Live Broadcast: The Necessary (r)Evolution for Sustainable Food Systems Conference

Posted by Rob Ticho | June 28, 2012

The Necessary (r)Evolution for Sustainable Food Systems Conference

Public Conference Thursday, June 28, 2012

1-6 pm Eastern Time

Event Details | Host a Viewing Party

Live video for mobile from Ustream

Viewing parties will take place at the following locations:

Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Contact: Julie Shaffer, julie.shaffer@emory.edu

Wilson College, Chambersburg, PA
Contact: Chris Mayer, cmayer@wilson.edu

Cal Poly Pomona, Walnut, CA
Contact: Dan Yuhasz, dfyuhasz@csupomona.edu

New England Culinary Institute, Montpelier, VT
Contact: Lyndon Virkler, lyndon.virkler@neci.edu

Vermont Fresh Network, Richmond, VT
Contact: Grace Meyer, grace@vermontfresh.net

Duino Duende Restaurant, Burlington, VT
Contact: Ren Walden, renwalden@gmail.com

Sterling College, Craftsbury, VT

Chelsea Green Publishing
Hosted online at http://www.chelseagreen.com/

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Dispatches from Ireland: Exploring What It Means to Be “Locally Global”

Posted by admin | June 26, 2012

Guest blog post from Paeder Casey, who has worked in the food industry since 1988, at Kerry Group, a global food organisation, then, at his own niche consulting business focused on business and organizational development of SME food organisations. Since 2004, he has worked with a diverse range of clients throughout the food industry, from agricultural seed supplies to Michelin star restaurant owners. Having grown up on a family farm in Ireland and working in the food industry for over twenty years, his experience stretches from farm yard to financial year end of a multinational food organisation. Peadar has a passion for food culture, history, authenticity and sustainable food systems.

Having worked in the corporate food sector for sixteen years until 2005, it was not until I became an independent consultant to small food companies that I reconnected with my food roots, having grown up on a small farm in Ireland. My consulting services are primarily focused on innovation; business development and entrepreneurship, the nature of such services mean I am mostly working in a “pioneering” environment.

Over the last seven years I have progressively grown more attached and in tune with the local, authentic and sustainable food agenda, reconnecting with my food roots.

Since establishing my own business my journey has taken me on many unplanned routes, mostly guided by gut feeling rather than strategic direction, a culture which took some getting used to. Within a short time of getting involved with small food businesses I began to realise how (almost) impossible it was for such organisations to survive in a food chain dominated by multinational retailers and industrially produced global brands. Such a commercial reality put me thinking about how best to assist in solving the problem?

My first reaction was to think of a cooperative and shared resource approach to building a sustainable food system. Having come from the corporate world and industrial food culture I could see why efficiency was so important in the large retail driven food chain. Within the environment of the small food company the people, products and process all came before profit, a fact which the industrial food chain at times have difficulty appreciating, which can lead to a lack of adequate return for the conscientious producer.

The journey as an independent food consultant has brought me across a diverse range of food companies from a seed supply company through various food production businesses, to a Michelin star restaurant. While the organisations were diverse, the overriding passion for food was self evident in all the organisations. The evidence of such a common passion for food made me wonder, what if one could get all these individuals and their food organisations connected? , the vision which started back then is what I now know to be a “food hub”.

With the benefits of an academic platform and hours on the internet I became aware of the growing revolution in US/Canada around local food, sustainable food systems and the commercial workings of food hubs. The more I understand the existing and evolving food systems the more it is analogous to the development of a transport infrastructure.

A food hub, I believe, is in someways like a bus terminal, the bus terminal facilitates the transport of people, while the food hub facilitates the safe and efficient passage of food from producer to consumer. While food hubs to date have helped established “local” food chains, the challenge still exists to bring “locally global” while retaining the authenticity and affordability of food is a sustainable manner for the producer, the consumer and the environment.

Now I have started to think again, can we link sustainable food regions around the world through a network of sustainable internationally focused food hubs? The proposed network would be a sustainable food system, transferring culture, heritage and taste around the world through the efficient transfer of recipe, skills and technology.

Posted in Economic, Environmental, Social | Tagged food hubs, regional food system | Leave a comment

Our Food System Is Broken, But We Can Fix It!

Posted by Alexandra Tursi | June 24, 2012

Guest blog post from A. John Bramley, interim president at the University of Vermont. Bramley, a longstanding member of the UVM faculty, has served as department chair of Animal Sciences, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and provost and senior vice president of the university. From 2007 to 2011, he was president and CEO of the Windham Foundation, the largest private foundation registered in Vermont.

