I had the pleasure of attending yesterday’s UVa student presentation on the Charlottesville Glocal Food System. I know, Vanillavy is handling all of the “green” stuff this week, but a flyer for the event caught my eye and I thought it would be a great break from the office. This is (what appears to be) a yearly event for a class at UVA focused on the local food economy/eco system. The class, consisting of both graduate and undergraduate sutdents, is titled “Healthy Communities, Healthy Food Systems (Part III): Global-Local Connections”. Now that is a mouthful. The following presentations were made:
- Wild Oats Farm: Nick Feucht and Nicolette Leung presented the challenges of managing land organically; observing conservation practices while raising natural meat products for niche markets
- Roundabout Farm: Jenny Jackson and Elaine Quick profiled a small, sustainably managed farm’s primary inputs from a geographic and sourcing perspective
- Feast!: Fania Gordon and Meg Johnstone created a best practices guide based on the example of a gourmet food store that supports the local system
- Blue Moon Diner: Esther Diehl and Sara Teaster assessed the viability of using locally sourced foods at the Blue Moon Diner
- Chipotle: Jonathan Coble, Alexandra Rosas and Clarice Newton Zusky analyzed local food options at the cville Chipotle and its impact on our community food system
- UVA Dining Services: Linda Bartusiak and Laura Sparks took a close look at what students feed themselves and how far the on-campus dining scene has come
- Jefferson Area Board for Aging: Megan Bucknum and Regine Kennedy explained the challenges of providing locally grown food to a specialized population
- Blue Ridge Area Food Bank: Ben Chrisinger and Lauren Short assessed the potential for including local food in the Blue Ridge Are Food Bank’s distribution system
- The Folley Family: Jennifer Feigert and Thomas Roberts explained the factors that influence food purchasing decisions for a family living in cville’s public housing projects
So the event was around two hours all in and very much worth it. The topics discussed above were eye-raising and really brought issues regarding the local food system into perspective. Some interesting take aways:
Food is untraceable: every group that tried to trace food from the restaurant/establishment to its original source came up empty handed. The goal was to find out where things are actually grown/cultivated. The closest most groups got were distribution centers, or just the actual state. Isn’t it a little scary to know (not know) that you cannot find out where the stuff you put in your body comes from? When we look for a doctor or a lawyer we want to know where the son of a gun went to school, what grades he got and how long he has been practicing…yet when it comes to food, we’re like, oh Ecuador, yes I know where that is! Didn’t Alan go there on his vacation last year?
Poor people know they have unhealthy food habits but can’t do a thing about it: Jennifer Feigert and Thomas Roberts had a neat slide comparing chicken prices at Kroger and Whole Foods. A pound of Tyson’s chicken at Kroger is 99 cents…Whole Foods is $7.99. While we would love for everyone to live the organic dream, sometimes it borders on insanity. A member of the Folley family is diabetic yet admits they cannot afford a diabetic friendly diet. I assume that person takes medicine to combat diabetes which is a result of the food which is a result of economic conditions, etc…Sad eh?
Local farmers (the ones 5 miles away) have a harder time to get their goods to markets locally than large industrial evil-empire style farmers: Apparently there is so much red-tape involved in how a farmer can sell directly to a local market most cannot. The one’s that do either have a really good strategy (Polyface Farm), or a mediocre one and depend on local outlets like the Farmer’s market. It seems the USDA forgot to support the little guy.
Corporate America can work with the local food economy: the Chipotle in cville is on track to purchase 100% of its pork products from Polyface Farm. This is an amazing feat for a small local farm to accomplish, especially in a world where franchise models put so much pressure on consistency and costs that stepping outside the wholesaler/distributor model puts your profitability at risk. To me it sounds like this Chipotle is experimenting with something new and I like it. They have given Polyface the ability to expand their farm and subsequent pig production all while remaining sustainable as hell. A Polyface Farm employee, Matthew Rales, explained how their farm traps the same amount of C02 emissions as 400,000 cars (or was it 40k?). These guys do not use a drop of fertilizer or industrial feed on their farm. Freaking amazing.
The students did a terrific job and the follow up Q&A made for an even richer experience. Talking with Matthew Rales afterwards I became even more intrigued with the crazy animal that is Polyface Farm. He mentioned he would be happy to arrange a tour for us cvillains and I said I would be in touch….so, this is where I ask you all, ummm…..if you’re not doing something in a couple weeks, and if I’m not doing something in a couple weeks….you think, oh I don’t know, we can like, hang out at Polyface Farm? Ok I am asking all of you out on a date. You, me, 50 other villains and hopefully some sponsors on a bus to Polyface Farm. If you like the idea we will put it together, if not, I am hopping in the car and hauling down to the farm to see what all the fuss is about for myself. LET US KNOW!!
