Local Initiatives

Berkshire Grown Local Food Pledge

"I pledge to buy and utilize locally grown food and food products to the extent that I am able and to serve my community by educating others about the many benefits of buying and eating locally. I take pride in supporting local farmers and producers who preserve and sustain the beauty and bounty of the Berkshire region."

Berkshire Grown, MA

Berkshire Grown (BG), a not-for-profit, membership organization, emerged in 1998 from The Berkshire Regional Food and Land Council, a community group formed in 1985 to address problems in the local food system. Funding: contributions, events, and membership fees, grants; former state funding (40%) withdrawn this year because of budget crisis. Staff: 2 p/t including Amy Cotler, Director since 1998; active committees; volunteers. Farmers make up part of Board of Directors, Steering Committee and 50% of Business to Business Committee.

Mission: to support and promote locally based agriculture as a vital part of a healthy Berkshire economy and landscape.

Amy Cotler: “Different personalities work best in different markets. Wholesale, farmstand, selling to chefs, farmers’ markets: there is no one way that is right for everyone. The right product, personality, approach, business savvy -- all need to go together. Farming is a business and those who succeed learn to reinvent themselves in terms of the market, and we work to facilitate that.

One of the main ways farmers benefit from Berkshire Grown is through our Business to Business (B2B) program. We facilitate connections to professional food buyers; there are now over 60 buyers and 90 farmers in the program. Many of the farms are quite small. We’ve begun matching small farms with small restaurants, and larger farms with larger restaurants and institutions.

The B2B Committee drew up guidelines on how to make connections with restaurants. Farm members like the Leabs, who have not previously tapped into this customer base, can use the guidelines as advice, and can also get direct support from B2B Committee chefs. They can call one of the chefs on the committee and say, ‘I have this bushel of snap peas, what is the going price?’

We encourage connections by means of the directory of members but we also arrange meetings; often there will be a buyer and three to seven farmers. There’s strength in numbers. We are moving toward having more of these meetings, where farmers and buyers get a better sense of each others’ needs, their concerns, and their capabilities.

B2B culminates in the Beautiful Bountiful Berkshires dinner each fall, showcasing the connection among 20 chefs and about 30 farms. It’s a fundraiser but also a way to feel terrific about farms and what we do here.

Our annual meetings sometimes offer workshops or speakers. It’s important for both social and business networking, in a more leisurely way than otherwise possible. And it’s a time for us to feel like a group, a movement, that we’re moving toward something together.

There is a second element: the Buy Berkshire Grown Campaign, boosting farm sales by educating the public to buy locally and seasonally. We work on many levels -- direct advertising; work with the media on farm stories; an agricultural events calendar. Our farm map, now with 108 farms, might bring someone to High Lawn Farm, but it also shows visitors the agricultural richness of the area.

BG’s school programs and farm tours are popular. Those who take the farm tours are forever affected and changed, able to make a connection that’s abstract otherwise. And volunteers connect with people as they distribute our materials; that’s what makes grass roots organizations important.

Also, farmers and the broader community make use of the ‘Switchboard,’ a pass-through for information of all kinds -- for example, if someone has land available or what’s going on with the farm bill.

As the only organization specifically for Berkshire County agriculture, we try to work synergistically with the land trusts and other groups. If it’s not built around how agriculture integrates into our lives --- how we eat, the food system -- if it stands apart, how can we move forward? It’s part of the whole, that’s what community work is.

I’m hoping we can take that energy that comes with working together into new programs that carry us forward. Only if we have farmers as the driving force can we continue to have vision that will keep us in touch with the real work that has to be done.”

Berkshire Grown
P.O. Box 983
Great Barrington, MA 01230
Telephone: 413-528-0041
Fax: 413-528-6241
Email: info@berkshiregrown.org
Website: www.berkshiregrown.org

Importance of Diversifying:
Christa and Martin Stosiek,
Markristo Farm, Hillsdale, NY

The Stosieks grow NOFA- certified organic produce on 8 acres of their own plus 7 leased acres. 60% marketing salad and greens to restaurants, 18% selling produce at farmers’ markets, 22% selling bedding plants to nurseries and at farmers’ markets. 2 f/t interns, 1 seasonal intern, and occasional help from their fathers.

