Localization

[Amergin]

I've been thinking, of late, a great deal about the problem of conservation. Namely, that the old method of buying up land and/or placing conservation easements thereon, while effective and important in its own right, can never match the destructive appetite of profit-oriented land development. Development makes money, conservation costs money.

As such, it is important for the 'conservationist' to turn his thoughts to the fundamental issues that underly the rampant loss of open space today. Again, development makes money, un-development costs money. This was not always the case, however. There was a time when a man would built a house with nothing more than an expectation that someone would fill it as insurance for his investment would have been considered a fool. Much less 80 houses all in a row. To do so would be an absurd investment of resources, in addition to the destruction of precious farmland. And herein lies the crux.

Today, farmland has become fallowland, as farmer after farmer drops out of the game and joins the global workforce and the global economy. Today's small farmer is left without the infrastructure to get his product from the field to the plate of his consumers. It is absurd to think that 150 years ago a farmer would have an easier time getting his product to a consumer 5 miles away than we do today, but so it is, or this conversation would be moot. He cannot match the price of the global market, nor can he demand the higher (though still marginal) price he deserves. As such, he either carries on stubbornly amdist a pile of mounting debt, looking for some quick-cash niche like the organic market or specialty cheeses; or he throws up his hands, lets the fields go fallow, and picks up a day job. No more 16 hour days, and farm-fresh vegetables straight off the boat. A fallow field makes arguably) even less money than a failing farm, and when a developer waves a million dollar check in front of a man who just barely escaped his own debts' house of cards, it is no easy thing to resist.

[Lateral Exploration]

"Development makes money, un-development costs money"...So how do we make the farm land valuable once again....

I think a solution requires threats and fears/lack of trust in the current system..something like a) a state of economic depression b) coupled with inflation c) and outrageous rises in fuel costs..

I believe the timing is almost perfect here for a switch to local. Local farmers, with intimate knowledge of the land, almost free sources of fertilizers (a community with septic tanks providing waste for fertilizer) a knowledge of the predator/prey life cycle (in place of costly insecticides) cheap fuel (bio fuel?) in combination with a close proximity to the market provides a killer combination.

The only piece missing is a cheap/cost effective way to educate and coordinate their efforts and then develop the relationship with local super walmarts, price choppers wegmens etc. to derive maximum profits for the farmers (not the middlemen). Perhaps a program/network to connect each farm virtually coupled with a software system to coordinate their lands to maximize and sharing of profits.

[TheNorthCountryFair]

I'm actually working on a project that as to do a lot with this. There is no doubt that buying local is an emerging trend, I know it's pretty big in VT. In fact, there is a growing trend that the movement (called the Localvore movement, here) may get hijacked by big companies the way that the organic movement got hijacked. Afterall, who defines local? Can people that grow their products in Onondaga County market their products as local in Berne? Is local a regional thing, a statewide thing, or a town thing? The level of resource consumption all depends on how you frame it. The key question, is what direction will the USDA run it in. That was kinda off point, but anyways.

I am working on a business plan with a group of folks at the Gund Institute (For Ecological Economics) to figure out a way that the South Burlington School District can source all of its food from local farmers. It is tricky- we don't want to farmers to settle for an artificially low price for their products. Some key ideas we are trying to figure out include- how to cut down on transportation and packaging costs. (We might use the buses the pick up the food from farms, so local would be defined by where the buses go. Also, we can use the buses to drop off reusable containers to the farmers to save on packaging). We also need to figure out a place that small farmers can go to process their summer crops for winter use. (We may use the school kitchen as a facility in the summer, since they already have most of the equipment). The school students may also turn into cheap labor, but we're calling it education. In addition, we are thinking about having empty school facilities double as a local restaurant at night to generate some revenue. All out-of-the-box ideas, but all ways to help make it feasible. I think they best part is the education component. Kids will learn where there food comes from, and be more connected with the production process, not to mention they will gain useful skills for the future.

The problem of ag land is obviously a linked issue. More big farms, less small farms, less dispersed farm land. VT has also started a Land-Link program, which hooks retiring farmers up with young farmers to transfer their property, equipment and business. There are also land trusts being established to host sustainable ag and farmers that are just starting out. Community Supported Agriculture is also a good way to combine resources to save ag land. Check out the Intervale center in Burlington. www.intervale.org Just some food for thought.

[Amergin]

That sounds like a really cool project- are you hoping to initiate similar projects at other schools? I would think BKW would be a great candidate for such an idea, schoharie and middleburgh so much the better.

[Lateral Exploration]

Definitly, that's awesome to see their's real progress being made. Are you involved with the Intervale center? As Amergin said, the hilltowns and schoharie valley would be a prime location to start up both this and an extension of the Gund Institute. Especially with a huge test market Guilderland, Vooh, Albany City Schools, even colleges etc right down the hill.

On a side ramble, I love the idea of using the work power of kids while educating and enlightening them. Since kids are the future it's really a win win situation. I saw a great video on www.TED.com where the presenter was able to bring about a recycling revolution in a Brazilian city (now one of the highest recycling rates in the world) starting with educating school kids.(i believe the program had a long term approach) The kids would go home and tell their parents, the parents would eventually listen, the kids would grow up have families of their own and the cycle continued.

[TheNorthCountryFair]

I'm not directly involved with the Intervale, but I do buy products from Intervale farmers at the Farmers Market and City Market (the local Food Co-op). The Intervale is a large piece of ag land on the Winooski River that has been carved up to host starter farms and serve as an incubator for local farmers. I will be working with folks from the Intervale to set ur the South Burlington School food program though. We will hopefully be teaming up to add another piece of land (600 acres) to the Intervale's production base, and organize a Food Hub which will basically serve as a clearinghouse to hook local and Intervale farmers up with institutions looking to serve local food in their cafeterias.

It's definitely something that could be replicated in the Hilltowns- there is a lot more farmland around than in the immediately local Burlington area, and a smaller demand to satisfy (less students in the school district). I always thought it was weird that Berne didn't have any kind of an ag program at the school- all the other schools around us did.

The place to start would be to do a cost comparison for the school- if you can convince them it won't cost anything (or that much) they will go for it. The problem is that school lunches are pretty heavily subsidized to begin with.

I would take stock of the menu, and see what ingredients you can start satisfying locally, to get at least something on the menu as a pilot (use it to educate and raise awareness). Then talk to local farmers and see what else they can grow (veggies or protein) to match the menu, if they had a guaranteed buyer. I would also talk to the school about changing up the menu to take advantage of foods that can be grown locally- more root crops in the winter, etc.

I'm posting the plan for S. B'ton as it stands now- we will be cranking out the details and the actual business plan over the next month or so.