(edit) Here is one of the presentations on Chipotle and Polyface Farm
And here is another presentation on the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank
[pic]
Popularity: 36% [?]
Tagged as: farmers market, glocal food system, Local, local farm, Organic, raw food, slow food, student presentation, UVA
This is wonderful. Thanks Francesco.
does that mean you’d be interested in a Polyface Farm tour!?!?!?!??! If anyone else is interested please be sure to write it in the comment! Thanks! Also, I would love to post the presentations from the event, so if anyone has access to them, just let me know how to get them.
count me in, and i can probably round up a posse.
Wow. What a great post. Thanks Francesco
/not interested in a Polyface Farm though
What, we have someone doing real articles… what? I’m confused.
http://www.locallectual.com
This is a site that just launched this week and is all about buying locally and domestically. Everyone should check it out! It’s the product of two local ladies. Very cool! They were on the news last night too. Big time Cville CBS 19!
I am in if you set it up. Would love to check it out after reading about it in the Omnivore’s Dilemma.
Chipotle is an interesting animal (no pun intended). Apparently the founder (of the whole company, not just the C’ville location) believes really strongly in sustainability and they are pushing the envelope pretty far:
From this article:
“Chipotle’s aggressive move to serve animal products from humane providers stems from that principle. The chain now serves only rBGH-free dairy products, and all of its pork meets its standards for hormone- and antibiotic-free, humanely raised meat, as does 80% of its chicken and 50% of its beef. That makes Chipotle the largest restaurant buyer of humanely raised meat.
Wow this is a great post. Thanks! I am definitely interested in checking out Polyface. That’s fantastic about Chipotle too, It’s kinda refreshing to see a large company take some initiative like that.
polyface farm is wonderful. i would be interested to visit if the time/date works out…
Am I the only one creeped out by the name ‘Polyface Farm’?…. I guess it is the mention of face and food together. ..
Seems wrong. Gives me the heebyjeebies.
soylent green? at least its green right?
@10: Yeah well there’s another supplier called Manakintown or something. Shudder.
@2: While I support the idea of what Joel Salatin is doing on Polyface farm, I still don’t want to see where animals are butchered, even if its done humanely. Read his book y’all. It’s called Hog Heaven or something.
I am sure the slaughter area is optional on a farm tour!
We can’t incorporate a humane animal killing and pig roast into this can we?
hmmm….perhaps we can provide an assisted ummm….”exit” for a disgruntled/lonely pig? don’t those deparis redinger guys plan exit strategies?
Good article! BUT… you never watched a poor person shop. Here in Virginia it’s evident that most “poor people” eat a lot of crap. You say they can’t do anything about it? Rubbish! No one forces them to fill their trolley with Dorritos, candy, soft drinks and beer. They eat crap because they CHOOSE to eat crap.
True, there ARE many people who cannot afford to indulge in outrageously priced Whole Foods “Organic” stuff. But “organic” has a low correlation with “healthy”. It is entirely possible to eat healthy food without paying for organic foo-foo. For the most part the whole organic thing is a scam that preys on well-off people who like to indulge in believing new-age-y pseudo-factual claims from the “organic farming” marketing machine. There are certainly some questionable chemicals and production techniques used by “big ag”, but far and away no one gets unhealthy by eating non-organic food, and no one gets healthy by paying through the nose for “organic”.
Go to Sams Club or the local wholesale produce market and you will find plenty of healthy food at very, very reasonable prices. Prices that most “poor people” can afford. Especially if they stopped wasting all their money playing the Lottery.
@16 It would appear you are indeed correct
About DeParis Redinger LLC
DeParis Redinger, LLC (www.deparisredinger.com) empowers visionaries in the Digital Media, Alternative Energy and Software industries. As a boutique investment bank, DeParis Redinger provides its clients with industry leading strategic and financial advisory. DeParis Redinger focuses on creating long term partnerships with clients in order to maximize the value of their innovative and disruptive ideas.We also bludgeon lonely / disgruntled pigs, using state of the art baseball bat technology and empower our clients to gorge on their succulent cooked flesh. Contact us for details of recommended seasonal marinades.
i have an eerie feeling the legal team is going to have to approve that one!
@17: throughout the presentations it was shown that food that poor people get, mostly through donations from food banks, is of low quality/nutritional value. There are a lot of canned/manufactured goods that they depend on because they can’t afford anything else.
The ones who also actually shop I think make so little money they also have to go through the canned/manufactured route. I do recognize that “dorritos” and “chicken fingers” may be a culprit, but if you are feeding a family of 7 on a minimum wage salary, I think even shopping at Sam’s, while in theory should be cheaper per unit, turns out to be an expensive proposition. I assume these people buy off of product price and not unit price where a Sam’s/Costco shopper would make their decisions.
