A number of articles in this edition of Green Fire Times make clear that our predominant food system needs some major re-invention. And so, thanks to a collaboration with the Farm to Table organization, we have provided a glimpse into many of the efforts being undertaken statewide to provide affordable, nutritious, culturally appropriate food to our region; food that is seasonally grown and raised with eco- and climate-friendly methods; and processed and distributed as close to home as possible, benefitting both rural and urban communities and revitalizing agrarian communities with legacy-defining crops and cuisine.

Communities in our region were once intensely focused on their agriculture: It was the source of livelihood for a majority of residents, either directly as producers, or as providers of supplies. We have now raised generations of children who have no idea where there food comes from and who have never visited a producing farm or livestock operation. Farm to Table and its partner organizations are actively working to change this. Of particular note is the “Healthy Kids-Healthy Economy” legislation that is pending in the 2013 New Mexico Legislature. Passage of this bill would give our public schools additional funds to buy New Mexico-grown produce for school meals and benefit our communities at many levels.

What is clear is that all of us as eaters are the critical component of this change. Our food choices have an impact that reaches across the planet. By buying local we support the livelihoods of our neighbors, the preservation of farmland and our local ecology, our own health and the health of our communities. From the flowering fruit trees in the spring to the aroma of roasting chiles in the fall, our food is, of course, essential, though we often take it for granted. Take notice and know that by buying a local apple you are supporting everything you love about living here in New Mexico.

– Seth Roffman

Print PDF

Kathleen Gonzalez

Since 1997, Farm to Table (FTT) has worked to create a robust local food system. However, when Pam Roy and Le Adams created the nonprofit organization, they were not thinking of changing the food system, they just saw a need for children to have the opportunity to taste and eat fresh-picked food and to experience the joy of watching a seed that they planted, grow. They also saw a need for everyone, not just folks who could afford to pay two dollars for a tomato, to be able to enjoy the extra flavorful, nutritious and abundant fruits and vegetables grown on nearby farms.

What they found, as they pursued ways to get these needs met, was that they were looking at the food system–a food system that didn’t work for everyone. Our food system is like a jigsaw puzzle with no picture and about half of the pieces missing. If you have money, a car and live near a city, you can go to the store and buy almost anything you want, year round. That is pretty amazing. But, if you don’t have money or a car, or you live out in the country or in a part of the city without a grocery store, you may not be able to buy food at all.

If you are a big lettuce grower in California, you can ship your produce all over the world. That part of the puzzle is solved. But if you are a small farmer in northern NM, just getting your product sold and delivered before it spoils is a huge challenge. Another missing piece.

The work of FTT is to get the food system to work for everybody. And that entails finding those missing puzzle pieces and putting them together until the puzzle is solved. It’s an ambitious goal, and no organization can do it alone. So, since 1997, FTT has cultivated partnerships with farmers, eaters, organizations, agencies, public servants and communities. Together with our partners, we have begun to add some of the missing pieces to the puzzle.

How We Work

Farm to Table bases its work upon collaboration and empowerment. It is a practical approach. Because we work with partners, everyone benefits from our pooled resources and expertise. For example, in our Farmers Teaching Farmers program, knowledgeable farmers host “Quality Management System Trainings.” During these events there is usually a lot of discussion, as farmers take the opportunity to share what they know. And from within this community of farmers, others will have the opportunity to host events. Instead of creating a small team of “experts,” everyone involved becomes an expert and is asked to spread their expertise throughout their community.

As Tawnya Laveta, our program director says, “It would be a lot easier to solve the puzzle if there was a picture of what it should look like. Sometimes, you come across one by accident, but usually it takes a long time to find those missing pieces.”

Our work occurs on many levels: from one-on-one assistance to farmers, to providing opportunities for experienced farmers to teach others. From on-farm training sessions to sponsoring several conferences a year, including the Southwest Marketing Conference and the NM Organic Farming Conference with over 400 attendees. From helping a farmer sell nine pounds of lettuce to a local restaurant, to getting NM apples to 50 schools and school districts serving over 234,000 students.

We help schools set up gardens and Farm to School educational programs by mentoring key school personnel, providing funds, hosting FoodCorps and AmeriCorps service members as garden managers and nutrition educators, and by working with the National Farm to School Network to successfully advocate for a nationwide Farm to School grant program.

We help community members make a difference by training them how to set up working groups and policy councils that advocate for the health and food security needs of their communities. We link up those local community leaders so they can make a difference at the state level through the NM Food and Agriculture Policy Council, and we then take their concerns to our national partners and our US Congressional delegation.

Every meeting, every phone call, is one more piece of the puzzle in place, taking us closer to a robust local food system. All this activity is rooted in some basic values. We firmly believe that access to food is a basic human right. As co-founder Le Adams says, “I really believe that that we all have a shared responsibility. We have a role to play so that everyone in our communities has the ability to eat well, to nourish their bodies and care for our planet.”

We also affirm that access to regionally-grown, healthy and culturally-relevant food is paramount to the well-being and vitality of our communities. As such, our work is centered on investing in NM’s communities, farmers, children and the environment. Nelsy Dominguez, director of Community Engagement at Farm to Table sums it up like this, “Food is at the epicenter of our well-being; to know food—fresh, local food—is to cherish ourselves, our families, our communities.”

What we do know is that you, the community member, the citizen, the eater, are the most important piece of the puzzle. Your actions make a difference. When you choose to “buy local,” whether by eating at a restaurant that purchases from area farmers, purchasing produce from the “local bins” in your grocery store, or frequenting your local farmers’ market, you are sending a message that good, local, fresh, healthy foods are important to you. And that’s a big piece of the puzzle.

[Sidebar: The Work of Farm to Table]

FTT Collaborations Include:

The New Mexico Food and Agriculture Policy Council (http://www.farmtotablenm.org/policy/)

The Council focuses on key food and agriculture policy issues and opportunities that are affected by government and legislation; addresses top policy issues as priorities as set forth by the Council; and strengthens advocacy among agencies, organizations, individuals and communities for NM food and agriculture.

The Southwest Marketing Network (http://www.swmarketingnetwork.org/)

At its annual conference, the Network brings in folks with successful “on the ground” food and farming projects in the region to share what they have learned. The relationships that are fostered and the resources provided serve to increase regional marketing expertise and opportunities for farmers and ranchers in the Four Corners states of Arizona, Colorado, NM and Utah.

The New Mexico Organic Conference(www.farmtotablenm.org/fts/)

Each year over 400 farmers and gardeners gather to learn about the latest developments in organic farming and livestock production. Presenters range from national experts to local farmers who share their knowledge of organic methods.

FTT’s Programs (www.farmtotablenm.org/fts/)

The Farm to School Program connects schools (K-12) and local farms with the objectives of serving healthy meals in school cafeterias, improving student nutrition, providing agriculture, health and nutrition education opportunities, and making school gardens a wonderful way to learn.

The Farm to Cafeteria Program works with farmers to help them sell their produce to schools, senior centers and other institutions, and helps buyers, such as school food service directors, find farmers who can supply produce in the quantity and quality they require.

The Farm to Restaurant Program (www.farmtotablenm.org/266/)promotes a viable food system by helping farmers sell their fresh goods to restaurants and by helping restaurants find farmers who can supply them with fresh, locally grown produce.

Farmers Teaching Farmers Trainings provides opportunities for farmers to gather, share expertise and serve as mentors. Trainings in 2013 are scheduled around the state for farmers to learn how to ensure the quality and safety of their produce, especially if they are interested in selling to local schools.

Ranchers Teaching Ranchers Trainings focused on tribal communities, provide opportunities for native ranchers to share expertise with each other on rangeland management and restoration, and on cooperative herd management and marketing.

The Community-Directed Development Program provides leadership development training, mentoring, resources and networking opportunities at the request of communities who have an interest in working to create permanent access to affordable, nutritious and culturally-appropriate foods for their communities.

The Food Policy Program(www.farmtotablenm.org/policy/) addresses the laws, rules and regulations that affect how food is produced, processed distributed, purchased and protected, from local zoning laws to the federal Farm Bill. We work on the federal level as members of several national coalitions, including the National Farm to School Network; we work on the state level as a member of the NM Food and Agriculture Policy Council and we work on the local level as a member of the Santa Fe City/County Food Policy Council. We also provide training for communities around the state who are interested in forming food policy groups or councils.

