Business Integrity

So there I was, doing my deliveries in the rain again this week.  And as I was driving from house to house, town to town, dropping off baskets of beautifully grown local produce, I found myself tuning out the world and being hypnotized by soft ticking of the rain and regular drum of the wipers.  The misty, watery and gray day wrapped around me like a cocoon.

The world in which I lost myself?   The corporate one.  Did you know that if you were born today you could live your entire life without ever buying anything from an independent business owner?  And then I started thinking about what that means, and the integrity of the system we have created.  I was thinking of how many decisions are made each day in big business and how they affect us, whether it is is a well known fast food franchise deciding to use 60% fillers in taco meat to increase profit or a popular sportswear company combining colloquial language and drug use to increase t-shirt sales, and I started to wonder, is capitalism and integrity mutually exclusive?  Is operating a business purely for profit a sure-fire way to grow the gray area between right and wrong? 

 
Do you want to know what I find most scary about this?  Agri-business.  Corporations farming for profit, there are no farmers, only farm managers, who work for and report to a corporation.  Can you imagine what compromises are made in the field?  Most agri-businesses are in business to grow animal feed or ingredients for processed food and since cutting costs and making money are the primary goals, NOT NUTRITION, it is unrealistic to expect them to be entirely forthcoming about their growing practices or the integrity thereof.  So the same principal applies here that it does in all other industries, it is up to YOU, the consumer to educate yourself, it is up to the you to find out how your food is grown, where it is grown, using what seed and even then these companies are not required to make the information readily available.

Don't you think it is exhausting?  I don't want to have to be a structural engineer to choose a window product for my home, I don't want to have to be an automotive engineer to choose a car or a chartered accountant to translate and negotiate the finance agreement and discounts and I don't want to be a registered dietitian to go grocery shopping.

I do want the companies I bring into my home and my life to operate with integrity, I want sincere value and honest communication and so my last question is, do you think I will find it? 

The answer was sitting in the back of my van.  Yes!  BUY LOCAL.

The Ant and the Grasshopper

Years ago, I had to study Maslow's 'heirarchy of needs' which explains that our basic needs for shelter and food must be met before we concern ourselves with safety and security, or belonging or self esteem and only once our needs have been met in succession, can we realize our full potential as individuals.  I suppose that is why, as we evolve as a society one of our main concerns is convenient access to plenty of food - we are after all supposed to be progressive by nature aren't we?  We take comfort in the fact that this basic need is met.

However, our current food system wastes approx. 45% of our food.  From farm to grocery store shelf to home that is, there are losses each step of the way in transporting, storing and displaying food.  As foragers we are drawn to color and bountiful displays - would any of us shop at a store that didn't have generous displays of fresh food in every color of the rainbow?  If a store only put out what it thought would sell that day, would we feel as comfortable and excited to shop there?  One of they keys to Wholefoods' success is their displays of food, it is suggested that what they offer in addition to natural and organic products is 'food porn'.  Well conceived and stocked displays that appeal to our foraging instincts - we quite literally salivate!

Salivating is not the only result of regular exposure to these displays, one of the more serious side effects is that we have become profligate with our food and anesthetized to what goes into the creation of those displays.   No, not the hands that stack them with painstaking care, but the hands that grow and nurture the mounds of green peppers, zucchini, cucumber, tomatoes . . . each one of those items takes anywhere between 60 to 120 days to grow and in that time we are not only nurturing healthy plants, balancing soil pH levels and measuring and adjusting mineral nutrient, but we are also protecting it from bugs, animals, fungi and a range of other influences that may ruin a crop.  We have become so acclimatized to having constant access to food that we no longer respect the growing process, and no longer pause to be grateful for the harvest.  And really, all that work only to throw 45% of our food away?


In addition, we don't show the growers respect either, we are paying farmers less and less for their work, corporations like Walmart create monsopolies that dictate prices to farmers.  More and more mid-size farms are no longer viable - you can read this publication by the USDA for statistics on farm size in the U.S: http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/November07/PDF/Datafeature.pdf, the number of small farms and very big farms is on the increase.  That means we are either getting our food from farming corporations, or neighbors - those are our choices.

How about we choose a different option?  Instead of pushing our farmers to grow more and more for less and less, why don't we create a different system?  One where we change our shopping habits and reduce our food waste to just 15%.  Let's not stop there!  How about we pay our farmers 30% more to grow what we need?  We aren't giving up ground in the cost of our food, just creating a healthier, more sustainable food system - let's not live like grasshoppers, and let's give ants their due!

