Betsy Donald, Queen’s University

“The Creative Rural Economy: from theory to practice”, June 14, 2011

Kingston, Ontario

What is creative food?

What are the trends in creative food?

Success stories

Lessons for Ontario’s rural communities

Ten years ago, “creative food” described elements of a newer food system

Creative food included specialty, local, organic, ethnic, and fair-trade foods that had supply networks distinct from mainstream ones

Creative food offered innovative solutions to ecological, social and health concerns

Today we know much more about the

complexities of “creative food” chains

We know more about the contradictions and ambiguities of systems like Local and green (Born and Purcell, Marsden, Blay-Palmer )

Global and fair trade, organic and cosmopolitan systems (Imbruce, Guthman and Morgan)

Regional food networks (Kneafsey, Donald et al.)

We know about the challenges within the food system

Labour practices (Slocum; Color of Food; Allen); gender (Coldwell);

class and hunger (Allen, Berg, Bedore); natural systems (Whatmore, McClintock)

We have more sophisticated theoretical tools and

empirical cases

We still don’t know how various “creative food” segments are fairing compared to the conventional industry

We don’t know how the financial crisis has affected different aspects of the food system

We examined recent US data to find out

The food industry is resilient There is evidence of leveling off in organic

and specialty sales There is sustained interest in local and

‘whole’ food and its role in health and community well-being

This interest has spawned policy innovation in local food systems

Those regions with an ethos and history of sustainable food are fairing better than those without

Source: St. Louis Federal Reserve

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Beverages

Bakery

Confectionary

Sauces and Seasonings

Snacks

Spreads

Average Weekly Sales Number of Stores

0

100000

200000

300000

400000

500000

600000

700000

2006 Q3 2007 Q3 2008 Q3 2009 Q3 2010 Q3 0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Source: Whole Foods Markets

Product Category

Retail Sales of Specialty Foods Retail Sales of All Foods 2009 Share of Specialty

Food Sales (%)

2007 2009

% Change in Sales

2007 2009

% Change in Sales

$ Million $ Million

$ Million $ Million

Yogurt ad Kefir 599 830 38.6 3,680 4,113 11.8 20.2 Refrigerated Juices and Functional Beverages 877 1,172 33.6 4,605 4,687 1.8 25.0 Shelf-Stable Pastas 576 749 30.0 6,030 6,007 -0.4 12.5 Beans Grains and Rice 345 448 29.9 1,988 2,513 26.4 17.8 Sweetners 227 282 24.2 2,052 2,239 9.1 12.6 Frozen Fruits and Vegetables 175 217 24.0 3,423 3,748 9.5 5.8 Baking Mixes, Supplies and Flours 582 687 18.0 3,107 3,663 17.9 18.8 Chips, Pretzels and Snacks 1,307 1,509 15.5 9,234 10,788 16.8 14.0 Refidgerated Sauces, Sauces and Dips 477 549 15.1 848 965 13.8 56.9 Milk, Half &Half Cream 764 822 7.6 15,222 13,972 -8.2 5.9 Oils 718 706 -1.7 2,100 2,478 18.0 28.5 Water 453 428 -5.5 5,348 4,899 -8.4 8.7 Frozen Juices and Beverages 14 13 -7.1 454 421 -7.3 3.1

Source: State of the Specialty Food Industry 2010. Table does not include sales figures from Walmart and Trader Joes

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Source: Organic Trade Association

0

5

10

15

20

25

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Source: Organic Trade Association

“The Whole Foods movement is the ‘Age of the

Unthinkable’ for processed foods” Food Navigator, April 5, 2011

Places that have successful food producers and manufactures are those that already have an ethos of incorporating sustainable and fairness elements into products and processes

New food entrepreneurs differ from back- to-the-landers of the 1960s

The new entrepreneurs are often well educated children of baby boomers who add business acumen to the idealism of an older generation

New food entrepreneurs are urban-oriented and engaged in solving pressing societal problems like energy use, food safety, hunger, community development

Back40 veg, PEC

Local community development through food is not a fad

Those regions with a history and ethos of environmentally and socially friendly practices are fairing better than those without

The new urban oriented food entrepreneur is an asset

There are success stories all across the food chain, but we will focus on two types of regions, the ingredients towards their success, and lessons learned