The Enterprise Development Program provides assistance to farmers, groups and organizations, especially Native American or Hispanic, in accessing federal programs, private funding, and in developing their business or expanding their markets.

For more information on Farm to Table’s programs visit www.farmtotablenm.org or call 505.473.1004.

Print PDF

Pam Roy

 In 2005, several community members and I arrived at a high school in Albuquerque for a meeting about childhood health and beneficial community programs. The main entrance was lined with 26 soda and snack food machines. We recognized that each day every student walked though this entrance and was immediately bombarded with advertisements encouraging them to eat the most unhealthy options. These foods were competition for the school meal programs that provided a nutritious lunch (by USDA standards), and with fruit and vegetable snack offerings. It didn’t take us long to decide that we had to do something about the situation.

In a state where childhood obesity and diabetes are epidemic, it does not make sense to tease children with junk food. Even more ironic, the more soda and candy a school could sell, the more funds they would have for athletic programs. We knew it was time to investigate the school policies that allowed for these foods. Through our research we found that both state and federal policies drive school food and nutrition programs.

In 2002, the NM Food and Agriculture Policy Council (NMFAPC) was formed through the efforts of Farm to Table (FTT), and had chosen to address health issues as one of several priorities. The Council consisted of a diverse group of organizations and agencies in-state and across the country, representing health, hunger, nutrition, agriculture, economics, environment, education, tribal communities and more. Students, teachers, school food service directors, parents and pediatricians joined the Council, seeking to minimize “competitive foods” in the schools and maximize opportunities for children to access nutritious meals and snacks.

How We Achieve Our Collective Work — Policy Councils and Legislative Advocacy

Because none of our federal, state or local governments have a “Department of Food,” food system issues are handled by various agencies. Food policy councils can facilitate collaboration and coordination—among the different governmental entities whose laws, rules, regulations and health/economic development programs impact the food and agriculture system—and between agency representatives and other food system stakeholders such as community organizations, agricultural producers and other food entrepreneurs.

The NMFAPC researches policy issues and educates state and federal policy makers about key priorities. Through a campaign launched by the NMFAPC in 2006, NM was one of the first states in the US to change its “school nutrition rules,” effectively eliminating the majority of snack foods in school corridors. Since then, the Council has worked at both state and federal levels to increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables in schools, implemented a statewide “farm-to-school” program, advocated for a federal “Farm-to-School” grant program, and worked to change rules to make it easier for schools to purchase locally grown produce from farmers. All of this has come to fruition in less than a decade. It has taken concentrated, deliberate effort among dedicated organizations and agencies that, through the NMFAPC, are committed to working together.

Farm To Table – Providing Training and Technical Assistance

In addition to its advocacy at the state and federal levels as part of the NMFAPC, FTT provides training and technical assistance to assist the development of city/county community-based food policy councils or task forces. FTT is working with groups in Bernalillo, Grant, McKinley, Doña Ana, Taos, Socorro and Santa Fe counties, as well as a Navajo group in Tohatchi. Along with the Río Arriba Food Policy Council, these groups have emerged to address local food system issues and work on “community food assessments” to identify what kinds of foods are available to community members and how much of that food is grown nearby.

The Santa Fe, Las Cruces and Grant County Food Policy Councils/groups gained support from their cities and counties for the Healthy Kids-Healthy Economy Bill, a 2013 state appropriation request to increase the purchase of NM-grown fruits and vegetables for school meals. The appropriation would address the impact of new federal rule changes increasing fruits and vegetables in school meals, and at the same time, economically benefit NM farmers.

Administrative Advocacy

Once a law is passed, FTT works closely with organizations and agency representatives at state and federal levels help develop policies and rules that can be enacted at the administrative level to maximize its impact. For example, in 2006, when the NMFAPC worked to pass legislation to eliminate or significantly restrict junk food in NM schools, a strong partnership was built within the NMFAPC. As part of the NMFAPC, FTT, the Departments of Agriculture, Health, Human Services, Action for Healthy Kids, the NM Pediatric Association and the NM School Nutrition Association all rallied together to create these changes.

In 2007, these groups again worked together at the federal level. The Council helped the NMDOH obtain $600,000 in federal funds for WIC (Women, Infants and Children) and Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Programs, providing tens of thousands of seniors and low-income families in NM increased access to fresh, local produce and putting all that money directly into farmers’ pockets. In 2010, the Council also collaborated with the NM Farmers’ Marketing Association and the NM Environment Department to change administrative rules, allowing residents to produce low-risk food products in their home kitchens for sale at farmers’ markets.

FTT has also engaged with state and federal agencies in collaborative problem solving. For example, FTT is working with USDA Rural Development to get more funding to NM for work on rural food system infrastructure such as storage and distribution and for supporting rural food enterprises. This ongoing work will likely include legislative advocacy for changes to USDA funding programs to make them more adaptable to the unique circumstances of NM and other Southwest states. In addition, FTT is working with the Interagency on Obesity Prevention to assess how well schools are implementing healthy eating programs and coordinating these with their School Wellness Plans.

Tying It Together

As more and more families, businesses, nonprofit organizations and governmental agencies recognize the important links between food and health and between local agriculture and rural economic development, the need for coordination and the opportunity for successful advocacy grow. Policy councils at the state and local levels ensure that these issues are addressed in a systemic manner and that those who are most impacted by food, nutrition and agriculture policy understand the issues and are empowered to present their perspectives to policy makers and agency representatives.

Farm to Table’s goal for the next three years will be to press for full coordination of public and private programs, to improve our children’s health, our environment, and the ability of all our communities to provide accessible healthy affordable foods to all their members.

Pam Roy is executive director of Farm to Table and coordinator of the New Mexico Food and Agriculture Policy Council, which is based in Santa Fe.

[SIDEBAR:]

Healthy Kids—Healthy Economy: NM-Grown Produce for School Meals

Have you eaten in your local school cafeteria recently? If you have, you may have noticed a change in the menu. There are more fruits and veggies on the plates, whole wheat pasta and less chocolate milk. Due to new federal school nutrition rules, schools are now required to serve twice as many fruits and vegetables. These rules were put in place to help stave off the growing obesity epidemic. The challenge is that these federal rules were put in place without enough money to pay for the required increase in fruits and veggies.

To combat the problem, in the current session, the NM State Legislature is being asked to invest in the school lunch program with a bill requesting $1.44 million to support the purchase of NM-grown produce. This “Healthy Kids-Healthy Economy Bill” is a “win-win-win.” Students will enjoy fresh, juicy apples and watermelons, ripe tomatoes, crisp carrots, salad greens, sprouts, fresh corn on the cob and more, our farmers will benefit economically, and schools will have much-needed funding to meet the new federal rules.

Great partnerships have been developed to make the program work. FTT, the American Friends Service Committee and other organizations provide training and technical assistance to farmers, the NM School Nutrition Association provides educational programs to school food service directors, and the Departments of Agriculture and Food and Nutrition Services Bureau provide critical support.

Sounds great, but keep in mind that this won’t be the first year the Legislature has heard this bill. “Healthy Kids-Healthy Economy” will once again be sponsored by Sen. Pete Campos of Las Vegas, and it has broad support, but has not been funded to date. Senator Campos, president of Luna College, is a true advocate for health, education, agriculture and local economic issues. He is a steadfast champion of this legislation.

Nineteen percent of our children in NM are considered obese by the age of eight, and in some areas of the state it is as high as 50 percent. One in four children is considered food-insecure. School meals can be the most important meal of the day for these children, and healthy meals in our schools teach lifelong healthy eating habits. Our children deserve our support for this legislation.

During the legislative session (beginning Jan. 16) you can call your legislators at 505.986.4600 and ask that they support the “NM Grown Produce for School Meals” legislation—also known as “Healthy Kids—Healthy Economy.” To learn more,contact the NM Food and Agriculture Policy Council at 505.473.1004 x11.

