New Future of Food: Glywood Harvest Awards

October 26, 2007 – Glynwood, the non-profit organization with a mission to save farming, held a celebration for winners of the 7th Annual Harvest Awards at the French Culinary Institute in Manhattan.  The awardees participated in a panel discussion entitled, “The New Future of Food: Finding Change in Unlikely Places.”  <<Interestingly, Glynwood also operates its own farm in the Hudson Valley experimenting with sustainable agriculture practices with a focus on raising animals.>>

In a sign of the wide interest in the topic, the large conference room was packed to capacity and there were people in the hallway waiting to get inside.  I sat next to a woman — a dietician — who told me she had traveled from Long Island to hear about sustainable agriculture.

Glywood President Judith LaBelle kicked off the conversation with an introduction of the four winners. First, there were the Straubs of Triple H Farms, dairy farmers from Michigan whose small herd roam free on grassy fields yet make higher profits than other nearby farmers whose huge herds are contained in small spaces, using the industry-standard methods. Next, New Milford Hospital was recognized for its “Plow to Plate” initiative overhauling hospital food to make it healthy and local and fresh. Sounds so sensible that it’s radical: a hospital serving healthy food!  

Eat’n Park Restaurant group won an award for negotiating with distributors to buy 20% of its food from local, seasonal sources serving its 75 family restaurant chain in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. And lastly, Falling Sky Farm in Arkansas, which has been in business just two years, created a new sustainable farm of their own and on-line Farmer’s Market for 20 other local farms.

What was the theme that each of the winners mentioned?  Infrastructure change is key to making the food system more sustainable.  

BANKS AND LENDING

The Straubs said that banks won’t approve loans to farmers intending to graze cattle because such “Farm Plans” fall outside lenders historic metrics for cash-flow and profits. As a result, the Straubs are working with Cornell University and other farmers to create alternative economic histories and balance sheets for grazing farms. This undertaking would not be remarkable except that the Straubs have been grazing dairy cattle since 1993. So, dairy grazing is not so new and it’s clearly proven and profitable.  For reference to the metrics, see the Straub’s recent report “Profitability in Dairy Grazing.”

DISTRIBUTION

Eat’n Park would use MORE local food if the distributor would sell it to them. Eat’n Park leveraged its bulk purchasing power to exert influence over food distributors to convince them to carry local produce. With SYSCO and the other big food distributors dominating the trucking lanes, widespread change may be challenging.  

SCRATCH COOKING

New Milford Hospital reduced the amount of waste associated with its food production by more than half. How? By using everything that it bought and cooking from scratch. Vegetable peelings make stock and not garbage. Leftovers are composted.  The hospital also simplified its menu which further reduced waste and reduced overhead enough to permit the food service to buy higher quality food. As a result, patients’ positive rating of the hospital food increased from 30% to 86% positive in just ten months. Job satisfaction amongst food service staff has also increased as they now feel included in the hospital’s mission and the patients’ healing process.    

PROCESSING

Falling Sky Farm reaches buyers directly with its products rather than selling through a middleman. The purchaser gets to know the farmer that provides them with fresher, healthier food. As a farmer-producer, however, Falling Sky Farm is limited to operating at a very small output volume permitted by the USDA regulations. In order to increase its production and reach more markets, Falling Sky Farm would have to drive two hours to process its chickens in a USDA-approved plant. More USDA-approved processing plants need to be initiated for smaller farmers who want to reach more consumers. I am long-time client of Dines Farms, New York.  Dines has responded to the same USDA limitations and taken matters into its own hands, raising money to open its own USDA-approved meat processing facility.

AGING FARMERS

The average age of a farmer in the United States is about 50 years old, suggesting a growing need for younger farmers to continue the farming business. Farm land and farmers are disappearing at an alarming rate. Who will feed this country when they are gone?  Falling Sky Farms provides an answer.  These two young, college-educated founders read Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma inspiring them to visit Joel Salatin’s farm in Virginia who gave them some of the conceptual and practical tools to embark on a new farming enterprise.  

BITES FROM LOCAVORE CHEFS

After the panel, Glynwood held a lovely cocktail reception with food and wine provided by (some of my favorite) NYC chefs who attended The French Culinary Institute and whose menus emphasize local produce: Chef Sean Rembold, Marlow & Sons, Brooklyn; Chef Shanna Pacifico, Back Forty, NYC; Chef Josh Eden, Shorty’s 32, NYC and Chef Bobby Hellen, Resto, NYC. I am almost embarassed to admit how many times I have eaten at Marlow & Sons, where Chef Rembold’s use of local, seasonal foods has expanded my palate and my own cooking style. The crowd at the reception was quite thick, making it difficult to consume both food and drink. Yet I did get a chance to sample Chef Pacifico’s winter squash soup with roasted brussel sprout leaves and crispy pancetta — which was excellently seasonal and flavorful. Food pictured above is a paté assemblage prepared by Chef Hellen.  

CONCLUSION

Overall, Glynwood produced an interesting and inspiring dialogue about the future of food. Glynwood’s awards emphasize practical and effective undertakings happening today which could transform agriculture in the future. That’s appropriate. I have to admit, however, that I was hoping the discussion would continue further up the same road to the future — pointing out grand dreams and bold visions. Maybe I developed an appetite lingering from my weekend conversations about “Utopias.”  In an effort to continue this significant dialogue, I hope to discuss Glynwood’s broader aspirations for tomorrow’s agriculture in an upcoming post.