“Trends!” says Christa Stosiek. “It’s interesting how nothing stays the same for long. Our fall business at farmers’ markets is down from last year, when so many people wanted to come here from the city. Our business with individual restaurants has dropped dramatically, we think because of the economy, but with three resorts added this year we’re up overall. We’re diversifying, and happily so.”

Martin: “Omega Institute is our biggest resort account, new this year. Their buyer came to Berkshire Grown’s (BG) annual December meeting, a kind of think-tank where BG and other buy-local campaigns share ideas and experiences. He saw what others were doing and reaffirmed his idea of buying as much locally as possible. The Kripalu account got going several years ago, when BG set up a meeting for growers to sit down with Kripalu’s buyers.

We’re also doing more with farmers’ markets and bedding plants than we used to. We’ve changed our product mix. With a family and quality of life considerations, we can’t do everything for everybody. Marginal vegetables like zucchini and eggplant we sell at the farmers’ market at retail. We decided we would specialize in greens for restaurants, get really good at it and increase our volume. That’s how our business has evolved. But we don’t want to grow only greens -- diversity keeps it interesting for us and we also want to show our interns some variety.”

Christa: “The farmers’ market is more forgiving. You can bring your bounty, whatever it is; you don’t have to meet a menu.”

Martin: “The bedding plant business is a totally new thing: different clients -- nurseries not restaurants -- a whole different product line and a different time of year, Feb. through July. We had the greenhouse and it just fit in with what we were doing. Christa has a real interest in plants; it’s her enterprise, not mine.

But our main business is still with restaurants. One year we thought we had all the business we could handle, we turned new restaurants away. But some accounts cut back or stopped or there was a change of management, we found we had extra on our hands. Now we open up to new accounts, they may make up for those that do less business. And, although we’ve been doing business with restaurants for years, we do get some new contacts through BG; they pave the way.”

Christa: “When we started 13 years ago we made no profit. We sold to restaurants through a wholesale distributor, but with no personal contact or feedback we were getting things sent back. Like a case of green ice lettuce because they thought its tight head meant it had bolted. The first year we just grew things, and found out that it didn’t match with what was wanted. Then we planned -- but California dropped the price on organic produce and flooded the market.

The third year we would walk into restaurants with some produce but we were very unimpressive! We’d come in with a muddy head of lettuce straight from the field in a plastic bag -- that was Martin! I’d pay attention to what I was wearing and bring a clean head of lettuce -- and had better luck. Ultimately we became more professional. A full case in the appropriate box is worth a thousand words.

At first we had to convince them that things were fresh -- they’d snap the beans. And then until we got the Red Lion Inn we didn’t have credibility for consistency in supply.”

Martin: “We sell direct and we’ve gotten to know the restaurant business better. We know chefs have to save labor, and we think of how -- we offer salad mixes, not just heads of lettuce. We cut the spinach with very little stem on the leaf; braising mix is ready to use, no washing, no waste. Communication has to be simple, ordering has to be easy, deliveries have to be how and when it works for them.

By now, restaurants know what we do, but we stay in contact with them over the winter. With Omega and Kripalu, we do need a face-to-face meeting in winter. With Doug at the Red Lion Inn, we go in over the winter, talk about what worked and what didn’t last year and get a feel for what he might be looking for next year, and the quantities. And if he puts braising mix all over the fall menu, he tells us in July.

Diversifying is an on-going goal. Before, we had to do everything on our own. Now, BG helps keep the ball rolling -- keep it fresh, keep the pressure on to buy locally. You can’t rest on your laurels. McDonald’s is still advertising all over the place.”

Selling to Stores and Supermarkets:
Roberto Lorenz,
High Lawn Farm, Lee, MA

Bottled milk and cream marketed locally to stores, supermarkets, and by milk trucks to individuals. 650 of the 1300 acres are open: 85% hay alfalfa and corn, 15% grazing for 180 milking Jersey cows. No recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rGBH); no antibiotics or animal products in the feed. 22 f/t and some seasonal employees. Est. 1908 as estate farm; became working farm as community benefit in 1935; farm stayed within original family; David Klausmeyer hired as Farm Manager 1998 to revitalize it.

David Klausmeyer replaced High Lawn’s milking stool with a state of the art milking parlor in 1999, the same year that Berkshire Grown emerged from its beginning stage to become a member-supported local food campaign.

“This is the last surviving dairy processing plant in Berkshire County. There were 26. It’s critical to save a local food source of this importance. We market Jersey milk as a premium product.