Print PDF

New Mexico Food and Agriculture Policy Council

Year Action

2002:

• NM Food and Agriculture Policy Council (NMFPC) created

• NM Farm to School program created by legislative memorial

2006:

• NM became a trailblazer among states as the NMFPC took action in support of children’s health through minimizing junk food in schools. 

2007:

• With the strong backing of Sen. Feldman, $85,000 in recurring state funds are secured for the purchase of NM-grown fresh fruits and vegetables for school meals. This funding benefited 12 schools serving 6,000 students in the valley cluster of the Albuquerque Public Schools district.

• The state provided for $150,000 in recurring state funding to promote the development of farmers’ markets.

• The NM Legislature passed a memorial requesting the formation of the NM Food Gap Task Force. The Task Force developed recommendations focusing on food access and food retail in rural and underserved urban communities.

• NMFPC led the way to obtaining increased federal funding for Southwest states for the Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program. $300,000 of annual federal funding was then supplemented by the states, up to $200,000. 

2008:

• $162,000 in recurring state funds were secured to supplement federal funding for the Women, Infants and Children Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (WIC FMNP).

• The governor-appointed NM Food Gap Task Force presents its findings to the governor to improve healthy food access and promote food-based economic development.

• Farm to Table became a Regional Lead Agency, working with four southwest states, for the National Farm to School Network.

• Farm to Table and national partners advocate for changes to the Federal Farm Bill:

1. The Healthy Urban (and rural) Food Development program was created.
2. USDA allowed schools to prioritize buying local produce using a geographic preference.
3. Funding for the Fresh Fruit/Vegetable Snack Program increased, bringing $5.5 million over five years to NM schools.
4. The $40 million competitive Farm to School Grant Program was created. 

2009:

- Farm to Table helped create the Santa Fe City and County Food Policy Council and Grant County Food Policy Council.

- NMFPC advocated for an amendment to NM Local Economic Development Act to include retail rural food.

2011:

- NMFPC developed and advocated “Local Food Procurement” state legislation, which was passed by the NM Legislature and vetoed by Gov. Martinez.

- NMFPC successfully advocated for the “In-State Business Preference Act” to support local food, agriculture and many other state businesses.

2012:

- NMFPC successfully advocated for securing NM School Food Delivery Funds, totaling $600,000 in recurring monies.

– NMFPC continued to advocate for the Healthy Kids–Healthy Economy initiative “NM Grown Produce for School Meals,” a $1.44 million request.

- NMFPC worked on Farm Bill priorities and provided the NM delegation with those priorities.

- Farm to Table applied for and was awarded close to $100,0000 from the new Farm to School Competitive Grant Program.

Ongoing Advocacy

1. Advising policymakers and local and state organizations on improving NM’s procurement code to support local food purchases.
2. Providing advice on the development of a federal Healthy Food Finance Initiative.
3. In support of the NM Food Gap Task Force recommendations, focusing on amending the state’s Local Economic Development Act to include rural grocery stores. This would allow small NM communities to apply for funding assistance to increase economic activity and access to affordable healthy foods.
4. Work with national and regional groups to focus on and advocate for federal programs that could expand access to affordable food in rural, tribal and underserved communities.
5. Ongoing advocacy on a federal Farm Bill that supports local producers and consumers.

Print PDF

Modernity and the Responsibility of Eaters

Ricardo J. Salvador

Almost a billion people on the planet—one in eight of us—are hungry. It is meaningless that global food production is sufficient for all of us to eat well (in fact, it is nearly twice the necessary amount) because the fact that food exists doesn’t mean that it is available to all. To understand why, consider this example:

The Republic of the Congo is one of a dozen countries with an extreme incidence of hunger. More than 35 percent of the population is undernourished. The World Food Programme and dozens of charities operate extensive food relief programs in the country. Since hunger results from lack of food, you might suspect that lack of productive capacity, roads and infrastructure explains the nation’s hunger. Now imagine that deep in the swampy heart of that country a massive oil deposit is discovered, and that an oil field is established. Finally, imagine that the CEO of the global corporation extracting this oil visits for a few hours to inspect the firm’s investment, and that this visit occurs around a mealtime. You will have no trouble imagining that this magnate and her entourage will enjoy whatever food they desire, and as much of it as they please, roads or not, and that (to ensure this) much more food than actually necessary will be shipped in for the meal and disposed in its aftermath.

This is the globe’s food reality in a microcosm. We live in times where food is an indicator of economic power. Wherever you see hunger in “modernity,” you will see people with limited economic power. Which explains why in the United States, the world’s largest national economy, more than 50 million people are hungry. They are the nation’s poor. This is one in six of us, and represents a greater rate of hunger than for the world as a whole. It is a hungry population equal to the entire populations of Kenya and Haiti embedded within the US. Clearly they aren’t hungry because there is insufficient food in the US. They are hungry because we have created a modernity where food is not a right, where food is manufactured and delivered through a mighty investment that must be recovered and turn a profit, and where food therefore flows to those with economic power.

This will run counter to the cant you are accustomed to hearing about food in the US, the one about this nation enjoying “the cheapest, safest and most abundant food supply in the world,” and will therefore require explanation. But first, let’s establish the following things about your food choices. They reflect how busy, educated, thoughtful and healthy you are. But ultimately, the range of food choices actually available to you reflects how wealthy and powerful you are. Such a reality is a human creation. Consider that at present, your food choices are not determined primarily by ecology, demographics, or even by whether your region or country is an agricultural powerhouse. For example, South Sudan is a country with enormous agricultural assets. Ninety percent of its area is suitable for agriculture, with 50 percent of it being prime agricultural land, yet nearly 5 million people, primarily rural (almost half the population), are hungry. By contrast, in the desert country of Qatar, where there is scarcely an agricultural acre and the population is mostly urban, hunger is unknown. Where there should be plenty of food and no hunger, there is insufficient food and rampant hunger. And where there should be little food and therefore hunger, there is luxurious consumption. Qatar, in fact, is the fattest nation on Earth, where half the population is obese. The difference is that Qatar is the world’s wealthiest country as measured by gross domestic product per capita ($98,948), whereas South Sudan is among the poorest ($2,134). Wealth and purchasing power trump hunger and biophysics in the wondrous modern food system.

Although individual Americans are on average only about half as wealthy as individual Qataris, 83 percent of us are able to eat as Qataris. That means that for us the principal food choices revolve around what we are in the mood to savor. We can opt for whatever food we desire, whether it is native to our region or not, whether it is in season or not, and whether we have time or the skill to prepare it for ourselves or not. Enabling this is a complex web of global logistics, encompassing mining, production, processing, transportation, packaging, preservation and the service sector. The end result is that food and resources from all corners of the world flow to us, the wealthy and powerful, to be served ready-to-eat in restaurants (where we take half our meals), or to retail grocery outlets where we purchase ready-to-assemble components that we can put on the table at home (for the other half of our meals), usually within five to 20 minutes of having conjured on a whim the particular food we desire.

This system is a deliberate creation, dating at minimum to 1862, and the establishment under President Lincoln of the Department of Agriculture and of the Land Grant system. This network of colleges (now universities) undertook systematic research to understand the biophysics of crops, livestock, soil and climate, and developed the basic and applied knowledge that has boosted agricultural productivity. The formula has been mechanization, specialization and intensification of agricultural processes, overcoming ecological limitations via energy subsidy, paired with commodification of the resulting bounty of basic materials for the processing and manufacture of novel food products. This process coincided with the rise of the petroleum era and the wave of industrialization of the US economy, encompassing the industrialization of agriculture and the food system, including such features as substitution of capital for labor, automation and standardization.

Agricultural industrialization is often represented as an unmitigated triumph of economic development, in that those of us who are its beneficiaries have the luxury of going about our daily concerns without giving much thought to our food: where it is produced, how it is produced and whether there will be enough. So thorough has been the apparent success of this approach that it has spread globally within the past half century. This is lightning speed, particularly remarkable when contrasted against the 10,000-year backdrop of humanity as agriculturists, and is broadly understood to have ushered an era of modernity that freed humanity from drudgery in the fields, unleashing creativity and technological advancement in other areas of human endeavor. Because industrial agriculture seems to have successfully answered the question “How shall we ensure a stable food supply?” most of us, according to this view, needn’t concern ourselves with food or agriculture. It is the natural and expected result that we should therefore be unaware and uninterested in the details of how agriculture is conducted. Why would any who perceive themselves as citizens of a sparkly, successful, highly technological lifestyle care to dwell on how dirt, petroleum, fertilizers and sunshine are fashioned into food?

