A chat with Michael Schenk

My Q and A, in podcast form, can be found here. 

How the government is supporting local farming

The U.S. government has many initiatives in place to further the scope of many local farmers. One of these initiatives is the Agricultural Marketing Service, a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that concentrates on the "efficient, fair marketing of U.S. agricultural products, including food, fiber, and specialty crops," according to its site. 

Among some of its duties, this branch of the USDA is responsible for organizing the transportation for agriculture, fair trading regulations and, especially relevant, wholesale and farmers markets. 

In that last respect, the Agricultural Marketing Service can be invaluable to anyone interested in local food and farmers markets. 

The site has educational resources that perform a multitude of helpful tasks. Marketing Channel Research and Development collects information that helps agricultural producers connect with commercial buyers, much like a site I've mentioned before. 

Marketing Information and Education helps farmers learn about how to market their products to outside parties. This is the type of information that allows local farming to grow and become a larger part of a community. 

Especially important is the grant resources available at the site. The Farmers Market Promotion Program helps establish, expand and promote local farmers markets and other direct-to-consumer economic models. 

The Federal State Marketing Improvement Program provides matching funds to state agricultural entities who are looking for new ways to market U.S. agricultural goods, and "to encourage research and innovation aimed at improving the efficiency and performance of the U.S. marketing system," according to the site.

The site also has design information on how to construct or re-design a local market. Issues discussed include market analysis, building cost study, location analysis, energy efficiency and post-harvest handling, among other considerations. Although these are things that are taken for granted every week as customers walk down the aisles of the Athens Farmers Market, someone has to organize the semantics of such a huge operation. Even relatively simple operations require a huge amount of work, and this site tries to make that work just a little more bearable for those trying to offer great, local food to consumers.

A local take on local food

Bob O'Neal is the co-owner of Della Zona, a local brick oven pizza restaurant located on East State street. Along with his business partner Christine Hughes, O'Neal operates not only Della Zona but Village Bakery as well. 

Both restaurants specialize in using locally-grown organic  foods almost exclusively. By doing this, O'Neal explains, he is not only supporting the local economy, but offering food that is more healthful than most other restaurants. 

"There is no alternative for me," O'Neal said. The act of choosing local, organic food is very simple once you realize the facts of the situation, he said. O'Neal cited the use of chemicals and "slave labor" by food producers around the world as reasons why he uses as few non-local food producers as possible.

"There is the health crisis, which is directly related to the food that people are eating today," O'Neal said. Many producers use inhumane methods to create their food because it is cheap, even though those methods are not healthful for people who eat the food,  he said. 

O'Neal instead buys his vegetables, milk and meats from local sustainable farms. These farmers do not use harsh pesticides on plants or give steroids to animals, he said. Instead, these farmers utilize reusable composting methods and ecologically sound farming practices that produce better food, he said. 

Della Zona uses food from farms and farmers that we know, O'Neal said. "We know that it's healthy," he said.

O'Neal said that he works with local farmers to make sure that they are producing food that lives up to his high expectations of sustainability and healthfulness. Of course as a restaurant owner, O'Neal must make sure that he has enough product to satisfy his customer's cravings. In this capacity, he works with local producers to procure enough of a year's yield to ensure that he will have enough vegetables and meats to last the year, especially when certain necessary vegetables, such as tomatoes and peppers, are not in season. 

O'Neal said that even though he goes to great lengths to find the perfect food to make his pizzas with, certain foods just cannot be found in Ohio, so he must go elsewhere. Olive oil and artichokes are two things that we get from outside ohio, he said. But the artichokes are organic, at least, he said. 

O'Neal said that there is a thriving local food initiative among students in Athens, but it is difficult sometimes for undergrads who are living in the dorms to cook their own food, especially considering they must eat dining hall food the first two years of college.

Below is an interview conducted by Athens F.M. with Mr. O'Neal. In it, this local foodie discusses everything from local farms to Ohio University students to maple-roasted rhubarb.

Study shows farmers market's are on the rise

A study done by Allison Brown shows that, despite the fact that farmers markets are no longer the main source of sustenance for people in small and large towns alike, they have grown in number for the past 30 years.

Between 1970 and 1986, writes Brown, farmers markets grew at an estimated rate of 500 percent, according to one source. One main reason for this, according to the report, is the passage of the Farmer-to-Consumer Direct Marketing Act of 1976.

In a previous post, I mentioned that the Athens Farmers Market was established in the summer of 1972. That means that the AFM was part of that estimated 500 percent increase.

Brown goes on to say that farmers markets, like almost every thing else, seem to go through times of growth and decline. In the end, however, as can be seen by Brown's research, the aggregate amount of farmers markets appear to grow over time.

This is a very good outlook for all farmers markets, but more importantly for a market in a small, rural area whose residents do not always have a large amount of disposable income. And, as was noted in a previous post, Athens farmers market has seen a huge growth since its quaint beginnings, which also mirrors the national trend.

An interesting and often-discussed issue regarding this, however, is that much of the market's possible customer base is on a rotating basis. As mentioned in earlier posts, students are a huge, untapped customer base for the market, but it is difficult, if not impossible, to get a consistent flow of student buyers because, after four or five years, they are all gone and replaced with a whole new group of students who must be wooed 

he offerings of the market. That is another reason why this blog is important. It is a link to past students, as well as current and soon-to-be students to become accustomed to the wonders of the farmers market.