Early on as Berkshire Grown formed, with its initiative of educating the public about Berkshire products and making an alliance with restaurants and stores, I could see the synergy. Berkshire Grown is a banner we can wave. It is in kinship with what we’re about --we only sell our products in Berkshire County and the county benefits also from the open space.

In June ’98 there were 105 milking cows and High Lawn milk was known mainly in Lee, Lenox and Stockbridge. We began targeting markets, did a customer survey and used Berkshire Grown’s business membership as a data base. We could go to those member businesses to market -- it was a door-opener in many cases.

Because of Berkshire Grown, there came to be a recognition of agriculture as a major factor in the local economy. I could go to the Chamber of Commerce and say, ‘People want local. Here’s a local product.’

Customers called us asking ‘Why aren’t you in the store I shop in?’ We would tell them to call their store manager, and with enough people calling we had an easier time. I approached the owners of Big Y. One had been influenced by CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture, Pioneer Valley, MA). Within 2 months we were in all their stores. Others followed. We went from 22 stores to over 60 in 3 ½ years and nearly doubled the herd.

You have to listen to the needs and wants of your customers and put the product in a user-friendly format. The delivery schedule must coincide with their needs. We registered a bar code, got new labels and a dating mechanism. You must be attentive to service and support a price point with value -- in our case, the nutritional advantages of Jersey milk and no hormones, as well as being local.

We don’t pay ‘slotting fees’; and supermarkets make more that way -- by renting shelf space -- than by selling groceries. With a local product, and a public that wants that, good will will make up for the loss of those fees. The networking that evolved formally and informally through Berkshire Grown enhanced the value by getting buyers, growers and producers together. But the biggest thing was public awareness.”

Selling Direct From the Farm: Judy and Don Leab,
Ioka Valley Farm , Hancock, MA

Over 200 acres cultivated; IPM; marketing primarily through PYO and farmstand, some restaurant sales. Hay and field corn for own use and to sell; pasture beef for freezer trade. One f/t employee; 8 or 9 seasonal employees for spring pancake breakfasts and pumpkin harvest.

Judy Leab: “My husband’s father bought this farm in 1936 and started a dairy; Don was born here, and it stayed a dairy until our son and daughter-in-law decided to carry it on. We now own part of the farm in an LLC with them, and have transitioned to pumpkins, sweet corn, berries, Christmas trees and maple syrup, a direction that interests them. My son is the sugar maker, and maple syrup is our biggest item. We began the transition in ‘95; in ’97 it really took off. Although I have some questions, I’m sure Berkshire Grown (BG) helps retail, because it keeps people aware. It’s hard to gauge which business comes from BG ads and which from my own; people don’t say what brought them here. BG did some nice ads for PYO this year, and I do see people take the maps (Berkshire Grown Buyers’ Guide to Locally Grown Food, Flowers and Plants) we keep on hand.

BG seems to be going more in this direction, and I think that’s good. I like the fact that they keep it in front of the traveling public that we still have farms and that the farms have these fresh foods available when they’re here. We also like Amy’s (Cotler, Director of BG) recipes that she publishes with seasonal ingredients; we always used to eat seasonally, but most people don’t even think about it.

It’s definitely because of BG that we’ve been selling to restaurants. They’ve invited chefs and farmers to meetings where each farmer was encouraged to do a “handshake” with at least 3 chefs. The participating restaurants have already agreed to buy as much as possible locally. The handshake is not an agreement, really; it’s a way to get farmers and chefs to mingle and talk.

Without that, we wouldn’t have known which doors to knock on. We’ve heard horror stories, when restaurants go out of business fast and don’t pay, so we’ve targeted ones that have been here for years. The chefs have visited the farm, so they’re not just buying syrup, they’re seeing where it comes from.

We’ve been in BG from the start, and in the Berkshire Regional Food and Land Council discussions that BG came out of. Don and I are interested in keeping agriculture alive and well in the state, not just in the county; we lose infrastructure otherwise. When farms disappear, the fertilizer dealer, the hardware store where you buy your tools, the machinery dealer get farther and farther away. Central Tractor, a farm store that carried everything you need, went bankrupt; we now travel 50 miles or depend on UPS.

As we changed from dairy to smaller commodities, BG made sense for us to be part of. The concept was good, and it’s good for farmers. Financially, we’d be better off selling the land for development, which we call ‘the last crop’; it’s not something we want.”