There is, actually, ample reason for concern: This mode of agriculture can’t go on forever. Or even another century. If we were paying attention, that isn’t something we would even desire. Modern agricultural systems feed some people very well while making others hungry. These systems are not designed to address hunger, but rather to meet “effective demand” for food. These are not the same in modernity. The difference between hunger and economic demand is power. It is not simply a tragic oversight that hunger persists amidst the bounty of the most productive agricultural era the planet has known. This is because these systems function as efficient mechanisms for appropriation and transfer of wealth, in the form of land, water, minerals, energy and labor, leaving in their wake poverty and (perversely) hunger among those unable to compete in the high-stakes global speculative shell game. Further, these agricultural systems degrade the very natural capital that is necessary for them to perform. Finally, as the entire world is discovering, the output of the food machine, predicated on accelerating a perpetual cycle of ever-greater demand and ever-greater productivity while disregarding our actual nutritional needs, pleases our palate and fills our belly but also slowly poisons us.

If a foreign terrorist organization devised a strategy to rob the US of a share of its natural resources, pollute its main sources of fresh water, starve a portion of its population, seed cancer bombs, and limit the capability of the country to feed itself in the future, this would surely be considered a threat to national security of the first order. A vigorous debate about appropriate countermeasures would ensue. Yet even though these are the very threats that the nation (and the globe) now face, very little mainstream conscious reaction has yet to develop. The reason is simple: Those of us who benefit from the system (ranging from eaters to investors with an economic stake) appreciate its undeniable benefits, convenience and comforts. And, as we casually choose from the menu, or rush our cart down aisle four, we carry on with our lives absorbed with our professions and personal pursuits, and do not respond to threats that we cannot see, or which are so complex that we cannot comprehend them.

Any possibility of reshaping the food system and this current state of affairs can only begin with eaters obligating the change. This means we can no longer afford to not pay attention.

In my prior position as Food & Community program officer for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, we sought and supported communities that were designing and experimenting with food system innovations to improve the well-being of their whole communities. Out of the multiple proposals and strategies we examined from social entrepreneurs pursuing this objective, a pattern emerged. Four basic characteristics subtend the food necessary to meet this comprehensive goal. Food should be nourishing and wholesome, in such a way that when eaten over a lifetime it generates health and well-being, rather than chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity. It is a damning reflection on industrial food systems that this characteristic of food should even need to be stipulated. Additionally, food that conditions community well-being should be produced without exploiting nature or people. Finally, food should be economically and physically available to all, and not be (as Angela Glover Blackwell has put it best) “precious.” We referred to such food as Good Food, with full claim on the multiple entendres, and to its four essential characteristics in shorthand as: healthful, green, fair and affordable. These four characteristics are not only compatible; there is a food system that can address them simultaneously, and thus generate Good Food.

A Good Food system consists, above all, of people fully aware of and engaged with their food, health and well-being, whether they are eaters or actually involved in some aspect of food production. When this is true, eaters monitor and direct the functioning of their food system. Contrast this to the passive role of a “consumer” in the industrial framing, who is there to buy and to be sold to. After all, how much time can a busy doctor, teacher or factory worker devote to thinking about food, beyond the time and money they have and what they like? This imperative of the industrial system is transparently described in Brian Wansink’s entry in the Oxford Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink: “Food Marketing brings together the producer and the consumer.” On this definition an entire sector is necessary to persuade and steer consumers in particular purchasing directions and notice who defines choices for whom.

Marketing is, in fact, the largest expenditure of the modern food industry. And how does the industry “compete” to get its consumer to prefer one generic pizza joint over another? Or one generic loaf of bread over the next? The tools of the food marketer are promotional advertising, price and product characteristics. When “the consumer” respond to the coupon campaigns on their Facebook page or in their email, or to the paid testimonials of the charismatic celebrities on their favorite YouTube channels or cable TV, they have been targeted with expensive, finely-tuned algorithms that have analyzed Big Data on their individual shopping and browsing behaviors, so such consumers are therefore responding to marketing budgets. Thinking that they are buying something better, they may be favoring large companies over small or startup enterprises. When the consumers respond to price, they may be supporting companies that do not offer their employees full-time employment to keep operating costs low by avoiding carrying health and retirement programs. And when consumers respond to “product characteristics,” they may be responding to meticulously formulated and tested “food textures” that are deliberate payloads of salt, sugar and fat, in effect buying sensory pleasure today, nutrition (if any) only incidentally, and long-term diet-related chronic disease.

In any case, paying for one thing while “getting” or conditioning other things that one would normally not condone is an archetypal example of not paying attention. The remedy is to stop being a consumer and to become an eater. That simple switch can leverage the tremendous economic power described earlier, redirecting it from a focus on an apparently simple and immediate transaction into a life- and world-transforming force.

An eater can be that same busy doctor, teacher and factory worker, convinced that they aren’t just “consumers” of food, but determinants of their own well-being for the long term, as well as that of others. And well-being is composed of many dimensions, physical and social, including whether there will be a planet worth living on for any of us. This is not an especially novel notion. Carlo Petrini, founder of the Slow Food movement, refers to eaters as “co-creators” of the food system with farmers. Even business lore lionizes the power of “consumer choice” to determine whether companies will be successful. But as long as consumers are content to giddily and passively choose from just among what is offered them, the image of “customer is king” is but a cynical marketing ploy itself. Instead, eaters must specify to the food system the choices they want to make, and the formula of Good Food: healthful, green, fair and affordable is ready to hand, simple to communicate and powerful in its reach. Even so, it would be foolish to believe that the minority of people who today see themselves ready to step up as eaters could successfully challenge the power of billion-dollar enterprises. For one thing, it is problematic at present to glean from food labels whether a food article is truly Good Food. There is too much economic fortune at stake in the infrastructure of the industrial food system, and we have seen in the recent struggle over California’s Proposition 37 that this industry will go to exorbitant lengths to haughtily defend its right to withhold information from its customers about the way their food is produced. The role of consumers is just to buy from the choices offered to them. At present, there is a market for food, but not for healthfulness, sustainable environment and fairness through food. Therefore food marketing is about selling as much food as possible, whether actually needed, healthful, environmentally sustainable, fair or not, for those who can afford it and are not paying attention to how that food materializes in restaurants or grocery stores.

Fortunately, eaters can choose to sidestep this apparently intractable power dynamic. We are learning that whether rich or poor, we are reversing the gains of over a century of sanitation and immunization programs, which extended lifespans and quality of life through the elimination of infectious disease, and we are replacing this with diet-related chronic disease that is foreshortening and reducing the quality of life. The world and its resources are finite; therefore any industry dependent on consumptive use of natural resources will literally exhaust its raw materials. Social scientists, most recently Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, have documented that inequitable societies contract, since lack of investment in the future and in society as a whole is self-limiting. Arguably, the US is currently experiencing the early phases of this phenomenon. The picture that emerges is that the business model of big ag and big food will fail, for all its present power and sway, in direct proportion to its inability to foresee, respond and meet the absolutes of the future. As the world shifts, the industrial food system will ossify in its tracks in a doomed effort to fit reality to the business models of the past. Eaters can accelerate this process by shifting support to the entrepreneurs whose business plans are designed to meet the inarguable demand of the future: food that is healthful, green, fair and affordable.

Here is a vision for a Good Food system: a globally interlocked network of local and regional food systems defined along “foodsheds” bounded by ecological zones and resource flows, that are operated on ecological principles, that are biologically diverse and trade fairly among one another. As we at the Union of Concerned Scientists, and others, have documented, such systems would offer more economic opportunities for more people and communities, cycle wealth locally and produce a wide and abundant variety of healthful foods. Value chains would be shorter by design, preserving more value for producers and primary processors, and offering fresher, less refined food. In addition, such systems would be more resilient than the tightly coupled systems of the present, where a disruption or insult at one point of the system propagates rapidly and extensively throughout the system (e.g., E. coli infections) because regional systems are inherently limited in extent. This vision makes it realistic to expect that eaters can effectively monitor and direct the functioning of their food system, since their immediate relationship to the food system would be of a comprehensible and tractable dimension, fleshed out by actual personal and social relationships binding people to one another’s well-being in concrete ways.

