitive advantages over most farmer's markets that have nothing to do with quality.
1) A very large number of people have never been to a farmer's market and are fearful that they would not know how to act if they did. Very few people possess any serious knowledge of food.
2) Not that many people know where to find their local farmer's market.
3) People can go to the grocery store and get everything they think they need in one trip. They very likely do not need a fraction of what they buy. They buy it because the kids yap for it like they did when they were growing up.
Grumpy Old Man at 4:34PM on 06/19/09
Okay, I'll have to get back to you on this for more local info--and this is something I'm very interested in, but for now you might try the links and the article itself at this story on epicurious.com, Farmers Make A Difference With Education, Donations, Social Action And More. Off hand I do know that we have some local farm stands that do tours for elementary schools and birthday parties and also send out newsletters--I'll have to take a closer look to give you at our local situation in Central NY.
dhorst at 11:26PM on 06/19/09
Our local school district will be buying fresh vegetables from the local farms. They're doing a pilot program over the summer for the smaller number of summer school attendees, with the hopes that they'll work the bugs out of the system, then they'll launch it full steam when school starts again.
The big problem with this is that school time doesn't coincide all that well with the growing season. But they're doing what they can when they can.
Much of the produce that's left unsold at the end of the day at the Farmer's Market is picked up by local food banks and charities. Our market is just on Saturdays, so it's not like they're going to sell it again the next day.
Another problem with using fresh produce in the schools is the amount of time needed to prep the stuff. One example the school gave was corn. It takes a long time to shuck enough corn vs. buying canned or frozen. They have to look at what's possible based on the amount of time needed for prep work. I suspect the same is true for other institutions.
A lot of the local farms do "pick-your-own" things, and this might include a hayride to the fields or special events/activities for the kids. They're all a little different, and some are more kid oriented than others.
One of the local farms is doing farm dinners where all the food is local.
We're not far from agricultural land here, and a lot of kids are in 4H, raising sheep, goats, cattle, etc., raising chicken and selling eggs, etc., so it's kind of hard to live here and be too unaware of farm crops if you've been here long enough, and particularly for families with kids who know other kids who live on the farms.
When we moved here, there were cattle grazing across the street from the mall. There's still plenty of livestock in town and even more in the surrounding area.
In the winter, you're kind of stuck with buying from grocery stores, and I know a lot of people prefer the ease of frozen and pre-prepped veggies all year, but it's not because they don't know where the farmer's markets are. I don't know what sort of support you could offer to farmers to make those sorts of people suddenly decide to cook farm-fresh food.
I really can't think of any nonprofits that are linking the farmers with the consumers. Even the farmer's markets are a business, leasing space to the farmers to sell their wares. And I'm not sure what a nonprofit could do or how it would benefit the farmer or the consumer.
dbcurrie at 7:40PM on 06/22/09
Farmer's markets could help themselves substantially by offering a broader range of basics, but not necessarily at a lower price. Offering eggs, flour and sugar in addition to the things raised on the local farmsteads. They should try to stay open for at least three days running and make sure that people know where they are. Signs not only direct people to the market, they also remind folks that the markets are there. Genuine tomatoes sold here! No pink goo!
They should also offer fresh herbs and herb plants. In other words, if you can't hold your own ground, take some ground away from the opposition.
Grumpy Old Man at 2:56PM on 06/23/09