2008 Woodie Awards
Going Local
Organization leads first Local Food Month
Joseph Clerici
Issue date: 9/12/07 Section: Community
- Page 1 of 1
Twelve local farming activists met Saturday afternoon for a workshop sponsored by Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County. The event marked the beginning of the first annual Local Food Month, four weeks of potlucks, workshops, and celebrations to raise awareness and utilization of locally produced food.
Local Food Month is organized by the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, a statewide nonprofit group formed in 1978. The Humboldt County chapter formed last year and has since worked with other community organizations and programs to provide business opportunities for local growers and ranchers, and to educate the community about locally produced food. The organization has been active in getting local food served in Humboldt County schools, including Humboldt State University, and educating local children about local and organic farming.
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors declared September as Local Food Month for the county during a meeting on August 28.
Jenny Riegg, a Community Alliance organizer, tabled at the weekly Arcata Farmers' Market on Saturday.
"Buying from local farmers keeps the money within the community, there's no middlemen," she said
Buying locally means that fewer resources are used to transport food. The average food item can travel between 1,200-and 1,500 miles before it's eaten, so buying local reduces fuel and energy usage, she said.
This relationship between fossil fuel supply and agriculture was one of the key points at the Democracy Unlimited workshop. The event, entitled "The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved," was the first of seven featured events comprising Local Food Month. Participants discussed their grievances with the present corporate agriculture system and shared ideas how they could help expand local farming.
"As fuel gets more and more expensive, food from far away is going to get more expensive," said Arcata resident Fhyre Phoenix after the workshop. "Why in the world are we getting apples from South America when we can grow them right here?"
Humboldt State University Economics Professor Beth Wilson confirmed Community Alliance's claims that local food benefits the economy.
"If local people are buying from local producers rather than from producers outside the area, less dollars leak from the local economy," she wrote in an e-mail.
"The more times local money circulates within an economy, the larger the multiplier effects, and the larger the overall impact on the local economy," she said.
Phoenix and Democracy Unlimited organizer Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap said that in the event of a natural disaster, Humboldt County could become cut off from distant food suppliers and would be forced to fend for itself, referencing the storms of December 2005 which temporarily closed both major highways into the area.
Despite their arguments for the advantages of local and organic produce, Riegg and Phoenix both admitted that switching to an all-local diet requires sacrifice and is generally more expensive to consumers. Some foods simply aren't available locally or during a given season. Phoenix supported a more staunch position, arguing that Humboldt County should become entirely self-sufficient, while Riegg insisted that any support to local farmers is a step in the right direction.
"I'm not advocating that people shouldn't eat anything that's not local," Riegg said. "People in Humboldt County are still going to want sugar, they're still going to want coffee…it's not about completely changing to local, but what you can get locally and fresh, you should."
Despite the added expenses to consumers, North Coast Growers Association Director T Griffin said that both the Arcata Farmers' Market and the Wildberries Farmers' Market are popular with students who are willing to spend the extra cash for local produce. Humboldt State liberal arts junior, Terra Kopf, was one such student who spent Saturday morning on the plaza shopping for vegetables.
"[Buying local food] supports the economy here, and if you're vegetarian it can still work out to be cheaper," she said. "And if the rest of the world collapsed, we could still eat."
Joseph Clerici can be contacted at jac100@humboldt.edu
LINKS
Local Food Month
Local Food Month is organized by the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, a statewide nonprofit group formed in 1978. The Humboldt County chapter formed last year and has since worked with other community organizations and programs to provide business opportunities for local growers and ranchers, and to educate the community about locally produced food. The organization has been active in getting local food served in Humboldt County schools, including Humboldt State University, and educating local children about local and organic farming.
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors declared September as Local Food Month for the county during a meeting on August 28.
Jenny Riegg, a Community Alliance organizer, tabled at the weekly Arcata Farmers' Market on Saturday.
"Buying from local farmers keeps the money within the community, there's no middlemen," she said
Buying locally means that fewer resources are used to transport food. The average food item can travel between 1,200-and 1,500 miles before it's eaten, so buying local reduces fuel and energy usage, she said.
This relationship between fossil fuel supply and agriculture was one of the key points at the Democracy Unlimited workshop. The event, entitled "The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved," was the first of seven featured events comprising Local Food Month. Participants discussed their grievances with the present corporate agriculture system and shared ideas how they could help expand local farming.
"As fuel gets more and more expensive, food from far away is going to get more expensive," said Arcata resident Fhyre Phoenix after the workshop. "Why in the world are we getting apples from South America when we can grow them right here?"
Humboldt State University Economics Professor Beth Wilson confirmed Community Alliance's claims that local food benefits the economy.
"If local people are buying from local producers rather than from producers outside the area, less dollars leak from the local economy," she wrote in an e-mail.
"The more times local money circulates within an economy, the larger the multiplier effects, and the larger the overall impact on the local economy," she said.
Phoenix and Democracy Unlimited organizer Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap said that in the event of a natural disaster, Humboldt County could become cut off from distant food suppliers and would be forced to fend for itself, referencing the storms of December 2005 which temporarily closed both major highways into the area.
Despite their arguments for the advantages of local and organic produce, Riegg and Phoenix both admitted that switching to an all-local diet requires sacrifice and is generally more expensive to consumers. Some foods simply aren't available locally or during a given season. Phoenix supported a more staunch position, arguing that Humboldt County should become entirely self-sufficient, while Riegg insisted that any support to local farmers is a step in the right direction.
"I'm not advocating that people shouldn't eat anything that's not local," Riegg said. "People in Humboldt County are still going to want sugar, they're still going to want coffee…it's not about completely changing to local, but what you can get locally and fresh, you should."
Despite the added expenses to consumers, North Coast Growers Association Director T Griffin said that both the Arcata Farmers' Market and the Wildberries Farmers' Market are popular with students who are willing to spend the extra cash for local produce. Humboldt State liberal arts junior, Terra Kopf, was one such student who spent Saturday morning on the plaza shopping for vegetables.
"[Buying local food] supports the economy here, and if you're vegetarian it can still work out to be cheaper," she said. "And if the rest of the world collapsed, we could still eat."
Joseph Clerici can be contacted at jac100@humboldt.edu
LINKS
Local Food Month
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