Transcript Document
Local Foods: Lessons Learned from the Sandhills Taylor Williams Agricultural Extension Agent Moore County December 30, 2011 Conventional Food Systems versus Local Conventional food • 1500 miles (avg) • Farms produce commodities • Agribusiness adds value, marketing, distrubution • Low cost drives production • Farmers receive 17% of retail value Local food • Within defined distance • Farms add value • Market demands drive production • Farmers get 40 – 100% of retail value Farmers are essential to community sustainability • Food security • Foundation for other commerce • Environmental stewardship • Quality of life Farmers need friends! • Land is their largest financial asset • Regulations are onerous • Labor is greatest cost • Market barriers are everywhere – Consumers drive markets – Markets determine margins – Farmers and consumers do not understand one another Headwinds for Farmers • • • • • • • Age Debt Labor Market barriers New Regulations Capital Investment Land Costs, Encroachment NC Farmland Losses 2002-07 • 600,000 acres lost • Buncombe, Edgecombe,Hyde, Moore, Perquimans • Each lost >20,000 acres – – NCDA&CS Agricultural Statistics NC Farmland Transition Network Community Support: Sandhills Local Foods Committee • First Health • Sandhills Community College • Sustainable Sandhills • Communities in Schools • Chefs • Master Gardeners • Food Bank • Farmers The Benefits of “Eating Local” Paige Burns, Horticulture Agent Richmond County Consumer choice governs market Which Chicken would you buy? Local, free range $5/lb Conventional $2/lb Farmer’s Markets • Pros: – – – – Excellent entry point Customer feedback Farmer gets 100% retail 17c of food $ typical • Cons: – Time consuming (whole day) – Average Vendor, $300 sales/day Current Military Process for Food • Farmers Cannot deliver to base • Produce purchased by “Prime Vendor” with multi-year contract • Farmer brings product to warehouse, aggregated • Warehouse is 100 miles, farm is 5 miles from base. • Must have G.A.P.s = Good Agricultural Practices • Market Barriers GAPS – Schools, Hospitals, Military • Hands-on GAPS training • Partners helped pay for training, and for expenses related to Audit Challenges to mid-sized farmers • “If you get GAPS certified, we will buy your produce” • Really? Carrot farmer • • • • 600 acres of carrots GAPS certified since 2010 Out of pocket costs: $1.5 million GAPS has not resulted in military purchases, even though he is 5 miles from Camp McCall • Holder of contract bankrupt Sandhills Farm to Table Cooperative "Neighbors Feeding Neighbors” Hello Neighbor Welcome to Sandhills Farm to Table Cooperative http://sandhillsfarm2table.com/ Sandhills Farm to Table Cooperative "Neighbors Feeding Neighbors” • "We're all in this together“ • 1,230+ Household Members (3.5% of population) • $300,000 in sales of local produce 2010 (first year) – $450,000 (2011) • 70% of the food dollars to the farmer. • Collaboration with Sandhills Partnership Sandhills Farm to Table Cooperative "Neighbors Feeding Neighbors” • We Are A Community • We Are A Cooperative Corporation • Three Groups – Farmers – Consumers – Workers • “Neighbors feeding neighbors” Farm to School • Collaboration with CIS through Food Corps • GAPS required • Sweet potatoes served to all students Farm to Restaurant • Local sourcing of meats and vegetables produce • Sandhills has applied to be a Slow Food Chapter Moorefit University • Farm Tours • Workplace garden • Collaboration with FirstHealth, Pinehurst Resorts, Master Gardeners • Introduced raised bed vegetable Gardens at 8 workplace partners Farm Tours • Boosts local demand • Acquaints public with the value and vexations of farming • Participants provide valuable feed back on farmers markets and farm visitor readiness Farmer Reaction against Local Food • Local food motivated by negative perception of agriculture • Agriculture is messy, smelly, dirty • Agriculture is conservative • Producers produce. – They avoid public. – They distrust government efforts to help them. Agribusiness Contribution to NC Economy •17% of NC Economy Mike Walden www.cals.ncsu.edu NC Agriculture & Agribusiness $59 Billion 13.6 18.4 •17% of workforce •Includes food manufacture, chemicals, and restaurants •Food System is largely conventional 6.3 20.2 Farming Manufacturing Wholesale Retail Green Revolution (1950-2000) • Norman Borlaug – Nobel Peace Prize, 1970 • Over 1 billion were spared starvation. • Grain yields increased 6X in developing world*. • Asian economies transformed from subsistance agriculture to industrial powerhouses. • The WW II generation met the challenge of its time w.r.t. food production. * www.wikipedia.org Norman Borlaug 1914-2009 www.nobelprize.org Lessons learned • Farmers need and deserve the respect and attention of broader society. • Food systems, both local and conventional, are driven by consumer choice. Consumers, local business, and institutions must be part of development. • Local foods is easier for farmers markets and food hubs than for institutions. • Both Food systems, Conventional and Local, have benefits and challenges. • Nothing is gained by contempt for any food system.