Vermont Fresh Network, VT

Vermont Fresh Network (VFN) was founded in 1996 by New England Culinary Institute and the Vermont Department of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VDAFM). It incorporated in ’99 as a non-profit organization, funded by contributions, grants, the VDAFM, and event and membership fees. Staff: Nina Thompson, Executive Director since April ‘02, plus active Board of Directors and volunteers.

Mission: to build programs among Vermont farmers, chefs and consumers to strengthen Vermont’s agriculture.

Nina Thompson: “We do a piece of the food system puzzle. Others who strengthen Vermont agriculture focus on supporting organic farming, or fighting GMO’s, or preserving farmland, among other areas. Our piece is seeing that farms can sell their goods to chefs in all settings -- restaurants, but also institutions, co-ops — so that we can keep people farming.

The beauty of it is that it is so focused: we connect farmers and chefs, encourage them to work together, increase markets. We encourage chefs to source foods locally and we make it easy for them to find the sources. And we promote and celebrate our partnerships, so everyone in Vermont can continue to enjoy Vermont the way it is.

The Board, which includes farmers, has created a great logo, with a ton of brand recognition and loyalty. I think what we’ve been doing best is facilitating relationships between farmers and chefs. We work to find solutions to whatever obstacles prevent local food from being sold and sourced: it’s hard to compete with the Syscos of the world; it’s easier for a chef to write one check than six. I think we do a good job.

Our focus for the future is to strengthen our organization through a regional structure; we are currently state-wide. We should be able to deepen our impact by using coordinators who will each be responsible for smaller foodsheds. We will be more hands-on than we’ve been, more able to hear individual concerns, more able to recognize obstacles. We will continue to be part of the solution in a more in-depth way by working in regions.

I’d like to segue to a much stronger infrastructure: help with distribution; more and different opportunities to create partner-ships, through potlucks, through collaborative buying clubs for chefs, through a more advanced fresh products listing service (Fresh Sheet), through involving consumers. I’d really like to see people create community around food in their region.

We organize regional meetings, for members only, where farmers can display what they have for chefs in the area. It’s to encourage chefs to try something new, give people time to go over the brass tacks, like how much and when, and provide a chance for chefs to taste an item and find out how to cook it. It’s like a private farmers’ market for chefs.

Yearly, VFN has a forum and also an annual meeting where farmers, chefs and the general public present the kinds of problems and successes they’ve been having and help shape VFN’s direction. We’ve done a farmer survey, and make organizational decisions based on what farmers say they need and what’s working.

It’s really important for farmers to connect with other farmers. There’s strength in numbers, you can solve any problem if you work collaboratively. I would like to encourage roundtables and brainstorming.

To make the most of VFN, farmers need to be active in the organization: go to our events, read the mailings, ask questions, give feedback. Because VFN is statewide, it’s hard to keep everyone in the loop; a statewide organization with one employee has its challenges. Farmers need to get involved, stay attuned, participate. When farmers meet, if someone is good at marketing, or good at distributing, they’ll network and learn and grow. It’s right in our name! Network.”

Vermont Fresh Network
Nina Thompson, Director
116 State Street
Montpelier, VT 05402
Telephone: 802-229-4706
Fax: 802-828-3831
Email: info@vermontfresh.net
Website: www.vermontfresh.net

Expanding Market Choices:
Laini Fondiller,
Pride of Vermont Co-op, Westfield, VT

Pride of Vermont Co-op is comprised of 10 small member farms and processed 120 lambs this year, marketing lamb cuts and sausages to restaurants. It has some funding from SARE and Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund. Laini Fondiller organized and runs the Co-op.

“When I started my own sheep farm, Lazy Lady Farm, 15 years ago, I needed the immediate cash flow I could get from growing vegetables but selling them to chefs was a loss-loss situation. It was easier for chefs to buy from distributors’ big trucks with one phone call. They would give us the lower big-farm price and we were at their mercy. Now Vermont Fresh Network (VFN) has become a marketing tool for the restaurants. That helps the restaurants; and it gives us avenues to the restaurants.

Pride of Vermont Co-op, which is totally separate from my farm, was organized 3 years ago and has been running for two years. VFN has pretty much been our lifeline.

Two women initiated the Co-op in a discussion group which came out of University of VT Extension discussion groups. They got the idea to form a group for marketing lamb. They had never marketed, and neither had their advisors. It fell apart, and I was asked to help. I had attended some of the earlier discussions, but only as an observer, as I was already marketing my farm’s cheese and lamb.