Twenty two years ago, I came to Vermont as a faculty member working in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Over that time, the Vermont dairy industry has undergone much trauma and change. Many dairy farms disappeared, or became part of larger operations. There are now less than 1,000 operating Vermont dairy farms. The overarching reason has been an archaic pricing structure that gave farmers little control and paid them less than their cost of producing milk much of the time. Young people watched their parents and families struggle, and decided it was not for them. The average age of dairy farmers increased. Numerous, praiseworthy attempts were made to address the pricing structure by regional compacts or federal intervention and they provided some important temporary fixes. However, a long term solution has not been forthcoming.

What is encouraging to me is that the failure of the system has stimulated the development of many local or personal solutions.

These include organic milk production responding to growing market demand, adding value to milk by converting it into products such as cheese or yogurt, diversification of revenue sources and entrepreneurial approaches, such as direct marketing and tourism. There has been a substantial increase in other types of farming operations, usually diverse, and often by individuals from non-agricultural backgrounds. Individuals are usually not motivated by seeking personal riches, but rather by seeking a new way to make their lives personally rewarding and meaningful.

This is not the first time this has happened. For example, it occurred in the 1930s during the Great Depression, fuelled certainly by economic necessity, but also by dissatisfaction with a failing economic model and idealism for greater control over individual destiny. That is laudable, but challenging and it becomes important for those of us engaged in agricultural to do our best to help support each other’s success.

I am truly excited by the trends and the food revolution that is occurring in Vermont. It has led significantly to the University’s emphasis on food systems teaching, research and outreach and to my commitment of presidential funds to support the upcoming UVM food summit. The tremendous interest we have seen in the public conference and in the Breakthrough Leaders Program reflects these trends but also something more: increasingly people are aware that our food system is unsustainable economically, ecologically and energetically. I see the summit at UVM as a jumping off point to building models and educational programs for sustainable regional food systems that can feed the billions on the planet in ways that protect the environment and create rural renewal.

Posted in Economic, Environmental | Tagged UVM, UVM public conference | Leave a comment

Breakthrough Food Leader Josh Donabedian: Focused on Policy & Law

Posted by admin | June 21, 2012

Guest blog post from Josh Donabedian, a participant in our Breakthrough Leaders Program for Sustainable Food Systems. Josh is currently a JD student at Vermont Law School, where he is a founding member the Food & Agricultural Law Society, a campus student group dedicated to the purpose of educating and raising awareness in the area of food and agricultural law and policy throughout the VLS and South communities. He also served on an executive committee that planned a food and agriculture conference at VLS—“Pollinate & Cultivate: Seeding the Future of our Food.”

What are you most looking forward to about the Breakthrough Leaders Program?

What I am most looking forward to is meeting and spending time with so many inspirational and motivated people from around the country and world and learning from their unique perspectives and backgrounds. As much as I have learned over the past few years, I know there is still so much more I need to know. I am really excited about the opportunity to both learn from and teach each other, and hopefully establish a few lifelong relationships along the way.

What inspired your interest in the food systems field?

The inspiration behind my interest in sustainable agriculture and food systems was instilled in me at a young age. I remember running barefoot around my grandpa’s farm, amazed how something like an eggplant or pepper could just grow up out of the ground. Now, I’m amazed at how these small, local farmers continue to be left out in the rain by their government as they struggle to survive and compete. I have also witnessed first-hand the impacts that our industrialized food system has had on my father’s local, family-owned produce distribution company. So when I came to Vermont to study environmental policy, and saw Food Inc. for the first time, the light bulb came on and I knew this is what I had to do with my life. The next day I hit the ground running and haven’t looked back since.

What about our food systems are you most concerned about? Why?

I am most concerned about the havoc that our food systems continue to wreak on public and environmental health, and how a vast majority of Americans remain in the dark about it. It is essential to educate the public on the connection between healthy food, healthy living, and a healthy environment, as well as how their consumer habits can influence and perpetuate the current system. I believe that if we can educate and enable people to make conscious decisions about the food they buy and eat, consumer habits will begin to change. As public support for a more sustainable approach to agriculture grows and our voices become even more loud and clear, only then will our government representatives begin to advocate for the kind of food and farming policies that enable viable local food systems and support small-scale, local farmers, both domestic and abroad.

If you could change one thing about our food systems today, what would you change?

If I had to change one thing that I think would make the biggest difference, it would be a Supreme Court decision from about thirty years ago that permitted living, human-made microorganisms as patentable subject matter. This single decision is what opened the door to the eventual patenting of GMO crops and all of the devastating impacts on public and environmental health that flow from industrial commodity farming.

How does your legal education prepare you for working in food systems?

One important thing my legal education has helped me learn and understand is the relationship between state and federal law as it relates to food systems. A variety of federal statutes and agencies regulate many aspects of our food systems, limiting what states can do in a lot of ways. However, state and local governments do retain authority over land use controls and zoning regulation, and I think a solid understanding of what can be done at the state and local level will be invaluable for working in food systems. My education has also helped me gain a deeper understanding of how we arrived at where we are and to think critically about what legal and policy changes are needed to enable and facilitate the comprehensive reform that our food systems need.

