TRANSFORMING THE FOOD SYSTEM
Dear Friends,
I have slowly come to accept that perhaps I am no longer a “new” farmer or a “young” farmer. At 45, I am entering the realm of midlife and have now been farming for 13 years. Through my own journey, I understand that there are three major obstacles to the ultimate success of what has come to be known as “the small farm revolution” of which I am a part. In chronological order in the life of a farmer, these barriers include: long-term access to land, mastering the art of production, and finally successfully marketing all that we produce. Our farm was able to overcome the first two obstacles due to overwhelming generosity within the organic community - stories for another day. But, as our farm matures, I am becoming more and more aware of the great mountain in front of us when it comes to marketing. While it is a beautiful thing when a local organic farmer connects directly with an eater, the food system primarily operates outside of the context of those special relationships. Already my small farm has outgrown the limits of direct marketing in our town of 60,000 and the major grocery stores do not want to put in the extra effort to work with a farm that is not on their distributors' list. Limited access to wholesale accounts not only limits the growth of small farms but also prevents new farmers from successfully transitioning to organic. I believe the “small farm revolution” desperately needs the following to reach its full potential: enforcement of the principles enshrined in the organic food production act (so we can distinguish our superior practices in the marketplace), greater transparency throughout the food system, an end to the vast support that USDA provides for chemical commodity agriculture (so we can compete on even ground), and finally, enforcement of antitrust to provide small to midscale farms with access to shelf space. These are no small tasks! We have learned after decades of political work, that these changes won’t come quickly. While we continue to work for political reform, we cannot afford to wait for it. The farmers and eaters of the Real Organic Project have taken matters into our own hands. We are working to create marketplace opportunities so our movement can grow, in spite of so many forces against us. Together we can transform the food system, one farm, and one eater, at a time.
Yours in the dirt,
www.realorganicproject.org linley@realorganicproject.org / 970 317 0309
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