I changed their product line from breakfast sausages, which are cheaply available, to cuts of organic or near-organic lamb plus some lamb sausages. ‘Pasture based’ was not then enough of a selling point, although it is becoming important now; Sally Fallon (who wrote Nourishing Traditions) has given talks around the state. Some farms lamb in May and that is strictly pasture-raised.

Co-op members agreed not to use hormones or wormers in feed and to limit their use of chemical fertilizers on pastures, and signed affidavits to this effect. Some objected to taking the wormers out of the feed but those who stayed with the Co-op found that with preventative steps against parasites they could make the change.

I used VFN’s Dining Guide and made phone calls. ‘Where do you buy your lamb? Have you tried Vermont lamb? It tastes great.’ The slaughterhouse here in northern Vermont is very expensive, so I had to add, ‘It’s more expensive than New Zealand lamb.’ These guys are committed -- they know in advance about the higher price and how to deal with individual farmers. They’re committed to keeping the landscape green and keeping farmers on the land. They know what Vermont Fresh Network is all about.

Other than this, there is no place to market lamb. There used to be auctions, but no more. Other possibilities -- New England Livestock Alliance and Pennsylvania auctions -- are too far away.

These farmers will keep their farms because of this. One week after slaughter, it’s on a restaurant’s plate -- from New Zealand to here it’s 2 or 3 weeks. Once chefs get hold of the local lamb, it’s night and day.”

Finding Markets for a New Farm: Heather Polhemus and Jared McDermott,
Vermont Herb and Salad Company

Vermont Herb and Salad Co. grows salad greens, spinach and culinary herbs organically on 2 leased acres in Benson, near southern Lake Champlain, NY. Heather Polhemus and Jared McDermott are equal partners in the corporation, marketing 60% to large and small groceries, 40% to restaurants; some potted herb sales at farmers’ markets. 2 p/t employees.

Heather Polhemus: “I came here 3 years ago, from Green Mountain College where I designed my own major, Sustainability Studies and Agriculture. Jared grew up on this farm, which was a dairy until the late 80’s. He worked in greenhouses producing herbs in Colorado and came here 4 years ago.

He had learned how to build greenhouses, and built a 5000 sq. ft. solar paneled one here.

At the start, our marketing was not very aggressive. We were focusing on growing and farming aspects; we both had other jobs. We had a few Rutland accounts for salad greens; then we realized how much we could sell and could grow. Wow! Demand was high, and not too many people were growing off-season or in early spring.

We decided to go full-time when we started working with Price Chopper. Looking for more ways to sell our product, we heard about Vermont Fresh Network (VFN) through the Dept. of Agriculture or University of VT Extension and joined. It was about 2 years ago.

Right away VFN sent us a booklet with lists of member restaurants and farms. We were amazed at how many restaurants wanted local produce. Most of them were in Burlington, farther away than Rutland, but that is my only complaint. So basically we decided to go full board. We actively tried to get accounts with some of these restaurants.

We sent a mailing, ‘This is what we have for the winter season ---’ A lot of chefs were just finishing with their seasonally grown things and wanted to keep getting fresh stuff through the winter. And so we instantly had more business. At that point, all these people called. We scheduled deliveries. We developed relation-ships. At first there were about 10, then chefs heard about us through other chefs.

The VFN list made a huge difference to us. Once we had established these accounts we were able to not have second jobs. We’ve just built 5 more greenhouses. We haven’t had to try to sell since then; we’ve been staying with who we have. Some of the chefs have been to the farm to taste test and know exactly where their fresh produce is coming from. They love it.

It has to be made easy for the restaurants -- I’ve worked in restaurants and I know that one of the biggest reasons chefs hesitate to buy from local producers is that they are concerned about the farmer's ability to supply consistently. If the farmer and chef establish that consistency for each other, the relationship grows and soon more chefs become aware of the benefits of buying from local producers.”

Rob Litch and John Palmer,
Misty Knoll Farms, Newhaven, VT

Rob Litch and John Palmer raise 21,000 free-ranging turkeys and 100,000 mainly free-roaming chickens (recently, some free-range) a year on 130 acres. They have their own processing plant. No antibiotics or hormones in the feed. 7 f/t and 12 seasonal employees.

