Author: Katherine Michels

Regarding Chuck Ross’s question, I simply don’t know. I think that existing economic and social systems make discussions of food access difficult, because in our market system, the prices that would ensure food access for all members of our community would likely not sustain the farmers and producers bringing that food to our mouths. I was encouraged by Secretary Ross’s comment that we must think about how to create a new economic system, one which values both positive and negative externalities, in order to fairly compensate farmers for their work, though this seems to address only one side of a double edged sword. But until then, what shall we do?

I think, though, that strong communities will help us find solutions to this dilemma. At the UVM Revolution for Food Systems Conference, David Zuckerman discussed how his farm has come to a scale (through both his and others’ efforts and support) where he can afford to add an extra bunch of vegetables to the baskets of those in need. We heard in Louisville about a CSA program where individuals spend as they feel they can on shares, so that those with more are able to pay a little bit extra in order to help those with less to also eat good food. These relationships are built on personal connections. They are not systematically implemented, and it will require work to maintain these connections that have developed between people and people and food. Perhaps they are stepping stones towards a new food system that better accounts for externalities and value? Perhaps they are simply the efforts of good people doing good work. I’m simply not sure how we can expand small acts like David’s to the scale we need to reach.

The local food movement, too, has power in its diversity. There are so many ways we can engage with our food system, and we can and should each have the ability to decide how we would like to participate. We can purchase food in many places, we can produce it ourselves or connect with the producers we choose to support. The ways in which we make these choices are certainly not “free,” they are conditioned by our personal histories, backgrounds, circumstances, preferences. But perhaps by fostering the current co-evolving trajectories of food and community, we will be able to ensure food for all, in all places. Perhaps Vermont’s focused on “community-based” agriculture will help all be able to participate in the food system to the fullest degree that they wish.

Remembering who grows our food seems, to me, the most forgotten aspect of recent conversations on local food. Without farmers, near and far, we would have no food. Though the high prices of good food are often maligned, we could do more to understand why farmers must charge these prices.

Food access for ALL people must be central to discussions of food, and fortunately, these conversations are happening with increasing regularity. But I think that food access for farmers is too quietly discussed. Even organic farmers, even farmers who charge $9 per gallon of raw milk or $5 per pound of tomatoes, have trouble making ends meet. Though it is easy to malign farmers for charging high prices, these prices are not pulled out of the sky. They go towards land, towards labor, towards food, towards family; they go towards the expenses each of us have, all components that we must consider when understanding “cost” in the food system and broader society. We must understand, and then change, this mismatched system where farmers must charge high prices, which cannot be met by all eaters, and still can barely recoup their own costs.

When we ask for cheap food, I think we must be specific about what we are going to sacrifice. Would we prefer food from farmers who don’t pay laborers, or who skirt protecting our water, soil, and sky? Feeding ourselves carries costs: monetary, social, and environmental. Like much of the food discussion, I don’t think there are simple answers to changing these costs. We need system change, everything and all of it at once.

To start understanding these costs, to place ourselves in a way that gives us the right to complain about them, we must ground ourselves in understanding. To start, I think that everyone should grow food. In a backyard garden, or at a farm, try it for just a day in order to understand the work that goes into each seedling. Preferably follow the full cycle through, from germination to harvest, because only then can everything (the labor, the love, and the cost) that goes into each plant be understood. Only then can we complain about paying $5 for a pound of brandywine tomatoes or $4 for a bunch of carrots. Only then we can start thinking about getting those carrots in the hands and mouths of everyone. Farmers included.