There is no reality-based counter to this emerging vision of the necessary contours of the viable food systems of the future, though of course there are predictable red herrings with which to contend. The most laughable of these is the sanctimonious appeal for ever-greater productivity to sate the hunger of the poor. There is already more food produced than necessary for the purpose, yet we see that livestock, biofuel refineries and American trash bins have priority for this food over the hungry. The most effective way to address hunger is to support the self-determination and economic development of the poor. Another common critique of alternatives to the brute force of industrial agriculture is that these would “send us back to the horse era.” First, the undeniable research triumphs that helped establish the industrial system were gained in no small measure because there was investment to generate that knowledge and optimize its application. There is ample indication that investment in learning about agroecological approaches will generate equivalent and vastly untapped knowledge about more sustainable systems. The public institutions that have been appropriated to support the industrial mindset must be recaptured and repurposed to serve the greater public good. Secondly, the more credible probability is that mindless devotion to extractive agriculture will send us all back, past the horse era, all the way to the stone age, when oil, water, soil and minerals are exhausted or degraded without hope for regeneration. Finally, a population of agrobiologically sophisticated farmers, supported by engaged eaters, has much greater chance of creating and sustaining a Good Food future than today’s highly deskilled corporate farmers, who themselves have few viable choices and have been converted into consumers of proprietary technologies that lock them into highly vulnerable and leveraged positions.

Most importantly, the artifact of food accruing to economic power, and hunger being a marker of poverty, must be eliminated. The Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, a foundational human rights treaty, proclaims in its Article 11 the “fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger.” Accordingly, signatory nations agree to apply knowledge and practices to reform “agrarian systems,” and through consideration of trade needs among food exporting and importing nations, to ultimately “ensure an equitable distribution of world food supplies in relation to need.” This might mean, broadly, that it is more important to support self-provisioning farmers than to support policies and practices that would convert those same people into landless laborers plying in plantations serving the global industrial system, in such a way creating the poor and hungry that such a system would ostensibly serve, had those laborers but a fair wage to buy what they might better produce for themselves. The US is not a signatory to this Covenant because the Senate has refused to ratify it, due to concerns for protecting American sovereignty and its free market system.

Eaters have a responsibility and the power to create a Good Food system through uncompromising demand. Because the viability of the planet’s natural, economic and social systems is at stake, there is no greater responsibility for eaters in the 21st century.

Ricardo J. Salvador is director and senior scientist of the Food & The Environment Program of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Print PDF

“I’d be dead if it wasn’t for my neighbors,” was the way Genevieve Humenay acknowledged the most important tool in her rural survival toolbox. You can be smart, resourceful and even courageous, but when something goes really wrong and you live in sections of Cibola County, NM, where many services are 50 miles away, it could take a long time for the cavalry to ride to your rescue. Just ask the residents of Queens and Staten Island, New York standing neck-deep in Hurricane Sandy’s rising waters. Who were the first people to snatch them from the jaws of doom? Their neighbors.

Genevieve is one of 183 members of the El Morro Valley Cooperative fighting to restore some health and vigor to what can only be described as a rural food desert. There are vast tracks of the county where residents must drive 100 miles round-trip to get to a supermarket, which at the IRS-approved motor vehicle rate of 55 cents per mile, adds $55 to one’s weekly food purchases. Yes, there are supermarkets in Grants at Cibola’s northern border, but going south from there are only a few small stores scattered across a county nearly twice the size of the state of Delaware. And unfortunately, those stores are limited in selection and fresh produce, and high in price.

Heading down Highway 53 from Grants, I could see why this might not be prime supermarket territory. The scenery was spectacular, but there weren’t many people–six per square mile according to the US Census—and though there was no official count, the elk were so numerous they would certainly rule if only they could vote.

Given this limited marketplace, it’s no surprise that Albertsons and Whole Foods are not tripping over themselves to open stores in the El Morro Valley. It would take a crafty merchant to make a buck in a place where humans are few and far between, and where the customer base is surprisingly diverse. A Mormon community known for its frugality and the enviable practice of producing and storing their own food, three different Native American tribes—Acoma, Zuni, and the Ramah Navajo Band—and an assortment of back-to-the-landers, urban transplants and multi-generational ranchers presents a “market basket” that would challenge the merchandising skills of the most able grocer. For these reasons and more, the good food enthusiasts of the El Morro Valley realized early in their quest that the food cavalry was not likely to show up anytime soon.

“We feel like this is a community where we can work together,” was how Kate Brown, El Morro Valley Cooperative’s president, addressed the 25 people in attendance at a recent membership meeting. Glasses perched on the tip of her nose and a rich, brown braid draped over her right shoulder, by both demeanor and tone she reminded me of one of my favorite high school science teachers, an occupation she has indeed pursued. Kate’s pitch to her fellow cooperators was less about brick-and-mortar achievements—the co-op does not yet have a building of its own–and more about the ties that bind a people who are working toward a common purpose.

Yes, they have a farmers’ market in Ramah, and the co-op has organized a “buying alliance,” which pools household orders for a monthly pick-up in Albuquerque. But in the way that baseball players throw balls and swing bats before the game, these activities are merely warm-ups for the big contest of cooperation that lies ahead. As Kate made it clear, how well they cooperate as a community will ultimately determine how successful they are as a co-op business.

Friends

In spite of Margaret Mead’s much-quoted pep talk to “never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world,” the El Morro Co-op knew that commitment alone would not be enough. They knew they didn’t have all the skills, connections or capacity to organize a corporation, set-up bookkeeping systems or seek the loans and grants they would need to establish a good food store in the Valley. They realized early on that they needed a little help from their friends.

The good news for those who want to cooperate is that there’s no lack of those who will cooperate with you. El Morro reached out to the well-established La Montañita Co-op in Albuquerque as well as the Dixon Co-op, about 20 miles south of Taos, whose story of a struggling, up-by-the-bootstraps rural community food store matched their own. They tapped into the US Department of Agriculture and NM State University’s Arrowhead Center, which provides small business planning assistance. But it was probably their relationship with the Santa Fe-based nonprofit organization Farm to Table that yielded the most fruit.

What Farm to Table does is capacity building, a term that’s wormed its way into the lexicon of nonprofit and government agencies. It’s best understood by thinking how you might instruct someone in a skill they don’t yet command. You can extend the idea further to include the sharing of your list of resources and colleagues with someone so that they can also benefit. It’s this attitude of empowerment—me sharing my power with you—that best describes the relationship between Farm to Table and organizations like the El Morro Valley Co-op (see sidebars).

Farm to Table began working with the El Morro community in 2010 to enable them to formally establish a co-op corporation. In the process of doing this, they helped the new members sort out their dreams, which included a bakery, a livestock slaughtering and processing facility, a community farm and a hub for the gathering and distribution of locally produced food. The business options and models were nearly as numerous as the ideas for making their little corner of NM bloom. They could buy an existing store, build a new store from scratch, lease a building and convert it to a store, or work with the small stores now operating in Cibola County to expand and improve their limited selection.

You could say it was a rich moment of “stormin’ and normin’” that needed some structure and focus. Farm to Table was able to channel the members’ energy to evaluate the options and assess their relative strengths and weaknesses.

To help the Co-op make the best business decisions, Farm to Table connected El Morro to NMSU’s Arrowhead Center. The resulting business plan gave the co-op a roadmap for how to purchase the Lewis Trading Post in Ramah and operate it as their long-sought-after co-op store. Farm to Table also helped them prepare an application to USDA’s Rural Business Enterprise Grant, which was later approved. Equipped with a feasibility study, business plan and community survey, the co-op was now prepared to choose.

Choices

What did all of this preparation and analyses show? After reviewing the menu of choices it was clear that there were several ways to increase the availability of good food for the valley’s residents. The survey data found that the community was generally supportive of a number of these options and could be counted on as “a receptive market and customer base.” The so-called “Cadillac” option, buying the Lewis Trading Post and operating it as a co-op, was feasible but expensive.