The photo was provided by Creative Commons image search.

Review: LocalHarvest.org is a site for sore eyes

Now here is a Web page that a few news sites could learn a lesson from. LocalHarvest.org is, according to its "About Us" page, "America's #1 organic and local foods website." The site promotes small farmers creating a "nationwide directory of small farms, farmers markets, and other local food sources." 

Although this site does a great job promoting local food sources and expanding the selling power of small growers, some might argue that other sites do the same thing just as well. What's so special about this site, they might ask. Well, to answer that question and to get back to my point of how some news sites could learn a thing or two from LocalHarvest.org, I will show you a quick screenshot of the homepage:

Now let's take a closer look:

That is an interactive map of all the small farms, farmers markets, restaurants, grocery stores and others that have registered with the site. You can click on the map to get a closer look, or you can search by name/description/product or by zip, city or state. 

Furthermore, the site hosts forums, issues a newsletter, hosts blogs and touts a massive photo gallery with pictures from around the United States. 

Additionally, the site has a store where growers from around the nation can come to sell their products through an electronic supermarket.  Eggs, herbs and even soaps can be bought directly from the producers via the Web site. 

What LocalHarvest.org does that makes it stand above the rest is it connects like-minded individuals, whom otherwise never would have met, through an interactive social-networking site geared toward local food enthusiasts. They can meet and network amongst one another to help expand the demand and breadth of local foods and products. 

One criticism, though: There is an enormous maw of nothingness at the bottom of every page. It is noticeable, especially when you scroll down the screen and are suddenly staring a completely blank page. Also, there are some small grammatical errors on the site. Most people would not recognize the errors, but as a journalist I pick up on them. 

There are no videos, either, which I was disappointed to see. It certainly would have added another aspect to the site. Pictures can only do so much. A few videos thrown into the "Photos" section (and a name change from "Photos" to "Photos and Videos") and there could be a whole new angle from which to see farmers markets and small farms from. 

The site is a great find, and it is recommended for anyone interested in local products and connecting with others around the nation.  

Eight reasons to ditch Walmart and eat local

1.) Local food is fresh. 

When you buy fruit and vegetables from grocery stores, you can almost guarantee that the food was picked at least a week ahead of time, if not more. Even if the store has a "local" section, the food

 has more than likely been sitting on the shelves or in storage for days. When you buy at a farmers market, though, you can tell that the fruit and vegetables were recently picked and the bread was freshly baked.

2.) Local foods are seasonal.

You can buy almost any fruit or vegetable at a grocer no matter what time of the year it is. That's because those fruits and vegetables are grown in either different areas of the country or in different countries all together and shipped in to Ohio, for instance, during the winter when certain plants don't grow. Local markets, however, only provide foods that are in season. You can tell the difference between fruit that has been shipped from across the world and fruit that is seasonally ripe and just picked from the tree.

3.) Local foods are "greener."

It takes a lot of gas to ship those potatoes from Idaho to Ohio. And that is only adding to the already crippling strain on the environment. Some local farmers practice sustainable growing

, leaving a negligible carbon footprint behind. And even if a farmer doesn't "farm green," most vendors drive less than an hour to get their products to the market, which is much shorter than it takes for those 'taters to get here. 

4.)  Farmland = Less emissions.

The more farmland there is being used to provide food to the surrounding community, the less development there will be. This means more "green space," or land that is not used to contribute to global warming. This is a good thing. 

5.) Local foods are safer.

The fewer people that are between you and your food the better. And I'm not just talking about the other people gath

ered around the dinner table. For the most part, local foods are handled by the farmer/vendor/butcher/etc. and his or her workers, and that's about it. Other places may have five, ten, twenty different people handling the food in seven different cities around the globe. When you know where your food has been, you know, for the most part, how safe it is. For example, during the e. coli outbreak that affected spinach, if you had bought spinach from a national retailer you could never really know if that spinach was good to eat. If you had boughten the spinach locally, however, you would have know right off the bat whether the spinach you had in your fridge was contaminated or not.

6.) Local foods help support the local economy.

Buying local means the money will stay in the community. With other vendors, money may be trickling out four different directions, and all of them away from Athens. In a poor county such as Athens, it is important to support your neighbors, even if you will only know them for four years. 

7.) Buying local promotes food variety.

When you go to Walmart, how many types of apples can be chosen from? Two, three, four tops? At local markets, there is a wider variety of every food. Instead of thinking just in terms of grape and strawberry jelly, what if you could try apple jelly? Or even a mix of grape and strawberry? These things can be found at farmers markets, and it opens up a completely new way of thinking when it comes to variety in food choices.

And finally...

8.) Local foods create community.

As I've endlessly crowed about in this blog, community is a huge element of the identity of farmers markets. Instead of having blind faith to a single, faceless food conglomerate, go down to the farmers market and talk to the people who work day in and day out to put food on people's tables. They'll be glad to talk about why their food is great, and they'll appreciate the consideration and interest.

The preceding list was paraphrased from About.com. 

The photos are all from Flickr. Citation in order from top to bottom: Jazzylolo, Alltrain43