Case 1: The Revitalizing Region Saving itself through food - Hardwick, Vermont

Case 2: The Established Foodie Region A rich food network of producers, food writers,

restaurants, farmers markets – Portland, Maine

Hardwick is a town in Vermont with a population of 3,200

“Facing a Main Street dotted with vacant stores, residents of this hardscrabble community are reaching into its past to secure its future,

betting on farming to make Hardwick the town that was saved by food”. NYTimes

http://vimeo.com/7729181

75-100 new jobs Creating new food businesses with

institutional partners Downtown revitalized through new

restaurants and food stores New investment dollars flowing into

community Successful national marketing campaign

1. Working collectively as a community “Across the country a lot of people are doing it individually but it’s rare when you see the

kind of collective they are pursuing,” said Mr. Fried, whose firm considers social and

environmental issues when investing. “The bottom line is they are providing jobs and

making it possible for others to have their own business.”

2. Establishing the Center for an Agricultural Economy An industrial park for agricultural businesses

3. Securing the Vermont Food Venture Center Agricultural producers rent kitchen space and get

business advice for adding value to raw ingredients

Portland, Maine Population: 65,000 Consistently ranked as one of America’s best

small towns for food culture

National awards and accolades High ratio of local restaurants to chain

outlets High per capita number of local CSAs and

farmer’s markets High per capita number of food stores,

shops, cookbook stores, kitchen stores High per capita number of brewpubs,

microbreweries, wine bars, etc.

Great product (native ingredients from across the food chain)

Talented chefs with a cooperative yet competitive spirit

Do-it-yourself attitude toward food and admiration of diverse culinary traditions

Signature “regional” meal - breakfast Lead cultural firms that led to spin-offs Engaged residents with high expectations and

supportive of regional food

Ontario is currently witnessing an explosion of interest in local, sustainable and high-quality, accessible food, yet more needs to be done to put Ontario’s rural communities on the map for their food culture

Where does your community fit into the food equation?

Do you have a strong agricultural base? Do you have good local infrastructure? Do you have a foodie culture? Who are your “food” champions? Do you collaborate with surrounding regions? Do you market your region? (dedicated food

writers)

Continue to develop infrastructure for local food products

Conduct a foodie IQ test for your community

Embrace the new urban-oriented food entrepreneur

Develop better collaboration with all actors in the food chain for a place-based food vision

Engage better marketing services for local producers of high quality food and drink

Donald, B. et al., 2010. “Re-regionalizing the Food System” Special Issue, Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society

Sims, R. 2010. “Putting Place on the Menu” Journal of Rural Studies, 26, 105-115.

Blay-Palmer, A. 2011. “Regional Food-Hub Project for Ontario” Ghena, J. 2008. “The Downtown Coffee House Business”

Downtown Economics, Issue 138, Centre for Community and Economic Development, University of Wisconsin-Extension, Madison, WI.

Knutson, M. 2010. “Reinvesting restaurants (and rural communities), Centre for Rural Affairs, Lyons, NE

Ngo, Minh K. 2011. “The Place of Food: …new urban oriented farmers in rural…Ontario”, MA Thesis, Carlton University

Specific places to check out: Organic Valley Cooperative and the impact it has had on the very rural

village of LaFarge Wisconsin New Mexico’s Dreaming vision

The Journal of Ag Food Systems and Community Development

Another often cited community for its focus on food and economic development is Woodbury County Iowa www.woodburyorganics.com

American Planning Association’s resource page on food systems planning http://www.planning.org/nationalcenters/health/food.htm and their special issue on food planning with a number of community examples http://www.planning.org/planning/2009/aug/index.htm from Vancouver, Berkeley, Montreal

Community studies featured in the book “Culinary Tourism” by Lucy Long. This is mainly an anthropological text and includes international communities

Queen’s University SSHRC grant on sustainable food and regional

economic development, no. 864-07-0101 Heather Hall and Sean Field Dr. Yolande Chan and the staff at the

Monieson Centre, Queen’s School of Business Mr. Harold Flaming, Ontario Rural Council Farmers, food entrepreneurs, food educators

and rural communities across North America for their time and devotion to making our food system better for all