While the members were warmed by the prospect of owning their own store, they nearly froze in their tracks when they heard the price tag — $750,000 — a number that one member characterized as “staggering.” To make that deal work, not only would co-op members have to come up with $200,000 of their own equity; they would have to operate the Trading Post at a higher sales volume and/or better margin than it was currently operating.

What emerged from all the culling and mulling was a hybrid solution that was not only innovative, but perhaps embodied the best ideals of the wider El Morro Valley. The co-op has dubbed the idea “Co-op Corners,” which, in its simplest form, utilizes the county’s six existing small stores as satellite mini-co-ops. These stores would receive weekly deliveries of natural food items, fresh produce and locally produced food from the El Morro Valley Co-op. The co-op, in turn, would pool the orders of these stores to achieve enough buying power to purchase and receive goods from the region’s larger suppliers. The start-up and operating costs are low, there’s no need for a fixed wholesale or retail site, and perhaps most important, Co-op Corners builds on what’s already there.

The elegance of the solution lies in the last point — it supports local businesses, which gives it the potential to reach a larger market share while building on the co-op’s biggest asset: community and cooperation. While Co-op Corners is not quite shovel-ready, it is the choice that garnered the most enthusiasm at the November member meeting.

“We want better quality food. That’s the big motivator for us,” was how Genevieve represented her community’s most fervent wish. In effect, the people of the El Morro Valley are expressing the same desires that have driven millions of American consumers away from the processed, one-size-fits-all industrial food system to one that offers food that is good tasting, has a known place of origin, and respects human and environmental health. And what’s more—and unlike most of us—the people of this valley are willing to struggle for what they want, take personal and financial risks, and blow the rallying bugle of “cooperation” to achieve what the retail food industry has failed to do across rural America.

Mark Winne, a Santa Fe resident, speaks, writes and trains nationally on community food system and food policy topics. He is the author of two books: Food Rebels, Guerrilla Gardeners, and Smart-Cookin’ Mamasand Closing the Food Gap, both published by Beacon Press. For more information see www.markwinne.com.

[SIDEBAR 1:]

La Semilla Food Center – Doña Ana County

There are some new kids on the block, and they go by the name of La Semilla Food Center. They’re young, brash and eager to change the world, but smart enough to know they should probably start with their home community. Though still wet behind the ears since their official start in 2010, this collaboratively led nonprofit organization has carved out a place for itself from El Paso to Las Cruces with community gardens, greenhouses, farm-to-school programs, food policy and advocacy. And it’s all informed by a healthy dose of youth development and leadership, because, as we know, youth are our future.

As good as they are—they’ve already secured a resolution from the City of Las Cruces to establish a local farm-to-school program, and they are on track to have the city ordain a food policy council this winter—they readily acknowledge, as Aaron Sharratt, one of La Semilla’s co-directors, bluntly put it, “Our existence is due to Farm to Table. They enabled us to secure our 501(c)(3) designation [the Holy Grail of certifications for nonprofit groups] from the IRS and got us thinking about public policy work as well. Without them, we would still be struggling, and we would certainly have never engaged the Las Cruces City Council.”

Most of La Semilla’s staff is in their 20s and 30s, which accounts for their energy and idealism, but it doesn’t explain their willingness to seek counsel from their so-called elders. That tendency suggests a higher wisdom that may be derived from their own collaborative leadership approach, one that doesn’t depend on the usual hierarchical management styles. “With Farm to Table,” Aaron suggests, “we could talk through the options and models—what’s worked and what hasn’t—and then they gave us the space to determine what’s best for us.”

Bold enough to push the envelope; wise enough to seek advice from others. That’s how La Semilla sows and nurtures its seeds of change.

[SIDEBAR 2:]

The Volunteer Center of Grant County

Amid the open-pit mines of Grant County and the Douglas firs of the Gila Wilderness lies the gritty town of Silver City. A bit of the Wild West lingers here in the form of people who refuse to accept the status quo. One such person is Alicia Edwards, director of the Volunteer Center, who started her work in 2004 with the intention of “ending hunger and poverty in Grant County, not with Band-Aids, but systemically.” No small ambition, given the region’s precipitous economic ascents and descents that mirror the fortunes of the extraction industries.

The task Alicia outlined for herself was a big one, but she knew from the start that the process would have both short- and long-term elements—and she knew that “food was the common denominator that the community could work on together.” To that end the Volunteer Center has organized a Community Food Pantry Project that distributes food to needy people once a week, as well as community gardening and food education projects. But Alicia knew all along that these community-run initiatives weren’t enough, so when she hooked up with Farm to Table in 2010 she began to see what the long-term elements looked like.

“Grant County is far from the ideas and conversations that take place in Albuquerque and Santa Fe,” she said, “so the Farm to Table connection has been fantastic.” Grant assistance, networking and community facilitation provided by Farm to Table’s staff proved essential to the progress that Alicia wants to see in Grant County. Among other things, it helped them to enter the food policy arena by establishing a county food policy council and beginning work on a comprehensive food plan. But perhaps her biggest “Aha!” moment came when Farm to Table found some funds for Alicia to attend the BALLE conference in Washington State. It opened her eyes to how food could become an economic engine to revitalize a community. That is where the soon-to-be-opened Commons Center for Food Security and Sustainability comes in. The brand new facility at the corner of 13^th and Corbin in Silver City will soon house many of the Volunteer Center’s programs, including a commercial kitchen and retail space. In her vision for the future, Alicia sees the Commons “as a physical manifestation of what we can do as a community, and maybe one day we’ll no longer need the food pantry because Grant County has become economically resilient.”

It takes one big-picture thinker like Alicia—and a whole lot of community partners—to one day end poverty and hunger.

Food Rebels, Guerilla Gardeners, and Smart-Cookin’ Mamas

Fighting Back in an Age of Industrial Agriculture

by Mark Winne, Beacon Press, 2010

www.beacon.org, www.markwinne.com

Despite the increased number of communities adopting programs to help support local agriculture and nutrition education, the majority of the food consumed in the US is still highly processed, poorly regulated, and manufactured through unsustainable methods.

In Food Rebels, Winne covers everything from urban farming in Cleveland and buffalo restoration on Native American reservations, to food-education classes in diabetes-prone neighborhoods. He shows how people are reclaiming their connection to their food and their health. “Food Rebels tells the stories of unsung heroes in the food movement—everyday people who realized that they had the power to change the way food and farming work in their communities and in the world, and did something about it,” says Josh Viertel, president of Slow Food USA. “With these stories, Mark Winne inspires us and challenges us to take a stand for good, clean, fair and affordable food for all.”

Winne challenges the reader become part of a larger movement to reclaim food sovereignty. Invoking the philosophies of great writers and thinkers, he writes about the importance of nourishing the body and the soul. The best way to do that, he says, is by becoming connected to your food source.

Print PDF

Alena Paisano

New Mexico currently ranks seventh in the nation for food insecurity. Many individuals in our communities have difficulty obtaining food or providing balanced, nutritious food for their families on a regular basis. In Santa Fe County, obesity and diabetes levels are above the national averages, and pressure for development threatens agricultural land and water resources.

The best ways to address these issues is through a coordinated approach—one that provides an opportunity for both the public and private sectors to participate—one that results in meaningful solutions. A proven way to do this is through a food policy council. The Santa Fe Food Policy Council (SFFPC) is devoted to developing and promoting laws, rules and regulations for the city and county that create and maintain a food system that nourishes all people in our community in a just and sustainable manner.

Some of the council’s recent policy accomplishments include completing an assessment of the city and county’s foodshed (the area where our food comes from) to give us information on our community’s food culture and access issues from which to make recommendations for institutional changes. We have collected information that provides a picture of the health of our community members. We’ve also collected statistics related to hunger and observed how many residents get support from local food banks or shelters. We have held community conversations and focus groups with our seniors at city and county senior centers to hear from them directly about the needs and challenges related to food and food access.