We are WINNING!

There is always so much I want to say with this blog, and today is no different - however, I wanted today's message to be positive, on this Earth Day, I wanted to be able to be nostalgic AND sprout about the goodness that is coming of our decisions to educate ourselves and make sustainable food choices, and to be honest, when I weigh it all up we are making progress, but we have a long, long way to go and much needs to be said to create awareness on some topics.  But today, I don't want to go there.  I don't want to write about some of the environmental, political and mercantile challenges we face . . . today, I would rather say 'Thank You' - to you.

I had a conversation with a friend who asked how South Shore Organics was doing, and it is going well, each small success celebrated as if it were the first. I did tell her that one of my favorite things about South Shore Organics is that people care about the food they eat, and they care where it is from.  Our customers want to know that we are commited to supporting local farms and it is wonderful to be able to tell them we are, and then see the money they spend benefit their own community.  I love that they care, I love that they are as passionate about it as I am, but what I love most of all is being able to have a meeting with a farmer and say:  Hello, I am Pam, and I am here on behalf of a group of people who live nearby who have made a commitment to support you this growing season so what are your plans, can we be a part of them, and how can we help you be successful. 

I also thank our customers and I am grateful to each and every one, because each food dollar they spend with us speaks for them, each dollar has a voice and it says: I don't support industrial, conventional and GMO agriculture at the expense of our land and our communities, I want healthy food, grown sustainably, I support responsible growers, I support my neighbors, I don't want massive amounts of carbon fuels expended to get my food to me, I don't want tons of plastic bags and waste in my food system, I want a better balance.

So, this Earth Day, I thought it appropriate to say that it is because of people like you that the organic industry has grown from a concept to a fledgling market, then from a fledgling market into a household name and today it continues to grow despite a recession.  We have a long way to go, we have many, many challenges still to overcome, big ones, but while our farmers have our support and our commitment, we all have hope, and we can only move forward.

Happy Earth Day

Dear Dairy

I wrote in one of our newsletters a while back about the benefits of raw milk - of which there are numerous - and where to find some.  New England used to be a big dairy farming area back in the day, but as a surplus of milk drove milk prices down to levels that were no longer sustainable, and the government offered a 'whole-herd buyout' program that paid farmers a fee based on their annual milk production figures to stop dairy farming for five years and get rid of their cows (slaughter or sell).  A number of farmers, struggling to earn a living, submitted applications.  Since then other economic factors such as rising land prices, land development and more densely populated areas have all contributed to the demise of many other dairy farms in the area. 

As at 2007, the previous 25 years alone saw a drop in dairy farms from 812 in number to just 187 -  a 77% decline.  The advent of industrial dairy drove many family farms out of business, who just could not compete with the low prices.  “We just can’t survive on 1981 milk prices and 2007 costs,” says dairy farmer Chip Hager of Colrain, Mass., who milks 125 cows on 1,500 acres of owned and rented land with his wife Sherry, daughter Kim and her fiancé Aaron. “Everything we purchase to keep our operation running has gone up in price, but our milk price, which is determined monthly by USDA, keeps going down and last year was at the same level it was 25 years ago.”

In another article we published a 'profile' on the average farmer in the United States, and we noted that the average age was increasing, at the time of the last census the average age of a farmer is 57 years old.  The younger generation are off in search of more glamorous careers, they have watched their parents struggle on family farms for years and want a better life for themselves - who wouldn't?  All these factors combined create a perfect storm, one wherein the agricultural heritage of our country is compromised, industrial agriculture prospers, and our food system is changed for the worse. 

One of the latest of such casualties is the Anderson Brothers Dairy Farm in West Bridgewater, one of the closest access points for raw milk for residents on the South Shore.  The 116 acre dairy farm is run by brothers, both of whom are looking at retirement options and as all of their children have found off-farm careers, there is no one to continue the legacy of this 13 generation operation.  It is very sad.  Fortunately, Wildlands Trust stepped in and for two years worked together with the brothers, and the town to preserve this land for agricultural use only with a deed restriction.  Wildlands Trust had to raise $67,000 in private donations and the community committed $400,000 to the project, the farmers, Richard and Lance let their property go at well below market value to save it from developers.

