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Posted January 6, 2005: Making agriculture
sustainable requires development of new marketing strategies,
processing and distribution infrastructure, and community economic
relationships that sustain the farmer, as well as earth-friendly
production and pest management practices that sustain the landscape.
In recent years, locally based food systems and community food
security programs have begun to open new market opportunities
for family farms. This year, the Southern Sustainable Agriculture
Working Group (Southern SAWG) offers an extensive Community
Food Systems track in its 14th Annual Practical Tools and Solutions
for Sustaining Family Farms Conference, which takes place on
January 21-23 at the Hilton New Orleans Airport Hotel. Speakers
will share their practical knowledge and personal experience
to enable and inspire conference participants to design and
initiate community food projects that can bring about win-win
solutions for their own farms and communities.
Hank Herrera, the founding president and CEO of the Center
for Popular Research, Education and Policy (C-PREP) in Rochester,
NY, will be one of the featured speakers. C-PREP builds local
self-reliance through participatory action research, capacity
building and policy work, and provides management services
for the New York SAWG and for Rooted in Community, a nationwide
network of more than 50 youth community gardening programs.
Herrera’s workshop, entitled From Global to Local:
Developing Strategies for System-Wide Change, will examine
barriers to changing the current industrial-global food system
and emerging opportunities to build locally-based, sustainable
food systems in our cities, towns and rural communities. In
most parts of the nation, Hank observes, “there is a
large gap between farm revenues and what consumers spend on
food,” indicating that only a tiny percentage of what
most Americans eat is produced locally. “That figure
could be as high as 60 percent, he says. “We simply
have to find out what it would take for local producers to
sell to local consumers.”
In the workshop, Herrera will discuss how to develop trade
relationships needed to connect farmers with local markets
and some existing models such as the Oklahoma Food Coop in
Tulsa and ‘value chains’ that create regional
market opportunities for mid-size farms. “We will also
look at issues of community food security and food sovereignty,
which means local ownership of the whole chain of production,
marketing, packaging and distribution,” he says.
| “The majority of consumers want
local, fresh food, but they also want the convenience
of one-stop shopping. One hurdle in developing an effective
food economy is that we must have a way for these people
to participate.” |
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Other CFS sessions include Bringing Kentucky’s Food
and Farm Economy Home, by Martin Richards and Shana Herron
of the Community Farm Alliance (CFA) in Kentucky. Richards
notes that, through lobbying by the CFA and local farmers’
groups, half of Kentucky’s share of the Tobacco Settlement
has been earmarked for diversification of agriculture throughout
the state. The funds are spent through a “grassroots
planning process in which each county assesses what it is
good at growing and what it needs in order to realize the
potential,” he says.
In the workshop, Richards and Herron will discuss ongoing
efforts to create a locally integrated food economy in Kentucky
and create needed infrastructure to connect farm to customers.
“The farmers’ market is a simple and direct way
to do it, but only a small percentage of the population shops
there,” Richards observes. “The majority of consumers
want local, fresh food, but they also want the convenience
of one-stop shopping. One hurdle in developing an effective
food economy is that we must have a way for these people to
participate.” He notes that lower-income neighborhoods
like the west end of Louisville are underserved with fewer
food stores than suburban neighborhoods, and that people there
are desperate for quality, fresh food.
“Food security is now front and center,” says
Richards. He noted that outgoing Secretary of Health and Human
Services Tommy Thompson recently raised concerns about possible
terrorist attacks on the U.S. food system and added that “we
need local food systems” to minimize this danger as
well.
Other workshops at the conference cover topics a range of
topics related to sustainable agriculture, including crop
and livestock production, marketing, value-added products
and farm business management. Tours of nearby sustainable
farms and urban food projects, a trade show, a job fair where
farmers can meet aspiring farm interns, and a “Taste
of New Orleans” feast with jazz music will add to what
promises to be a memorable event.
Conference lodging will be available at the Hilton New Orleans
Airport Hotel at a special rate of $72 per night (single or
double). For a complete program, registration form, lodging
information and directions, visit www.ssawg.org
or contact Jean Mills, Southern SAWG Conference Coordinator,
jeanmills@aol.com,
or 205-333-8504. 
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