We have also been busy working to support the NM Food and Agriculture Policy Council through our endorsement of the Healthy Kids Healthy Economy resolution, a proposal to allot funding for NM-grown produce in our school meals. This would improve the health of our children, support NM farmers and create a positive impact on our state and local economies. With our support and the hard work of many committed individuals, the resolution passed unanimously at the county level and has been endorsed as a legislative priority for the 2013 session by the city of Santa Fe.

This year we are embarking on the development and implementation of a Food Plan and Food Action Plan for the city and county of Santa Fe. We are working on a community research process to collect information to help us direct our efforts and ensure that our work upholds the priorities determined by our community. Through this process we are aiming to promote equity and sustainability within our food system that will help improve our community’s relationship with food on collective and individual levels.

If you are passionate about strengthening our local food system or looking to share your creative ways to support our mission, we encourage you to get involved with our efforts. Our 13-member council meets the fourth Thursday of every month (except in November and December, when we meet on the third Thursday) at 8:30 am at the Food Depot, 1222 Siler Road. Our meetings are open to the public. To learn more about our work and current initiatives, visit www.santafefoodpolicy.org

Alena Paisano is an AmeriCorps service member working with the Santa Fe Food Policy Council to promote equity, cultural competency and social justice. She graduated from Portland State University with a degree in Community Development last spring and is looking forward to building a career working to strengthen and empower communities in New Mexico.

Print PDF

Tawnya Laveta

Dorothy Bitsilly, president of Tohatchi Red Willow Farm, motioned us to follow her as she slid into her pickup and headed down the dirt road to Chuska Lake, the reservoir for the cooperative farm. A couple months before, the small Navajo grandmother stood in front of 250 participants at the Southwest Marketing Network conference in Durango, asking for help to establish a water well for the 938-acre farm. The farm, located in Tohatchi, 25 miles north of Gallup, is divided into plots that are allocated to Navajo families in the area.

Several years of drought and the consequences of overgrazing in the upper watershed had reduced the reservoir to an inch-deep swamp—not enough to supply the Red Willow Farm, three miles away, with irrigation water. “If we’re lucky, we get one call for water in April or May. That’s it,” explained Dorothy, who has been on a quest to find money for the well water project for the past eight years. I asked her how long the call for water lasted, a couple weeks? She held up one finger, “No, just one day.”

As we followed Dorothy out to the 1934 dam, a convoy of pickups and cars followed, carrying farm members who were proud to show off the “lake” and the farm on that hot June afternoon in 2009. Our organization, Farm to Table, had arranged to bring two funders, representatives from national charitable foundations, out to see the farm as part of a three-day tour of food and farming projects in northern New Mexico. The Red Willow Farm Board and members welcomed us at the chapter house when we arrived, straight from the Albuquerque airport. They were eager to tell their story to us newcomers.

Tohatchi means “water running from the mountain” in Navajo, water that used to be plentiful from the nearby Chuska Mountains. As we approached the lake, we saw the extent of the drought and climate change. Tamarisk was squeezing out the cattails and red willow, fighting for the last puddle. “I can’t believe anything grows out here,” exclaimed one of the funders from Michigan as we drove through landscape dotted with sagebrush and tumbleweeds. Our convoy kicked up a plume of dust that could be seen for miles as we arrived at the reservoir. Dorothy pointed at the dam and waved for us to follow. She began ascending the maintenance road onto the dam, a track barely wide enough for a small vehicle. Our van-load of visitors grabbed onto their seats and seatbelts as I kept up with Dorothy, bouncing over rocks and dips.

We stopped on the dam and carefully got out for a view, mindful of the steep drop-off. Dorothy said, “People used to fish out here, bring their whole family and stay all day long. Not any more.” She pointed to the opposite side of the dam, across the vast sage land beyond, and explained how the gate and pipeline worked to send water to the farm, some three or four miles away… if only there was water.

Dorothy motioned for everyone to turn around at the end of the dam and follow her down to the farm, another 10 miles on dirt roads. Our Michigan guests white-knuckled it as I gunned the van through sand-blown sections and crept along arroyo banks more fit for a jeep. Our “shortcut” was an adventure, but highlighted the layers of challenges that face communities in rural areas, especially on remote reservations where a paved road is a luxury.

Dorothy’s son, Elvis Bitsilly, said the estimate for bringing in phase-three electricity, enough power to run a pump for the future well and irrigation system, was $230,000. That’s how much it would cost to trench and lay line for the two miles needed to hook up the farm. Drawing power is a cost above and beyond the initial $580,000 price tag for drilling the well. And no one knows how much the farm’s monthly electricity bill will be once all the infrastructure is installed—some day.

It’s one more thing that Elvis and the Farm Board can research while they continue to pursue funding sources from Navajo Nation’s Capital Improvement Office, New Mexico’s Tribal Infrastructure Fund, McKinley County, and NM State Legislature’s capital outlay. Elvis joked that Red Willow might get their well and water on the farm before Gallup completes the pipeline for their domestic water supply from the San Juan River near Shiprock. Even with millions of dollars and several years of negotiations, the pipeline construction work had just begun and is expected to take years to complete. “Out here, everything seems to take longer,” Elvis paused, “…a lot longer.”

Elvis knows firsthand how this work is more than a full-time job for several people, who mostly volunteer, to deal with all the red tape. This past year, as part of his work with Farm to Table, he has been coordinating funding applications and the required environmental and archeological studies, and keeping the farm board’s paperwork current with the Navajo Nation. Elvis’ mother, Dorothy, and her fellow Farm Board members make weekly trips to Window Rock to advocate for the well project. They rally other Tohatchi residents to get involved while continuing to approve farm plot applications from residents who are interested in “getting back to farming.”

We could see why this tenacious group of people continued the quest for almost a decade once we arrived at the entrance of the farm. Several plots had sprouted hardy corn stalks as high as your ankle in the midst of windblown sand. Twenty families are actively farming their 2-to-5-acre plots, sometimes driving 45 minutes from their house to care for their crops. A corn plant in the desert with only 4-6 inches of rainfall is a miracle to behold. Our convoy of trucks and cars pulled over to admire family plot after plot and share stories about that man or woman or organization who faithfully tended their land, what kind of corn or squash they planted this year, whose tractor they borrowed, when they came back to the reservation from their life in some big city, and whether or not they also raised Navajo Churro sheep. Our van of visitors took some pictures, but mostly they listened to the people and the land until almost sundown, standing in the wind, shading their eyes, ignoring the deadline to return to Albuquerque.

“It’s a life-changer going out to a place like Red Willow Farm, seeing how people come together to do the impossible,” said our guest who came from verdant farmland in the Midwest. Although the funders did not have grants for this type of infrastructure project, their tour of NM influenced how they thought about food-system work. Water, essential and precious, is the basic need for many communities in the Southwest who are continuing, or beginning, to take responsibility for growing their own food.

Many of us living in cities or far away from this region have a hard time imaging how you grow food without the twist of a valve to access water. We also have little idea about how our states, tribes and federal government prioritize the uses of water, choosing between allocating for commercial purposes and allocating to meet food sovereignty goals. How does our resource consumption in cities affect our rural neighbors? How do decisions in Santa Fe, the capital city, determine the destiny of small villages like Tohatchi and their ability to grow food for their families or future enterprises? We continue to learn from people like Dorothy how complex the projects become and how our historical baggage hinders a community’s ability to take care of themselves and the land and water as their relations… as all of our relations.

For more information about supporting the Red Willow Farm and water well project, their efforts at the 2012 NM state Legislature, and application for capital outlay funds from the Navajo Nation, contact Elvis Bitsilly at egbit1@yahoo.com or call 505.203.7290. He’d be happy to introduce you to “grandmother” Dorothy Bitsilly to recruit you into this “generational project.”

Tawnya Laveta is programs director at Farm to Table. tawnya@farmtotablenm.org

Print PDF

George Lujan

Project Feed the Hood has spent the last three years expanding across Albuquerque, working with schools and neighborhood groups to educate on food issues and promote healthy practices. Working with Farm to Table on the Healthy Kids – Healthy Economy initiative to bring NM-grown produce into school meals is a perfect evolution of the work we do, and will bring us much closer to our vision of a healthy, happy New Mexico.

