Good Food is Everybody's Business
Full Circle Farm is located less than 30 miles east of Seattle in one of the agricultural protection zones and is shielded from the pressure of surrounding residential development. Run by Andrew Stout and his wife, Wendy Munroe, Full Circle Farm is a 400-acre farm comprised of several locations in the Snoqualmie River basin.
All turkeys – wild turkeys and the broad-breasted white or the dozen or so “heritage” breeds grown domestically today – are the same species (Meleagris gallopavo). Consumers who want pasture-raised heritage breed turkeys are looking for birds that are well cared for, grow slowly, and have flavorful meat. Unfortunately they are expensive to produce.
Bob Quinn, awarded one of the two Organic Leadership Awards for 2010 by the Organic Trade Association, is representative of the new organic farmer. He is highly educated, constantly seeking knowledge about his crops and his land, and very concerned about the relationship between good food and good health. This is a lightly edited version of his acceptance speech.
Photographer Jonathan Blaustein captures the value of what we eat, economically and to some degree nutritionally, in a collection called The Value of a Dollar.
Food safety by small processors is an important issue. However, the truth can easily get lost when one starts talking from the unscientific, fuzzy thinking, side. Folklore isn’t going to get us the rules we need to keep small businesses operating in the food sector.
Contrary to popular belief, many small, locally owned businesses actually out-perform their “big box” and Fortune 500 competition – both in outright profitability and the value they bring to consumers, workers, and communities.
Just this week the USDA reported that in 2009, about 17.4 million households had difficulty providing enough food due to a lack of resources, about the same number as 2008. Programs like SNAP and WIC give low-income households the means to buy food, but most low-income shoppers believe fresh, local food at farmers markets is more expensive than that offered in supermarkets. Cities across the country are developing programs to extend food stamp benefits with coupons and matching dollars. And a recent survey of produce at a Seattle farmers market, Whole Foods, and a local supermarket, QFC, determined that farmers market prices for fruits and vegetables are NOT higher.
Just about two weeks ago, GoodFood World published 1¢ per Pound for Tomatoes? That’s What Farm Workers Get and we addressed how twenty-first century seasonal farm workers have a lot in common with 18th century industrial workers, in It Begins with an Apple – Broetje Orchards. This week, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange announced landmark agreement to extend Fair Food principles to over 90% of Florida tomato industry.
