| A couple of years ago, I visited an organic | | | | produced. Even for conscious consumers who |
| vegetable farm in southeast Minnesota, not far | | | | think about values other than convenience and |
| from the Mississippi River. Nestled in a valley that | | | | price -- avoiding pesticides, the survival of small |
| sloped down from rolling pasture and cropland sat | | | | farms, artisan food, and, of course, the most |
| Featherstone Fruits and Vegetables, a 40-acre | | | | basic values, freshness and taste -- choices must |
| farm.Featherstone was part of a local food web | | | | be made. Should we avoid pesticides at all costs |
| in the upper Midwest, selling at a farmers' market, | | | | or help small local farmers who may use them? |
| through a CSA (community supported agriculture) | | | | Should we reduce food shipment miles, or buy |
| and to co-op stores in the Twin Cities. But the | | | | food produced in an ecologically sound manner |
| partners, Jack Hedin and Rhys Williams, who | | | | regardless of where it's grown? These questions |
| began in 1995, were having a tough time | | | | arise because we want to do what's right.The |
| economically and realized they would have to | | | | problem, though, is that these questions set up |
| boost sales if they were to become viable. The | | | | false choices. What Hedin and others showed me |
| farm earned about $22,000 a year -- split | | | | was that when it comes to doing the right thing, |
| between the two partners -- so they had to take | | | | what really mattered was thinking about the |
| on debt to keep going; this, after a 60 to 70 hour | | | | choice -- to be aware, to stay informed, and to |
| work week.Hedin told me he made some calls and | | | | be conscious of our role as consumers. But what |
| eventually landed a deal with Whole Foods to | | | | you actually chose -- local or organic -- didn't really |
| supply the natural foods chain with organic | | | | matter.Hedin, for example, was competing against |
| heirloom tomatoes. When I visited, they were in | | | | farmers he actually knew on the West Coast, |
| year two of the contract, picking the tomatoes | | | | who also supplied organic produce to Whole Foods. |
| before their peak ripeness, then shipping them to | | | | I met one, Tim Mueller of River Dog Farm, in the |
| Chicago for stores in the Midwest. The deal had | | | | one-bar town of Guinda, California. His farm sold |
| become the biggest sales channel for their farm; | | | | produce at the Berkeley Farmers Market about |
| while still "local," they were not as local as when | | | | 90 minutes away, but he was also tied to |
| they sold in their backyard.There was a lesson | | | | wholesale markets. (I saw River Dog's heirloom |
| here, one that often gets lost in the debate about | | | | tomatoes in western Massachusetts.) For these |
| which is better, local or organic? Too often this is | | | | organic farmers, selling wholesale was a |
| understood as a zero sum game -- that the | | | | foundation for economic sustainability.Moreover, |
| money you spend on organic food at the | | | | by expanding the organic market, we may be |
| supermarket will mean less for local farmers. | | | | actually helping local farmers. The USDA surveyed |
| After all, the food you buy is being shipped from | | | | farmers' markets and found that about a third of |
| who knows where and then often ends up in a | | | | farmers selling direct were organic -- local and |
| processed food product. I've heard the argument | | | | organic, that is. In comparison, just one percent of |
| that if all the money spent on organic food | | | | all American farms practice organic agriculture. So |
| (around $14 billion) were actually channeled to local | | | | for smaller-scale farmers selling direct, organic |
| food, then a lot more small farms would survive | | | | food has become a key component of their |
| and local food networks could expand. Well, | | | | identity. By bringing more people into the organic |
| Featherstone was doing precisely the opposite: it | | | | fold, through whatever gateway they happened |
| had entered the organic wholesale marketplace | | | | to choose, the pool of consumers considering local |
| and then sent its tomatoes hundreds of miles | | | | food would likely increase too.That's at least what |
| away to survive as a small and, yes, local farm.As | | | | Jim Crawford, a farmer from south central |
| consumers, it's hard to understand these realities | | | | Pennsylvania believed. |
| since we're so divorced from the way food is | | | | |