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Local Foods Event Featuring Fresh the Movie

The event was held August 29th from 1:00 - 4:00pm at the Transylvania County Library's Rogow Room.  Click here for a description.

Summary of Discussion At Local Foods Event

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Panel members:
Glenn Ingram, Jr, ND – Naturopathic Doctor from Through the Woods Natural Health
Bill Hill – certified organic vegetable and fruit farmer from Holly Hill Farms
Nancy DePippo – owner of Poppies Market
Brittany Whitmire – grass-fed beef farmer from Busy Bee Farms

Bill Hill said that we don’t need certified organic foods travelling 3000 miles

 
Audience asked, “How much land does it take to get started vegetable farming?”
Bill Hill answered:  I started out with just a few acres and then expanded to 8.  Now I am farming dozens of acres.
 
Audience asked, “Are there subsidies available to small farmers?
Bill Hill: There is an organic subsidy from the USDA for the first time this year
Brittany Whitmire: There is a new provision in this year’s farm bill for small, disadvantaged young farmers.  There is also a grant program in Western North Carolina through the Co-op extension.  Theses are “mini-grants” to be used for bricks and mortar expansion. 
 
Audience asked, “How do you get started as a farmer?”
Bill Hill: Start with a trial garden.  Learn one step at a time.  A good resource is www.attra.org.
 
Audience asked, from a sustainability and eating local point of view, does it make more sense for us to do our own garden or hook up with existing farmers?  I have land that is not being used.
Glenn Ingram:  Right now, the infrastructure is not there to get all of your food from local farmers, so both are needed.  We all really need to help each other out.
Brittany Whitmire: If you have land lying fallow, you can ask local farmers if they would like to rent it from you.  Look in the local food guide to make connections and rent to farmers.  You will not get rich off of it, though.
Nancy DePippo: We need to support those doing the work right now; it is not sustainable if the people providing local foods cannot make it economically.
Brittany Whitmire: Spiritually, we need to take care of the land.  We are seeing churches growing gardens now.  See Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture by Ellen Davis.
 
We have an overfed and undernourished poor population in the United States.  
Audience asked, Glenn, “Is there any such thing as superfoods and what are they?”
Glenn Ingram: The best ones are liver from naturally raised animals, raw dairy from grass-fed cows or goats, and fermented foods of any kind (yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, etc).
 
Audience asked, If I wanted to grow a garden but have no land, would a fair deal be to give a farmer ½ of their produce as rent for the land?
Brittany Whitmire: There are issues of trust.  For example, on my farm with cattle, people have to know to close gates behind them and leave open ones open.  They also have to understand animals so they don’t spook the cows.
Bill Hill: We have to take care of the land in a certain way.  Who would take care of the land in winter?  As an organically-certified farmer, I have to be very careful about having GMO or non-organic practices on my farm.
 
Audience: Public Policy issue of feeding the poor: The WIC office is purposely mismanaged.  As a pregnant woman, I have to buy artificial peanut butter instead of real peanut butter.  I have to get cereals with high-fructose corn syrup.  I have to get low-fat milk.  There are obvious corporate ties as only certain brands are allowed.  Corporations determine what is healthy.  Organic food is not allowed on the WIC program in North Carolina.  What can we do about these issues?
Glenn Ingram: One of the best things you can do is go and talk to your legislators.  Visit them while they are in your area or go to Washington or Raleigh.
Brittany Whitmire: I have a masters in government and administration and did my thesis on farm succession.  So I have a good bit of knowledge on the politics of agriculture.  One of the best things you can do is write a letter that is not a form letter.  Talk to staffers that do the research for legislators.  They need to hear from you.  The school system is bound by county and state policies so they can’t carry Busy Bee beef at public schools.  Talk to your neighbors about these issues.  Put your money where your mouth is and buy local and sustainable food.
 
Audience asked, Can we set up an interactive e-mail so people can get involved?
Glenn Ingram: I am in the process of creating this right now.  I am going to have a blog on my web site where people can comment and continue this conversation.
 
What are our biggest assets and barriers to creating a complete local foods system?
Brittany Whitmire: Resources like ASAP (Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project).  We have a large variety of food that we produce in the region.  North Carolina is the 2nd-3rd most agriculturally diverse state in the US.  WNC farms are smaller than the eastern farms due to terrain.  Most of the farmers that originally settled here were subsistence farmers.  Because of these small farms, we do not have economies of scale so products cost more from these farms—this is actually one problem.  There is growing interest from the public.  Asheville has become a foodtopia.
Nancy DePippo:  There are distribution problems—products from north of Asheville are hard to get here.  There are no distributors in the area and if there were, they add cost to an already expensive product.  Most local farmers are priced out of the market.  There is erratic supply because of what crops are available.  We need to learn to eat seasonally.  For protein foods, there are a lack of processing facilities in the area.  Nyman’s tried to move into the area to set up a hog farm, but he had to ship them to the Midwest to be processed.
Brittany Whitmire: The closest facility is 3 hours away in Taylorsville.  There are policy problems: We need safeguards but many policies are prohibitive for small producers.  There is a lack of infrastructure – meat processing is very centralized.  Most of the cow/calf operations in the area ship their calves to the Midwest where the corn is to be fed in stockyards.
Bill Hill: There are many restrictions on farmers for the sake of public safety.
Brittany Whitmire: There are many food recalls.  It is a retroactive system meaning they work on catching the problems after the fact.  Fresh produce regulations increase the burden on small farms.  Whole Foods and Earth Fare require investment by the farmers to meet standards, which is cost-prohibitive.
 
Audience asked:  “Is it possible to have greenhouses for food in winter?”
Bill Hill:  It is cost-prohibitive.
 
What are consumer’s barriers to eating local foods?  
Glenn Ingram: We need to develop a food culture.  Why are there no Southern Appalachian restaurants in Brevard?
 
Brittany Whitmire: Many people in Europe eat good food and are active as well.  We can celebrate with good food.  We need to share our knowledge of cooking with whole foods.
 
Glenn Ingram: If you stick with traditional whole foods, there is no such thing as a “bad” food.  Moderation is always a key, of course.
 
Audience comment:  La Leche League says that breastfed kids whose mothers eat vegetables are more likely to eat vegetables themselves.  It seems the flavors of the vegetables come through in the breast milk.



Fresh is an inspiring documentary about the problems with our international industrialized food system and why we need to make a major change to local food systems.  The movie presents several people who have made some of these changes and continue to inspire the local foods movement.  The movie shows that a local foods system is sustainable and advantageous in terms of economics, the environment, health, and definitely for local communities. 
More information on the movie can be found at www.freshthemovie.com.

After the movie, there will be a panel discussion on the issues presented by the movie and what needs to be done here in Transylvania County and Western North Carolina.

Panel members include:
 Come find out what you can do to help the local foods movement grow and become the dominant system again.  It takes each one of us to work on this important topic; come and be part of the conversation.