I am not saying that there are some poor people who like to eat low quality food, but we are looking at cause and effect here as well and should look at the system as a whole and not the individual pieces.
@20: And… you fed the troll.
@20- Why do poor people have so many kids? If they can’t feed their family perhaps they shouldn’t be breeding.
I know that probably sounds inflammatory, but I don’t intend it to be so. I truly do not understand why so many people here are so eager to blame being poor on anyone but the poor.
I’m also wondering, what is your definition of “poor”? The US government definition of the poverty line is something crazy like $40K/yr household income. Do YOU consider someone making $39,000 a year POOR?
Why do poor people have so many kids?
Oooh oooh Mr Kotter! Mr Kotter! I’ll bite…
Because they are often undereducated.
so eager to blame being poor on anyone but the poor
Whereas my wacked out liberal mom COULD have sat on her ass, watched springer and ate cheese doodles, she instead kicked ass and pulled herself up, so I know its possible under even trying situations to do so. This possibility makes it very easy to lay the blame at the feet of the individuals themselves, when they don’t. I do however believe that folks need help getting going. Lord knows I ate so much chex cereal from WIC coupons in my youth that I can’t even look at chex now. And don’t get me started on old Ronnie’s blocks of government cheese…
Hmmm. Not a very coherent arguement. Guess thats why Im a sweathog. heh.
@17 and 20:
economics and food choice are also heavily affected in most places i have lived and certainly in charlottesville by the following:
location and selection of food.
where are the stores to get food? what kind of food do the stores carry?
whole foods is up 29. to get to it by public transportaion you would have to get off on the other side of fashion square mall, cross 29(no crosswalks) then do the same in reverse to get home.
this takes time and is a bit of a hassel.
working two or three jobs, taking care of a family or even yourself doesn’t lean toward this being a weekly endeavor.
so you go to the corner store.
you eat prepared foods to save time.
there’s the IGA, reid’s, food lion on 5th street extended.
there is good veggies at reid’s in season- i think they may even buy local.
i am completely surprised there is not a co-op here. even more that there is little request for one.
if you don’t know what I am talking about, here is a website of a good one in burlington, VT.
with thought, i am certain some sort of co-op could be created here in c-ville, perhaps even downtown, where public transportation would fit best to be accessible for those without cars.
and also it could benefit local food providers.
@22 Jay laTete (by the way, what happened to the bucket? Just curious)
I am personally incensed by your statement that beer is crap. Beer is NOT crap… it is the raison d’etre.
Maybe if they made birth control cheaper and more accessible, poor women would have less kids. Motherfucking stupid ass legislation bullshit.
@ 26 Jebus and his fundie flock say abstinence only baby… read it and weep!
/breed on! breed on! breed until your brood comes true! ~aerosmith
I’m serious Yo! But nice link.
BYo… just sent you a pic to your gmail
@24- Good points! Pretty much. Local markets with local produce would be a very good thing. You don’t need commie-style co-ops, just local markets. Most places in Europe, for example, still have local markets within walking distance of where people live. Unfortunately, the trend everywhere is toward mega-stores you need to drive to.
Charlottesville has the opportunity to buck that trend. You’ve got a pedestrian city centre, people are starting to move back to the core, and you have substantial re-developable land in the downtown area. All you need are some nice capitalist developers to finish gentrifying the area and drive out the remaining riff-raff. Wait, better idea… someone should open a decent neighbourhood market downtown. They could start by selling the produce grown (rather commmendably, I think) in the gardens by the denizens of the local project housing over near ACAC.
Truth is, it makes sense having rich people and poor people live in the same neighbourhoods. It’s the good old landed gentry & peasant model that has worked just fine for centuries. The old peasant-abuse stuff is a thing of the past, so we ought to just accept that rich+poor equals a nice stable ecosystem. The poor get a better price for the food they grow. The food will be traceable to the garden down the street. The hated middlemen are cut out of the picture. And both rich and poor can eat healthier food.
@25- The bucket got full. I dumped it.
Bukket troubles?
/obvious
@22: The poverty threshold for a family of 4 in US is $20,444. $39,000 is not poor. Supporting 4 people on $20,000 is poor.
@32 Thanks for inspiring my next Halloween costume.
Shop local!
Ooooh.
I commented at 4:20. Do I get a prize?
How’d you get a pic in a comment????!!
It was changed after he commented, Shen.
But that’s never been done before! What oh what is going on???
the magical wizards are giving powers to the common folk!
I’m frightened. Hold me!
Dammit, I was looking forward to getting my Scowly tattoo, but my artist turns out to be a grumpy cokehead with only one thing on his mind.
I need a new artist! Help!
I am guilty for that change.