This is one of the few 'happy endings', and everybody pulled together to make it happen, which is heartening don't you think?  From what I understand, raw milk will no longer be sold from the farm though, so it is off to Foxboro or down to Dartmouth if you would like some and so the ending is bittersweet because whilst the use of the land is secured, open space guaranteed, and the day saved thanks to the hard work of volunteers of Wildlands Trust, the unanimous vote of the residents of West Bridgewater, and the owners of Anderson Bros farm, another family operation and one of the oldest in the area ceases operation and the churn rate for loss of family farms increases by one.

Memories are Made of this . . .

At South Shore Organics we had peas for our baskets this week, not just any peas, but English Peas.  I love peas, I do - I think they are my favorite vegetable.  There is an often retold story around our family dinner table of me as a little girl, a toddler no less, at a wedding - my mom had made my little cotton sundress with a matching sun hat.  Come dinner time I was tired, it had been a long day but I refused a nap and why?  Because peas were on the menu that's why.  Apparently, or so it has been said, I went around to each of the guests at the wedding, many of them complete strangers to me, and helped myself to a few peas off each plate - not all of them mind you, I am not greedy afterall, just a few . . . and nothing else on the menu interested me.  Of course, the same story trails on into that evening (still refusing a nap) while all the guests were on the dance floor and their drinks were unattended I was strolling around taking a sip out of this glass and a sip out of that one.  My mom says I was already tipsy by the time she figured out what I was up to - but there you go, peas and booze, what does that say about me?

I don't remember a thing (are we surprised?) but what I do remember is years later standing in my mom's kitchen shelling peas.  I think we ate more than we put in the bowl and I don't remember which house we were in at the time, or how old I was - all I remember is shelling peas and some for me . . . and a few for the pot . . . and some for me . . . yum!  There is honestly nothing nicer than fresh peas.

The shelled peas took me by the hand and lead me down a meandering path of other food memories I have: baking with my gran; my mom's awesome chocolate cake; oat crunchies; licking the bowl - hmmm hmmm - roast dinners; boiling jam . . . and those in turn melt into other memories: long walks with my gran (I swear she knew the names of all the hundreds of thousands of wildflowers that grew all around); beach holidays; birthdays; sunday lunches . . . and the common denominator in all of these memories is family . . . family. 

How important are our food memories to our upbringing?  Do contribute in any way to the adults we become?  And not just Thanksgiving and Christmas food memories, but all of them?  Mine are important to me I know that, and I treasure them.  What about the food memories we are giving our children?  Will they look back on meals or experiences in the kitchen with the same sepia-tinted warm fondness that I do?  What will those memories be of for the next generation?  Supermarkets?  Wendy's?  MacDonalds?  Heat and Eat?  Cold cuts? Friendly's?  Or shelled peas, home cooked meals and wiping the last smidgeon of chocolate icing from a bowl with your finger?

It seems to me these memories are an important consideration for parents as we work hard to shape young minds.  When you think about it, meals are an integral part of our culture, they provide children with so much more than just a plate of food, it gives them an identity, it is what stories are built on, how connections are made.  Meals give children access to grandparents, moms and dads, brothers and sisters.  It is the one moment in time where even the littlest hands can help in the kitchen, and when we all sit together and be together without all the distractions that happen throughout the day.   It's like a mastercard ad:  chicken - $15, vegetables - $10, assorted groceries - $5, a meal prepared and enjoyed by all: priceless.

If you are one of the families that received peas in your basket this week, then let little hands help you shell them, and if you don't have children well then, you are not to old to enjoy some for you, a few for the pot, some for you . . .

Variety is the Spice of Life

You won't believe it to look outside but it IS spring, are looking forward to the coming growing season and all the delicious FRESH morsels that will be coming out of our rich New England soil this summer - particularly the wide range of choices that will soon be on offer from adventurous local farmers.   When you are connected with your food and your farmers, as we are, and as our customers are, you appreciate what goes in to growing and harvesting, you appreciate that too little rain and the legumes won't grow, too much rain and the corn won't grow, too warm a fall and the apples won't crisp, too cold and the butternut could be ruined. 

