Simply: Home Cooking

Paying the farmer's asking price...and increasing the farmer's share

Rural SCALE recently released a study on the affordability of local food for the average consumer, collecting data from 24 farmers’ markets in 19 communities in 6 southeastern states. The study concludes that

Overall, farmers markets in the Southeast and Appalachia are highly competitive with mainstream supermarkets in their pricing on a range of commonly consumed foods, including produce, meats and eggs. (Emphasis in the original.)

Naturally, one might draw different conclusions from similar studies of other regions, but there are some interesting statistics (and generalizable conclusions?) about size of community and prices at farmers’ markets that sell to moderate- and low-income patrons, those who might believe that the local food movement has passed them by.

Then consider this graphic by the National Farmers Union: Farmer’s Share of Retail Food Dollar. I’m not so interested in the startling figures on processed foods (soft drinks, potato chips, bread) because few of the raw ingredients are actually supplied by a farmer. Far more disturbing are the figures on whole, minimally processed ingredients. Take the produce section of a conventional supermarket (think Safeway, Kroger, etc.), for example: farmers receive anywhere from 10.3 cents on the dollar for lettuce to 30 cents on the dollar for carrots.

Now think about buying this produce at a farmers’ market or directly from a farmer: if it’s true that the prices at the farmers’ market are comparable to those of the supermarket for comparable items, the farmer will suddenly have $4.59 (instead of $1.38) in his pocket for 5 pounds of carrots; $3.08 (instead of $0.27) for a pound of tomatoes, etc.

Buying local food at the farmers’ market certainly seems like a win-win for farmers and consumers.

Irene, farmers, loyalty, and gratitude

Having grown up in Vermont, I have been following the post-Irene news out of the state with horror. Pictures of washed out roads (difficult for someone to understand the gravity of that when there is no concept that it may be the ONLY road in and out of a town), flooded fields, crops laid waste. What can you do to help, if you're inclined to do so? There's the always-welcome local Red Cross donation, a number of tshirt companies are donating proceeds from sales (check out Vermont Clothing Company and the Vermont Strong Store), and not surprisingly, a number of benefit concerts and similar events sprang up - it's hard to keep Vermonters down for long! And I saw some truly original ideas floated by my Facebook friends: how about a produce "round-up" day at the farmers' markets, where buyers voluntarily round every purchase up to the next $5 or $10? But isn't there a bigger picture, one that will last beyond the news headlines and the desire to help in a time of need?

Vermont, of course, wasn't the only state affected. Grist.org had a brief roundup of news from farmers throughout the swath cut by Irene. And if the producer end of our food system has suffered, the consumer must also pay the price - literally! And how I dread hearing (most) people complain about the price of food....

I recently watched a series of short films by Nourish, and I was once again struck by a statistic mentioned: in the last 50 years, Americans have gone from spending 18% of our national income on food to spending 9.9% on food. (In same time period, we've gone from spending 5% of national income on health care to spending 16% on health care.) Yes, there are those who truly cannot spend more on food, but what about the vast majority of us, who can?

As someone who tries to buy local and sustainable food whenever possible and one who is fortunate enough to be able to pay the premium often demanded by organic, this recent crop devastation, coupled with what seems to be a weird growing season nationally, has given me a lot to ponder. My first thought about the affected farmers was, "I hope the majority of them run CSAs!" Those farmers who run CSAs (community supported agriculture programs) charge a flat fee per share at the beginning of the growing season, then provide an equal amount of produce to each shareholder throughout the harvest season. If the farm does well and the harvest is good, the consumer gets a bountiful share each week. If there is bad weather or a natural disaster, then the harvest is poor or nonexistent, and the consumer supplements the share with food sourced elsewhere. So in a sense, it's a gamble for the consumer, but how much less of a gamble for the farmer who produces our food? And in this age of disappearing small and mid-size farms, isn't it important for those of us who can afford it to stack the deck in the farmers' favor?

Now is the time to start thinking about next year's crops and signing on for a CSA with a local farmer - out of loyalty, and because we can. And now is also the time to start supporting measures in upcoming Farm Bill legislation that will help small and mid-size farmers with crop insurance for situations like the one caused by Irene.

The LocalHarvest blog has a wonderful post about eating locally in a poor season that was supposed to be the height of harvest bounty. Erin Barnett concludes,

Ultimately, the thing that supports this loyalty and flexibility and acceptance is a sense of gratitude. Things change when we find the space within ourselves to feel thankful for what the land is providing, even, and perhaps especially, in challenging seasons.

Good news on the local food front

Tired of the bad news on food? Can't get your head around 36 million pounds of salmonella-tainted ground turkey (not to mention the tons of packaging that went to waste on 36 million pounds of salmonella-tainted ground turkey)?

There IS good news on the local/regional food front, and you can find it in "Market Forces," a report produced by the Union of Concerned Scientists. If you don't want to plow through the entire report, a quick browse of the executive summary is well worth a few minutes of your time.

USDA map of farmers' markets in the 50 United States

For more discussion on why buying local makes sense, check out "Buying Local Makes Economic Sense."

20 Hoops in 20 Days

No, we’re not talking basketball here, but something much more exciting: a fabulous local organization, SELMA Cafe, raises money and volunteers to help area farmers put up “hoop houses,” which are basically long plastic-covered greenhouses that enable the farmer to use passive solar energy to extend the growing season to 10-12 months of the year  – even here in Michigan!

On June 15, SELMA started a project to construct 20 of the houses for 20 different farms in 20 days. Most of our gang at Fair Food Network signed up for a team work day, and I decided to lend a hand in a more concrete way – not by sitting in the office working on food systems projects in the abstract but actually helping to build a hoop house. And so on day 1 of the project, we (including my 11-year old daughter – honest, teachers, it was a worthy, educational project!) found ourselves out in Stockbridge performing hard labor.

I wanted to share some photos of the day – not much else to say, except that it was truly inspiring to see the approximately 20 volunteers, led by builder-in-chief Jeff McCabe (who ought to write the Hoophouses for Dummies book), put this thing together. We had to leave before it was done, but K’s conclusion (again, sorry teachers!): “I learned much more today than I would have on the last Wednesday of the school year!”

How it looked at 9:00 am.

 

And how it looked when I had to leave at 2:45 pm - almost a hoophouse!

To view all the photos, go to my Facebook album.

Three cheers for the farmers

I was happy to see Slow Food USA designate February 14th "Love Your Farmer Day" - I never tire of praising and promoting "my" farmers: Amie & Two Creeks Organics, John & Cathie at McLaughlin Farms, the Dolls at Back Forty Acres, the whole family at Down on the Farm, and Jennifer at Capella Farm. Sending lots of love their way!

Likewise, I was thrilled to see Wendell Berry, farmer/poet/activist/environmentalist, receive a National Humanities Medal from President Obama! Was it happy coincidence that this was reported the same day that Grist.org posted "When are we going to stop seeing farmers as rubes and hayseeds?" If you're interested in more on that subject, check out the editorial on pp. 7-8 of the Back Forty Acres Winter 2011 newsletter - I'm tired just reading what a farmer does in a day!

So here's to all the farmers who feed us - let's show them love every day!