In 1982, inspired by tasty backyard turkeys, John Palmer bought a former dairy farm and 2000 poults. Growth was stagnant until ‘92, when Palmer retired from IBM and nephew Rob Litch, now a partner in the farm, graduated from college.

Rob Litch: “We were looking for new markets. We had been members of other organizations but they don’t address the products or problems the average farmer

has. The other organizations have value, but Vermont Fresh Network (VFN) had a direct result. You meet chefs, tell them your expectations and they tell you theirs. With Vermont Fresh Net-work we have had success.

When VFN began in 1996 we had 7 full-time employees and were selling to independent stores and natural food co-ops. We joined at the first meeting. It offered access to food service markets, and that is a difficult market to get into without proper contacts or experience, of which we had none. We made contact with David Merrill at Basin Harbor Club. In one hour, he educated me about plate cost, the need for product consistency, and gave me the opportunity to supply him. That was someone who was committed. He knew I had a product he wanted and explained his expectations: the specific cut, weight, quantity and delivery days. I went back and figured how I could deliver that, and I grew. He’s happy we’re on his menu, and I’m proud to be his supplier.

I could then contact other chefs and build on that success, using each place as a stepping stone. It takes hard work and perseverance; as a business grows it typically incurs more debt. I continue to use Vermont Fresh Network as a marketing resource.

VFN now does Regional Meetings as an opportunity to display products or give samples. Chefs come; it’s members only, a clearing house for farmers looking for chefs and vice versa. It’s one-on-one interaction, same as when I went to visit a chef at his restaurant.

We recently went to a VFN Forum, which is different. This year it was a panel of farmers and chefs and distributors, in open discussion with farmers, chefs and the public in the audience. People explain their grievances in order to find some common ground to work together; it’s standard practice in any marketing organization. It’s a social network with others who share some of the same issues, but it went beyond that. It was a chance to interact with one of my chefs on a different level. We walked away with better ideas.

We’ve increased sales to restaurants and food service institutions as a direct result of being active and being a member. As things progress, as more of the public is included and interest in locally grown food grows, we’ll find that this has greater and greater success.”

The Regional Farm & Food Project, NY

Tracy Frisch co-founded the independent, not-for profit Regional Farm and Food Project (RFFP) in 1996. Funding: memberships, grants, program fees and special events. Staff: 2-3 including Executive Director Tracy Frisch. Farmers active on Board of Directors.

Mission: to create new opportunities for family-scale agriculture which sustain the land and community, and to facilitate connections between farmers and consumers.

Tracy Frisch: “Our role is identifying areas that can provide opportunities for farmers to succeed while maintaining their values. Farming may be a business but it is also a way of life and it should be appealing to the next generation and the neighbors.

We work by educating and creating networks: most of our workshops are taught by farmers who have dealt with and largely mastered all the dimensions of being a family farmer, rather than by a university expert.

We always do 10-20 farm tours -- tours for farmers and tours to acquaint the public with our member farms. There are also a variety of workshops; some are in depth, like the annual 3-day sessions on organic vegetable farming. In these workshops we like to have several farmers with different perspectives as leaders so that those who take the workshop see choices more clearly. Our aim is for farmers to think for themselves what would fit their circumstances.

These workshops and tours have created informal overlapping networks of farmers who can call on each other for information and advice, socially and sometimes to share labor. Farmer isolation is a major obstacle for the survival of agriculture as a way of life. People have come to our organization and found there were other people interested in what they’re doing, people to learn from and who can learn from them.

We have a mentoring program; some farmers benefit from working one-on-one with someone who can see their whole farm operation. It’s more than an information transfer, it’s a relationship and a critical teaching, the most in-depth aspect of our programs.

Sometimes our educational work develops into marketing. We’ve just organized the founding meeting of the New York State Cheesemakers' Association, a trade organization, new this fall. We’ve done cheesemaking workshops for several years; now this will expand the market for farmstead and artisanal cheeses.

We’ve worked with different approaches to marketing: CSA, marketing cooperatives; we’ve facilitated networking for people to talk to one another about what works and gather new ideas.

With the Troy Waterfront Farmers’ Market, we took a bigger step. There were a bunch of markets in the area, but both farmers and community people wanted a better type of market than existed. So we started with a diverse group of people and a vision of an exceptional market in this area. Finding a site took quite a while, but something quite incredible developed from the process we used. I think the key to our success was starting with a full-blown idea of what the market should be and involving a good variety of people in creating it. It’s finished its 3rd season, with 30 or 40 vendors, and is trying an indoor winter market.