Aren't we lucky then that years and years of farming and selectively collecting seeds has produced some hardy varieties of some of our staples?  I would say so, unfortunately, we have been so selective and grown so few varieties of some our staples over hundreds of acres that the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization estimates that 75% of the genetic diversity of agricultural crops has been lost!  One example is bananas: we generally only see one type of banana in our stores, although there are over 300 different varieties. 

So what, you may say, the world is producing enough food, and we don't miss all those tomatoes that were grown in the 1800's, or all those thousands of varieties of potatoes either!  Maybe not, but think on this.  We currently have over 92 million acres under corn crop in the U.S. alone - if 75% of the genetic diversity of those 92 million acres has been lost, imagine what would happen if a new virus or bacteria attacked the remaining 25% - what do you think would happen?  I can tell you what would happen, because back in the 1840's that is exactly what happened to the potatoes.  Only few varieties were grown over hundreds of thousands of acres, blight ravaged the crop for three years in a row causing one of the worst famines in the history of humanity.  The population of Ireland shrunk by half according to some estimates, as people either starved or left their home country in search of food.

"Never put all your eggs in one basket" our grandmothers used to say, and isn't that exactly what we are doing?  And it's not only with our food crops, grass diversity is also being lost as we aim to have beautiful lawns, flora diversity is being sacrificed as we tear native plants out of our gardens in favor of hydrangeas, roses and daisies.  I am not blameless, I confess, but I wonder how many plant species and varieties have gone extinct in the last 50 years?  I think we would be alarmed if we had statistics to consider.  Maybe we should just consider a better way to manage our food system, it's diversity and what get's grown. 

And maybe we should also adjust our expectations - next time a strange looking tomato is offered at a market, buy one, take it home to try.  Maybe it is not the perfect size, round, red, with a 5 pointed green sepals, but maybe just maybe it will taste better - and the efforts of our growers to try something new will be rewarded.

'The beginning of Wisdom is to call things by their right names' ~ Chinese proverb

A most interesting discussion the other day around the topic: 'You Are What you Eat' disturbed me and left me thinking for days afterward about what labels on our food say, what they don't say, and how the truth is presented in a fashion that isn't honest at all.  Later, walking down the aisle in a grocery store, I started to randomly pick up products to read their labels and it was quite an alarming exercise.  I have done it before of course, to check for this coloring, or that nasty preservative, but never have I read through the whole list and thought about what label is actually saying.

For example, on a box containing serving packets with oats, blue berries, peaches, bananas and strawberries I found that actually, there were no strawberries, blueberries or peaches inside that box and the 'banana' was in the form of 'banana flake powder'.  Imagine that?  Strawberry oats with no strawberries - even though it says Strawberries & Cream on the front of the box.  So what did it have?  Dehydrated apple, artificial strawberry flavor and red 40 lake coloring.  The peach and blueberry oats had dehydrated apples or figs, artificial flavors, red 40 coloring, blue 2 lake coloring or annatto color.

The other thing that struck me is how much sugar is in everything.  And they are clever about it too, they don't put 'sugars' and lump them all together - oh no!  Then it would appear too early in the list of ingredients and people wouldn't want to eat it, so they separate them in out - the same box of oats contains sugar, corn syrup solids and dextrose - all sugars.  Another product, Worcestershire Sauce contains molasses, high fructose corn syrup and sugar (and anchovies, but that's another blog). 

A popular Italian olive oil is a product of Italy, Spain, Tunisa and Turkey - and a 'healthy' cooking oil promoting 'healthy cholesterol' is a 'natural blend of canola, soy and olive oils'.  Natural.  How natural is GMO canola and soy?  It's not natural at all, it's Frankenfood.  And while we are on the topic of NATURAL, let's just agree that every Tom, Dick and Harry are adding this word to their branding to capture some of the conscientious shopper market but regrettably, there are no enforced guidelines for the use of this word.  You can put it on anything.

I don't know how you feel, but I get frustrated and upset that making good choices for our families is made so hard.  I get tired of all the cloak and daggery and carefully worded and presented brands and marketing ploys.  Just tell me what I am eating!  Somebody said last week: we shouldn't be labeling food that is GMO free, or Organic.  That is food in its truest form.  We should be labeling everything else - the front label (not the back small print) should say Contains GMO's, Not Organically Grown, or Made With No Organic Ingredients or how about Contains Three Types of Sugars.  Maybe then as a nation we will be empowered to make healthy choices instead of being empowered to choose foods that promote weight gain, heart disease or diabetes!