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Linking Farmers and Consumers: Lessons and
Opportunities
Mary Hendrickson, Ph.D.Food Circles Networking Project
Community food systems are in the news….
Food System Trends 1994 2004
Number of farmers' markets 1,755 3,137
Number of certified organic farms 4,050 11,998
Number of cooking schools 338 930
Viewers of the Food Network (in millions) 7 79
Total sales of restaurant food (in billions) $281.5 $440.1
Number of artisan cheeses in the American Cheese Society's Annual Competition 100+ 700+
From Saveur Magazine, August 2004
These alternative food systems are really about …. Tasty, healthy food
Consumers are looking for differentiated foods – e.g. natural, organic, humanely raised, no antibiotics, family farm raised, fair labor practices
Relationships Food that you buy from your friends and neighbors to
support their businesses and your community’s development
Fun!
Farmer opportunities?Dominant Global Food System
Good, Clean and Fair Food Systems
Mass produce food on a scale to feed the mainstream
Strength Weakness
Easy and cheap access to capital
Strength Weakness
Long-range vision Strength Potential Weakness
Flexibility and response speed
Weakness Strength
Connect to consumers through personalized relationships
Weakness Strength
Providing organic, natural, humane, cage-free food
Potential Weakness
Strength
Providing fair and sustainable food
Weakness Strength
For farmers, food entrepreneurs and communities… Don’t create a capital-intensive, profit-
above-all-else, impersonal system that produces for the masses Lots of temptations to do just that!
Markets will demand more and more product LABELED as organic, humane, natural, free-range, no antibiotics, cage-free ….
Supply them or else….Wal-Mart & Organic? Potential to get squashed like a bug
Quality can suffer 3 Ms (money, management and marketing) will be in
short supply
But plenty of opportunities to … Develop new visions of what the food and farming
system can be What are the principles that we want to incorporate? There are many models ranging from micro to
international trade Celebrate uniqueness and diversity in the food
system This is an asset not a liability! The taste of place is becoming more and more important
Put people first – on the farm, in the plant and in the community
Make food systems local/regional not global Community Self-Reliance
Food Circle
Farmers
Eaters
Chefs
Grocery
Stores Processors
Educators Nutritionists
This kind of food system is based on relationships between people, within their community, and within their ecosystem.
Community food systems take…
Knowledge how to grow, process, market, distribute and cook
food that is connected to people in a particular place and time
Infrastructure Rebuild and create This includes everything from land, equipment,
trucks, storage, and retail spaces to regulations, policies and education
Components of community food systems… Getting food from farm gate to the eater’s
plate Production Processing Distribution Market outlets
New Production Methods Hoop houses or high
tunnels Allow farmers to get early
or late crops, winter greens
Alternative Production Methods
Intensive Rotational Grazing for dairy and beef Increases CLA content Lower fat and cholesterol
Used for lots of animals Sheep Goats Pastured Poultry
complements
Farmers Markets Sweeping across
the Midwest
Websites for finding farmers markets:
www.localharvest.org
www.sustainabletable.org
www.foodroutes.org
Linking Chefs & Farmers
New value chains… Create values-based value
chains Share the risks and benefits
of producing and consuming food throughout the supply chain
Focus on partnerships Examples:
Oregon Country Beef/Burger Chain & New Seasons
Red Tomato and Federation of Southern Cooperatives
Good Natured Family Farms and Hen House
New Business Models Hen House
a grocery store in Kansas City, uses fresh local products to differentiate themselves from other stores – sales of locally grown increasing 35% a year
Almost $7 million in locally grown sales in 2006
Farm to Cafeteria What if the food served in
our schools came from a sustainable food system? www.farmtoschool.org
What if food in our hospitals and nursing homes came from our local food systems? www.grownlocally.com Kaiser Permanente system
Community Gardening
Eater knowledge
How do you purchase, store, cook these kind of things for maxim taste and
nutritional value?
How do you find the time?
Images from Fair Share Farm, and
Google Image
Our Responsibilities Good, clean and fair food is going to take
cooperation Farmers see other farmers as cooperators and
not competitors – TOGA, Niman, Organic Valley/Organic Prairie
Eaters see themselves as more than consumers – as community members, as citizens, as workers, as participants
Concern ourselves with structure (what kind of relationships are we creating?) rather than scale (how big is too big?)
What do we get?• Better Nutrition: Increased consumption of
nutrient dense foods coupled with a decrease in nutrition-related diseases like diabetes and obesity
• Improved Local Economy: Increased number of viable farms, processors and stores contributing to the local economy
• Self-reliant, Food-Secure Community: Decreased number of people needing emergency food provisions and increased consumption of local foods in all parts of the community.