This may have been mentioned elsewhere, but I wanted to point out that there is indeed a local co-op/CSA. It is near Scottsville, but according to their website, they have weekly drop offs in C’ville. I encourage you to check them out. Their website is http://www.bestofwhatsaround.org
on topic: I’d totally go visit polyface farms, hero of omnivores!
Polyjuice potion… perhaps that is what it reminds me of.
@44 or horseandbuggyproduce.com
Horse and buggy is not a CSA though they do provide local, from over in the valley, produce..
Best of Whats around is a CSA so is Ploughshare.
http://www.ploughsharecsa.com/
Piedmont Enviornmental Council has a great website for the Buy Local movement, which lists all the area CSAs and Farmers Markets in addition to what restaurants use at least some local meat/produce. They also have great charts that show when which fruits and veggies are in season in Central Virginia and information about farms where you can go and pick your own. It’s a great starting place for people who want to try being more of a localvore but don’t know how or where to start.
And the Polyface guys are super nice and would absolutely set up a special tour, although they always run tours on Saturdays so you could go on your own and pick up a chicken or a dozen eggs this weekend. It’s definitely not this amazing, picturesque farmstead - it’s a real working farm with guys in wellies and the spell of chicken dropping in the air, but it’s amazing to talk to them and see just how interconnected all their processes are (the chickens clean up the fields after the cows, the pigs root through the manure piles from the winter left in the cows stalls, resulting in compost for the grass, etc).
Francesco, awesome post.
@35. That’s the funniest thing I have seen this week. Scowly’s game on chicks.
Just added the Chipotle/Polyface farm presentation from Jonathan Coble, thanks Jon!
That presentation is pretty interesting.
You’re pretty interesting.
You’re pretty!
@48 Horse and Buggy has subscribers just like Bestofwhat’saround and Ploughshare, except we are supporting several local farms
A CSA is a specific model. The main aspect of which is that the members take on some of the farmer’s risk by putting money into a farm at the beginning of the season.
“Typically, CSA farms are small, independent, labor-intensive, family farms. By providing a guaranteed market through prepaid annual sales, consumers essentially help finance farming operations. This allows farmers to not only focus on quality growing, it can also somewhat level the playing field in a food market that favors usually large-scale, industrialized agriculture over local food. Vegetables and fruit are the most common CSA crops. Many CSAs practice ecological, organic or biodynamic agriculture, avoiding pesticides and inorganic fertilizers. The cost of a share is usually competitively priced when compared to the same amount of vegetables conventionally-grown, partly because the cost of distribution is lowered.”
It is not same model when you pay in advance for somone to shop for you. No one farmer is getting the security of the member’s money up front.
Horse and Buggy is not bad. They are good people and in their way supporting local farmers, but they are not a CSA. I chose to go with a CSA this year because I want to know that my money is directly helping to maintain a local farm.
I agree that “no one farmer is getting the security of the member’s money up front”. But Horse and Buggy does benefit many local farms and the farms count on subscriptions.
But isn’t it the same when the CSA’s you are referring to shop for you and deliver your basket to a drop place, and you’ve paid in advance.
/just sayin’ and you know i luh you girl
First, I want to make sure that I am clear when I say I don’t think there is anything wrong with H&B, good people. I just think it can be bad when they are confused with a CSA. My CSA isn’t going to shop for me. They are going to take my money and use it to farm. Buy seeds. repair equipment, irrigate, etc. then I get my share of the farm’s output. H&B is diversified. If one of their farmers has a bad year they can always get the same thing from the guy down the street. My choice was to do my part in keeping one farm that I can visit and get to know the family running it, afloat. Lots of the little guys are having a hard time keeping up with an operation that can provide on such a large scale and offer the same pick up spot for eggs, meat, chicken etc. I am thrilled that so many people are turning away from grocery stores to buy from H&B I prefer to buy from a local farm directly.
xo
thanks for clarifying sian, I learned something today! I’m totally down with supporting the little guy fo sure, as I am a little guy swimming with the big fish likes of Starbucks with my little ol’ coffeeshop. I love what Horse and Buggy is doing and I love CSA’s. and I love you.
awwwww! I lub u 2!
sorry had to take out the presentations, they were crashing some web browsers…now you can just link to them directly.
Caroline… you are such a sweety pie. I never really thought about the battle you fight daily and I so respect you for it.
xx
awww….floozy, i heart you. It is a daily battle to be the little fish in a sea of effing Starbucks on every corner. But I love my little coffee house, when I’m at work I still feel like I’m in my living room. And I know in my heart we have way better espresso and coffee than the chains, and we offer it so much cheaper!
/looking over shoulder cause I’m not sure if floozy’s settin’ me up…..classic flooze style.
Polyface’s issues with government oversight have gone national and hit one of my favorite blogs, The Consumerist: http://consumerist.com/5008366/everything-this-farmer-wants-to-do-is-illegal Good on them!
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