Eat-local movement provides shot in the arm for struggling farmers
Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 04 Aug 2008: 31.
Abstract
Some British supermarkets have taken to labelling the food miles on their products and "eat local" campaigns have become controversial fashion statements in themselves. Debate now rages in various quarters, for example, on whether the carbon footprint of locally produced food is higher or lower than imported produce. The book that started it all, The One Hundred Mile Diet, by the movement's founders, Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon, has just been published in Australia. It explores the Canadian couple's often humorous exploits and the lengths they went to in order to source all their food in a defined range.
"From the farmer's point of view, it was about more direct market channels and therefore keeping more of the profits," he says. "From the consumers' end it was about picking something fresh and being able to lay your eyes on the producer and ask questions about how they produce it -- all of the stories that go with food production, the agriculture stuff.
"Local farmers are up against the central markets; the big supermarkets that fix the prices," she says. "If they can go to the farmers' market or deal directly with the public at the farm gate it gives them a chance to educate the public and to make a decent living. People, even the most unaware people, are aware of food miles today. They want to know where their food is made and how it is made."
Farm gate sales offer an alternative to the buying power of supermarkets
THE Kurrajong Hills in the Hawkesbury River valley on the northwest fringe of Sydney have changed forever. Once a picturesque nook of derelict orchards and run-down market gardens barely surviving as property developers circled, it is now booming as slow-food and eat-local movements take hold.
Consumers are now aware of terms such as food miles and 100-mile diets.
The Richmond-Windsor area in which Kurrajong lies, originally called Sydney's breadbasket and now commonly known as Sydney's food bowl, was established by governor Lachlan Macquarie in the late 1700s. It suffered through much of the last century from the rising costs of farming and intense competition from supermarkets. A traditional way of life was dying.
Not any more.
It is a story repeated around the country: farms that were poverty stricken only a few years ago are now booming as tourist buses and four-wheel drives pull up in front, full of people willing to pay well for fruit picked directly from the trees behind.
Farmer John Maguire, 71, has been a leader in the transformation to direct selling to the public. Twenty years ago his orchard was facing bankruptcy. Every year, going through the "soulless" experience of selling into Sydney's major fruit and vegetable market at Flemington, his financial situation went backwards.
Now his orchard is planted with a wide variety of fruits and the cafe and shop at the front of his property are rarely empty.
His family's love of the property, Enniskillen Orchard, with its views across the rich flood plains of the Hawkesbury, spurred Maguire to fight for its survival.
Meetings Maguire used to attend were the forerunner of the now successful Hawkesbury Harvest -- a group of restaurants, farmers, tour operators and bed and breakfast businesses. Among other projects the group runs the Harvest Trail, a recommended route that encourages Sydneysiders and international tourists to explore an idyllic rural enclave on Sydney's edge.
Farmers' markets, popping up all around the country, are also part of the phenomenon.
Maguire says the eat local trend is a result of urbanisation. "People are starting to wake up to the fact that humankind does not live by cemented land alone and that food doesn't just come off a supermarket shelf," he says.
"Part of this is that it is an experience. A lot of young children walk into our place and the experience is pretty well foreign to them. They have no concept of where fruit comes from and what is entailed in growing it."
The eat local phenomenon, backed up by the US 100-mile diet craze and increasing concern about food miles, are more than just an anti-globalisation political statement about supporting individual farmers over corporate chain stores, or even a dilettante's preference for fruit that has not spent months in cold storage.
Some British supermarkets have taken to labelling the food miles on their products and "eat local" campaigns have become controversial fashion statements in themselves. Debate now rages in various quarters, for example, on whether the carbon footprint of locally produced food is higher or lower than imported produce. The book that started it all, The One Hundred Mile Diet, by the movement's founders, Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon, has just been published in Australia. It explores the Canadian couple's often humorous exploits and the lengths they went to in order to source all their food in a defined range.
Their cravings for items such as chocolate and coffee proved impossible to satisfy, but with food items in North America typically travelling more than 1500 miles from farm to plate the idea has spread to many communities in North America and is taking hold in Australia.
Supporters say the diet offers a way for individuals to reduce their carbon footprint and do their bit to save the planet from global warming.
Ian Knowd, from the School of Social Sciences at the University of Western Sydney, one of the founding members of Hawkesbury Harvest, says he was originally interested in the possibility of tourism saving dying farms on the urban fringe.
It has dovetailed neatly with the public's growing concerns about lifestyle diseases and the effect of their own consumerism -- with an almost spiritual movement to connect with the land.
"From the farmer's point of view, it was about more direct market channels and therefore keeping more of the profits," he says. "From the consumers' end it was about picking something fresh and being able to lay your eyes on the producer and ask questions about how they produce it -- all of the stories that go with food production, the agriculture stuff.
"Hawkesbury Harvest is about rebuilding the local food economy and networks. People were saying that with urbanisation these farms couldn't produce viably any more. It is very difficult for small farms to survive in the current market.
"Fortunately there is a growing awareness among consumers about health and nutrition issues of food and their concerns about what the central food system does to food.
"Harvest is exploiting this food consciousness trend, which is why the new farmers' markets are emerging."
Ian Ryall, Canberra's Convivium Leader for the Slow Food Movement, says involvement with local producers and understanding the origins of food is integral to the increasingly popular movement. It began in Italy in the 1980s as a reaction to the fast food culture.
"Slow food helps people rediscover the joy of eating and the importance of caring about where their food comes from," he says. "We encourage the use of local and regional products that are good, clean and fair. We believe in making connections with the growers and producers, understanding the enthusiasm and passion they bring to growing their product and how that translates into the quality of the product."
Hawkesbury Harvest food and wine co-ordinator Carol Layton says creating a connection between the community and growers through events such as farmers' markets, conviviums and the farm gate trail helps growers stay solvent.
"Local farmers are up against the central markets; the big supermarkets that fix the prices," she says. "If they can go to the farmers' market or deal directly with the public at the farm gate it gives them a chance to educate the public and to make a decent living. People, even the most unaware people, are aware of food miles today. They want to know where their food is made and how it is made."
Credit: John Stapleton
No comments:
Post a Comment