Project Feed the Hood, an initiative of the SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP), began with a “pilot” community garden in Albuquerque’s International District. This area of the city qualifies as a “food desert,” a place where healthy foods cannot be reasonably purchased—either because they’re too expensive or they’re just not available. Our organizers turned a harsh plot of dirt filled with trash, glass and concrete into a thriving garden that produces a host of vegetables. The International District Community Garden has served as a space where different groups can come and learn about gardening and build a relationship with the land. Hundreds of kids have made their way through to participate in workshops, and for two straight years the garden has hosted Project Feed the Hood’s Pumpkin Smashing Festival, where kids come and smash pumpkins to create compost.

Much of the project’s most fruitful work has happened in local schools, including Van Buren Middle School, Kirtland Elementary, Wilson Middle School, West Mesa High School, Edward Gonzales Elementary and Helen Cordero Elementary. Teachers and administrators have been incredibly motivated and effective at creating these gardens and encouraging their students to get their hands dirty. Parents at Edward Gonzales Elementary have created their own group, Madres Naturalezas, which has worked to make their school garden flourish and to help the school administration bring healthy food options into their cafeteria. The Madres are very excited to support the Healthy Kids – Healthy Economy initiative at the NM Legislature this year.

“As a parent and member of the Madres Naturalezas of SWOP, I think it’s very important to involve principals, teachers and especially parents in school gardens. These gardens provide support for development and an opportunity to teach our children early the broader concept of what nutrition is, how to eat healthy, and how to know where the produce we eat comes from. In turn, sharing the natural, organic food we grow not only contributes to a more healthy planet and a more healthy way of living, it’s a way to share with our community and grow stronger together with our children and be more involved in their schools,” says Crimilda Colunga. “That is why we invite all NM schools to participate in this important program that SWOP coordinates so well.”

In 2012, Project Feed the Hood Farms was born in the Riverside neighborhood of Albuquerque’s South Valley. A 50-foot-long hoop house was erected on-site so that produce can grow year-round and be sold to sponsor Project Feed the Hood’s community outreach. It was built thanks to the hard work and expertise of community volunteers, whose contributions form the foundation of our work. It boasts seven raised beds and a drip irrigation system. Right now, lettuce, spinach, radishes and turnips are inside, basking in the NM sun. The organizers are working on a video that explains the process and benefits of building a hoop house.

This season, Project Feed the Hood has also expanded work in the Westgate neighborhood on Albuquerque’s West Side. Our organizers are helping build raised beds and teaching families about backyard gardening. The Westgate Heights Neighborhood Association has become very involved in the garden project and in engaging community conversations on health. Everywhere Project Feed the Hood works, we hope to incite larger conversations about food and health systems, and to encourage community members to continue the work on their own initiative.

Project Feed the Hood often encourages communities to ask, “Where does our food come from?” We support the Healthy Kids – Healthy Economy initiative to get locally grown produce in school meals. Linking local farmers with schools will benefit the gardening work and education that is already happening, and will further empower communities to promote healthy lifestyles for themselves and their children.

George Lujan is the communications organizer of the SouthWest Organizing Project. In high school George expanded his awareness of social issues through the SWOP Youth Group, and after receiving a Media Arts Degree at UNM, he returned to SWOP to work on issues affecting disenfranchised communities in NM. Email George@swop.net, call 505.247.8832 or visit www.swop.net

Print PDF

Juan Estévan Arellano

When I was in school in the ‘50s and ‘60s, schools used to buy fruit and produce directly from our parents, since at that time most everyone still did some farming. In the mid-‘60s, when I attended McCurdy School in Santa Cruz, NM, the school still had an active farm with chickens, milk cows, hogs and a garden. But by the time I graduated, the farm was a thing of the past.

Suddenly, in the ‘60s, the school lunch bureaucracy became impossible for the small farmer and producer to navigate. As a result, all the food served at school came from afar, and though there was still plenty grown in the area, there was no market. So from the mid-‘60s to the ‘90s there was a total disconnect between what was served in the schools and what was grown in the area.

Today things are changing. This year Fred and Ruby Martinez, from Cañoncito, in the fertile Embudo Valley, sold about 1,400 boxes of apples to schools throughout the state, thanks in part to the work done by Farm to Table, a nonprofit organization based in Santa Fe.

Each fall, people from Albuquerque, Río Rancho, Santa Fe and other places mistakenly descend upon Dixon, north of Española, looking for the famous Dixon’s Orchard apples. (Dixon’s Apple Orchards near Cochiti was, unfortunately, destroyed by fire and flooding in 2011.) They ask the local residents, “We are looking for Dixon apples. Where can we buy some?” And since almost everyone in Dixon has apples, they reply, “We have some,” or, if not, they send them to Fred and Ruby Martinez’s orchards a short way down the road.

Since Fred and his dad installed wind turbines in 1964 to heat their orchard, the Martinezes’ have had a crop every single year, though in 2011 the harvest did not compare to this year’s crop of 7,000 boxes. Fred farms about 23 acres in Cañoncito, where he has 3,500 apple trees and about 350 peach trees. Because he grows many different varieties, the fruit ripens throughout the summer, spacing out his harvest. Fred’s father, Delfín, started the orchard in the 1950s. Throughout the past 60 years, the family bought more and more land. What began as a modest orchard, planted in standard trees with the common varieties (mostly Double Red Delicious and Golden Delicious), is now a very modern operation.

The Martinez family irrigates their orchard from the Acequia Arellano y Martinez, aka Acequia Leonardo Martinez, one of the 10 acequias off of the Río Embudo. Their acequia, the first to draw water, is one of the smallest in terms of acreage, but it is probably the one that produces the most fruit. In order to make sure his fruit is pollinated, Martinez rents bees, usually around 30 boxes, that he places throughout his orchard for a couple of months each spring when the trees start to bloom.

These days, semi-dwarf varieties that make it easier for Martinez, 70, to maintain and harvest, have replaced the standard size trees. He also has replaced some of the old Red Delicious with more modern varieties such as Gala, Arkansas Black, Fuji and others. Today he has 16 varieties of apples. Each different variety is planted in what he calls “a separate block.” He also has eight varieties of peaches and five of cherries. His cherries ripen starting in early May to mid-July. “In this business you constantly have to be changing. I plant about 200 trees every year,” says Fred, whose family has been in the valley since 1715. “Varieties that don’t sell, I remove and plant what consumers want.”

At a meeting last October, held at his manicured orchard at the mouth of the Río Embudo canyon, Fred stressed that today he uses Integrated Pest Management (IPM) to control pests. This approach allows him to only spray the orchard once in the spring when the trees start to leaf. Other apple growers who still use the old method spray upwards of 10 times during the summer, dumping a lot of pesticides, not only on the fruit, but also on the ground, which eventually makes its way into the river and the water table.

Farm to Table staff members were present at the meeting on the Martinez farm, as were several chefs and school food service directors from as far away as Los Lunas. Martinez announced that a NM Apple and Fruit Growers Cooperative had recently been formed, and that he would be serving as president. Danny Farrar from Velarde, whose father was a pioneer in the apple business, is serving as vice-president. Robert Naranjo is secretary and Gene López from Lyden is treasurer. Other board members are Rick Romero, Longorio Vigil, Tim Martinez, Norman Medina and Chris Bassett.

Martinez is happy that he is able to sell his apples to schools across the state. The Farm to Table program not only helps the local small farmers like Martinez sell their products to schools by helping them “navigate bureaucratic and transportation issues,” the program also helps schoolchildren enjoy the flavor of locally grown fruit—just like the old days.

Fred, Ruby and their family also participate in several farmers’ markets throughout northern NM, including the one in Dixon on Wednesdays from June through October, and they sell their fruit at the Dixon Co-op Market. During the annual Dixon Studio Tour, held every year on the first weekend in November, Ruby offers her homemade apple pies and cider. Their enterprise has been featured in numerous magazines throughout the nation. Fred was recognized as Farmer of the Year in 2008, first by the Embudo Valley Acequia Association and then by the NM Acequia Association.

Farmer, researcher and community leader Juan Estévan Arellano has devoted most of his life to documenting the traditional knowledge of the Indo-Hispano in northern NM. He is translator-editor of the book Ancient Agriculture. 505.579.4027, estevan_2002@yahoo.com

Print PDF