We put out a map, now in its 4th edition, with 125 farms farming organically or ecologically. Chefs and individuals use it. We work with media to find angles to appeal to the public; sometimes, for example, a farm tour will be a front page story. Then we have dinners where chefs make magic with local products, and people ooh and aah, overeat and wait for next year.

We try to address farm topics and issues holistically -- the economics, the technology, management, labor, marketing, sustainability and family issues --it all has to go together.”

Regional Farm and Food Project
Tracy Frisch, Director
295 Eighth Street
Troy, NY 12180
Telephone: 518-271-0744
Fax: 518-271-0745
Email: farmfood@capital.net
Website: www.capital.net/~farmfood/

Shanti Nagel and Sebastian Meier,
Mantis Organic Farm, Schagticoke, Rensselaer County, NY

Mixed vegetables grown on 5 rented acres along the Hudson are marketed through their 45-member CSA and at the Saratoga and Troy Waterfront Farmers’ Markets. Some p/t employees in summer.

Shanti: “Our farm is in its 3rd season, and it’s also our 3rd season at the Troy Waterfront Farmers’ Market, which gives us about two-thirds of our income.

Farmers’ markets are new to us -- we were interns at a CSA farm -- but we knew from the start we needed a market. It takes time to create a good CSA, and to make a living you need a much larger one than we were prepared to do. Wholesaling for less money was a no-no.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market had a waiting list, because it’s a good market. A big Albany market said “Organic farmers? Forget it!” It’s not a producers-only market. There was another little market in a town near here, but it had no focus, no one came, and it closed.

In Troy -- we came into the middle as it was being formed -- there were all those things a market needs to be good: interest groups to start it, people to promote it, and a selective process for assembling farms. We heard about it through the Regional Farm and Food Project (RFFP) network -- RFFP was active in organizing it, and it came together very quickly. We were new and it was new, it was a blur, and out of that blur came the Troy Waterfront Farmers’ Market.

We made money. There was a customer base, pretty much immediately. The 2nd year we expected the same but we were blown away. By the 3rd year we had hit our limit. The market took on another organic vegetable farmer with a lot of produce and it has supported both of us.

We joined RFFP before we farmed. It was a smart idea to be right in there. It’s a good way to start, you get into the network. We love the newsletter and a new program that connects farmers with farmers. It’s been great, we’ve visited six farms. It gets us to take time to swap info on the region around us.

We also participated in RFFP farm tours for the public -- customers from the market came to see our farm and 7 others that sell at the market. There’s no monetary benefit, at least not directly, but I’m a strong believer that anytime you get the consumer out to see the food growing it’s good. People really don’t know how their food is grown. It’s shocking!

Whenever you need a network you call Tracy Frisch (RFFP director) and she’s at the hub of it. Because we’re so busy with our lettuce we have trouble being visionaries; she comes to us with the next generation of ideas.

Do local food movements work well for farmers? It’s an absolute yes. It takes only as much time as you want to give it, and the amount of money is so nominal. Just hook into it!”

Developing a New Project:

Rachel and Stefan Schneider, Hawthorne Valley Farm, Harlemville, Columbia County, NY

Rachel and Stefan Schneider are part of a group managing the 400-acre Hawthorne Valley Farm, which is a commercially viable part of a larger not-for-profit corporation. They produce vegetables, bread, pastries, meats, and dairy products biodynamically, have a 200-member CSA, market through an on-farm store and New York City Greenmarket, wholesale in their county, and distribute yogurt throughout eastern US. 50-60 employees, including p/t in the store.

Rachel: “Our project of adding winter greens to our stand at the Union Square Greenmarket in New York is only now getting its wings. We completed the greenhouse last January-February, and had some immediate snippets of success, although our solar panels are not in place yet. We have a grant from the New York State Energy Research Development Agency, to see if a winter greenhouse can be run without fuel heating, and how much it can make.

We were able to sell arugula and spinach at $7 - 8/pound during winter, when we wouldn’t have had any other produce to sell. We also did well with red peppers ready in May, a month before anyone else’s. There’s tremendous potential; I need to develop a crop plan that will make it a success. I’ll know in one or two seasons how much it can do.