Why do you think Vermont is an ideal place to study food systems?

I find Vermont to be the ideal place to study sustainable agriculture and food systems for a number of reasons. I identify very closely with the values that so many Vermonters stand for and it is truly inspiring to live in a place where there is so much passion and motivation for bringing about change In our food systems. The fact that over 200 people packed the Vermont statehouse in early April to unanimously express their support for Bill H.722, which would have required clear labeling of all GMO products sold in the state, is just one great example of this. And on that note, the unique accessibility of Vermont’s legislature and the opportunity to play an important role in policy development is another reason why Vermont is such a great place to study food systems and be involved in the sustainable agriculture movement.

Which food leaders inspire you?

There are so many people that have done so much to inspire and create positive change within our food system, but I think the truly inspirational food leaders are our local farmers themselves. These are the people that work hard day in and day out, staying true to themselves and their values, even if it means living paycheck to paycheck. Without small-scale, local farmers willing to devote themselves to a life in the fields and take the risks necessary to be successful, there would be little hope of transforming our food system on the scale we desperately need.

What has been your most memorable meal to date?

The meal that stands out the most was the night after I saw Food Inc. for the first time. I was overwhelmed by what I had seen and knew I had to do something immediately. So I went home and made a sandwich with my last can of tuna and stopped eating meat the very next day. I have since started eating local meat again on occasion, but I made it over two years as a vegetarian and it changed my life in a lot of ways.

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Breakthrough Food Leader Sheree Martin: College Professor, Lawyer, Farmer

Posted by admin | June 20, 2012

Sheree Martin joins our Breakthrough Leaders Program for Sustainable Food Systems this June. She is an assistant professor of journalism and mass communication at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, a lawyer, and grew up on a farm in North Alabama.

Why are you attending the Breakthrough Leaders Program?

I want to take on a leadership role to rebuild a local food system in Alabama. We have lots of small movements that seem to be moving in this direction, but I really want to help take it to the next level by using my legal experience to advocate policy changes. I hope also to eventually make my family’s farm in Colbert County a contributor to sustainable, local food production in North Alabama.

What about our food systems do you want to change?

Nearly everything. What most people don’t realize is that so-called “cheap food” comes with other costs (health, environmental, tax subsidies, etc.) that are being externalized by the industrial food production system – and we all pay the price.

How did you come to be in the role you are currently in? What was your journey?

In some ways, it’s like the rest of the world is finally catching up to me. I’ve always loved what I call “real food.” My parents weren’t vegetarians, but they preferred home-cooked vegetables, dried beans and fish/seafood over meat and poultry. By the time I was 13, I could cook just about anything from scratch.

As a result of reading the Foxfire books, My Side of the Mountain by Jean George, and Thoreau in the 1970s, I had a keen interest in natural foods and “living off the land.” Unlike most teens, I preferred whole wheat breads, yogurt, granola, broccoli and alfalfa sprouts to burgers and fries.

I always felt the continuing pull toward a life outdoors. But I was busy with college, law school and building a career. In summer 2005, I planted my own first real backyard garden and, in learning first-hand how to grow my food, I discovered there were others like me who were concerned about the industrialization of our food system.

How did you get involved with the local foods movement?

In 2007-2009, I lived and practiced law in Tuscaloosa, where I discovered Epiphany, a restaurant that emphasized local and regionally-produced foods and got acquainted with the chef, Tres Jackson. In Birmingham, I discovered a vibrant farm-to-table movement and “food scene.” It occurred to me last year that I could make sustainable agriculture, food and environmental issues the focus of my scholarship and writing. And that’s where I am now.

How does being an academic and lawyer translate to the food world?

Effective communication will be the key to bringing about real change in our food system. As a lawyer and teacher, I’m accustomed to taking complex ideas and explaining them in a way that most people can understand.

What lessons have you learned from your work so far that would benefit other food leaders?

How to use many channels to communicate our message, including how to effectively use social media to build relationships. It’s not enough to simply “broadcast” messages through various media channels. We must craft unique messages and engage with many different audiences.

What was your most memorable meal to date? Why?

When I was in law school back in the 1980s I lived one summer in a one-room studio apartment on Miami Beach with no real kitchen, and I quickly grew tired of restaurant meals. In July, I flew home for a visit. My mom cooked a typical family meal for me, all fresh from the garden: Purple-hull peas, steam-fried okra (it’s quite different from the standard “fried okra” you may have experienced), squash, corn, cornbread and huge tomatoes. That was the first time I can remember taking a photo of a meal to share with friends. And I still have the photo.