Our greenhouse is 30x100’ and has pipes in the soil to warm it; the solar panels will heat the water for the pipes. Planning it, we worked with Steven Moore, a speaker at a Regional Farm and Food Project (RFFP) season-extension workshop the year before. He and Eliot Coleman, who also spoke, have the idea of just covering the greens, using just the sun and layers of cover, and growing appropriate things. No heating of the air. It’s a concept Tracy (Frisch, RFFP Director) has been pushing for a number of years.

I’m doing that, tweaking it with under-the-soil pipes. It’s working; I put tomatoes and peppers in in February, and they made it through the 5 degree weather we had in March. Growers can do without pipes and just cover the soil, which is not that big an investment.

As part of our grant, we’ve held workshops at our greenhouse; RFFP did the outreach to the farmers, which would have been difficult for us otherwise. Steve Moore spoke at one; another, co-sponsored by RFFP, featured Eliot Coleman and attracted 70 farmers. My husband and I have been here 13 years; our first contact with RFFP was when Tracy came to visit the farm in ’97 or ‘98.

It’s been a good collaboration, RFFP and Hawthorne Valley. They were instrumental as networkers and in the area of farmer-related education. The commercial value is indirect. Tracy has legitimacy and contacts, and it helps to have a not-for-profit organization outside of Hawthorne Valley that we can turn to.”

Networking Farmer to Farmer:

Mike Scannell,
Harrier Fields Farm, Stuyvesant, Columbia County, NY

Mike Scannell farms 60 acres along the Hudson, most for intensive grazing, 60 steers. Pumpkins and potatoes on 1 acre, field corn for 7 Tamworth sows on 3, cultivated with horses. 150 separate leased tractor-cultivated acres are 90% hay, 10% small grains. No seed or feed bought in. Marketing freezer beef, pork and vegetables through roadside stand, Real Food Network, New England Livestock Alliance and a CSA farm. One occasional p/t employee.

“I’ve had the farm 20 years. At first I sold hay to horse farms and worked winters in a textile factory. The factory was sold, I quit -- and that winter I attended a Holistic Resource Management workshop. I don’t think I could have made it farming full-time with just hay. I’ve done some part-time work since then, but now the mortgage is paid off. I own the farm, and that was my dream.

When I heard -- through the Regional Farm and Food Project -- the term ‘Holistic Resource Management’ (HRM) I thought it would be a bunch of hippies, but Tracy (Frisch) persuaded me to go.

There was a lot of soul searching. The facilitator talked about where wealth comes from in the economy -- farming is a primary source. Manufacturing is just converting. Farming is largely owned and controlled by multinationals. It needs to be protected. We need to regenerate our farming wealth.

Understanding the relationship between plants, animals and fertility; reducing success down to what you’re trying to do: this makes a difference. I could never go back.

Because I bought a worn-out farm, the number of livestock I can graze is limited. As the soil gets richer that is growing. Intensive grazing can increase productivity four-fold. I started with dairy heifers because I knew I could sell them. Now I’m right on the cutting edge of what seems to make sense. I have 10 registered Devons and 50 half-Devons. The beef is pastured and organic, although I’m not certified because “organic” is not enough of a marketing force with meat. It was my beef that Marion Burros (food writer) tasted when she wrote about pastured meat in the N. Y. Times.

I’m among the first but I won’t be the biggest -- I don’t have enough land. But this is totally different. I’m feeding cattle now, not selling feed. It’s what I always wanted to do; I just didn’t know how to get there.

But the most valuable thing we gained was the connections with each other in the (HRM) workshop. I’ve stayed in contact with some of them. It helps in more ways than you ever would realize -- with thinking, marketing, where to buy. They are still farming; we were all there because we wanted to do better. One guy was incredibly in debt. We still need to get a little more comfortable.

Work circles would be good. If 2 or 3 neighbors, about 6 people, get together to run a threshing machine or fill a silo, in 2 weeks they’ve got a whole neighborhood’s grain harvest, with less fuel. An Amish friend filled a silo at a total cost of $30.

To me, sustainability is producing more than you consume. Industrial agriculture consumes 7-21 BTU’s of fossil fuel to produce 1 BTU of corn. The industrial part of farming took a back seat in my long-range view -- what rusts, rots and depreciates, keep to a minimum. You have to produce, not own depreciating stuff. I like older, more efficient technology that I can pass on to the next generation, and appreciating assets: grass, animals.”