FEATURED ARTICLE

WHAT DOES OUR FOOD REALLY COST?

by Stacey Roussel, of All We Need Organics

Today, I was asked a question that I hear often, “Why does local food cost more than food coming from afar? After all, I am not paying for shipping, so a squash grown in Texas should be cheaper than one grown in Timbuktu.” Well, transportation is just one part of costs. What other cost go into that local squash?

• SEEDS- An organic farmer is purchasing only organic seed or saving his seed from year to year. There is a limited supply of local, organic seed, so I order most of my seed online. This seed costs more than conventional seed, but produces a wonderful product… and maybe with time, I can save seed (which would only cost my time instead of money).
  
  
• LABOR- I work every day without taking any money off my farm. We make every penny stretch so that I can do this work, and I am VERY happy to do this work. We started as urban growers, and now have a farm that has capacity to serve many families. I recently hired someone outside of my family to help me. This was a huge decision. Jay and I took time to think about how I should approach labor. We reject the idea that “time is money”. I don’t make “minimum wage” when compared to the number of hours worked, and the co-op survives off of volunteers that see the value of building a sustainable present. But, on our farm, we needed someone, and wanted to pay them fairly. Workers are valuable, and we can’t try to squeeze work out of them for as low a wage as possible. Fair wages to a local laborer is a direct cost to our food.
  
  
• MACHINERY- We are a small family farm that did not inherit land or machinery to get started. Every dollar that I make is put back into capital for the farm. This is a sacrifice for our family, but we are building a farm. There have been much publicized stories over the past 30 years about the “loss of the family farm”, and while we are not out of the clear yet, there are positive signs that point to the re-emergence of the “family farm”. This takes time and money as we rebuild what was lost.
  
  
• WEEDS- I don’t use any herbicides on my property. Every weed that sprouts is either pulled or smothered. Once again time and $. There are organic applications that OMRI certified, some for use in the field, others not, but every application has a direct impact, whether you are using Roundup or cinnamon and clove. My preference is to work with nature (since fighting nature is silly).
  
  
• BUGS- Again, I don’t use any pesticides or insecticides on my land unless I can make them from what was grown on the land. Then I hold back as long as possible before reaching for the spray. Nature when in balance will correct itself. This has been proven over and over to me. That may mean that I lose three weeks of selling kale while the aphids attack, but that loss of income is rectified the day the ladybug arrived and took care of my problem. Not really a cost, I know, but this balance takes time.

WHAT ARE YOU PAYING FOR?

Working backwards, you are paying for vegetables that are grown by someone who loves her work, pays a fair wage to a local laborer, and helps protect our environment. You have a squash that was grown without any pesticides, insecticides, or herbicides. Your squash has had little or no fertilizer inputs, and those that were used were made in Texas. The soil that it was grown with is amended with compost, organic matter, and covered with native mulches.

The $ that you spend on your squash is turned over three to four times in your local economy. That dollar buys equipment at stores like Damon Farm and Ranch. That $ bought bee boxes from Wabash Feed. Our tractor came from Rosenberg Tractor (and was made in the USA). This $ goes a long way to give local people work, their wages are then spent in our economy, and hopefully back again on my vegetables, or on a bike made by our friend John, or on a Yoga class led by our friend Robin.

WHAT IS YOUR BENEFIT?

A relationship with your farmer. I took time out of my field today to write this, because I think that it is important. A local supply of fresh vegetables is important on many levels. A local squash can be traced back to its source fairly easily. You are one hand away from the farmer. Carolyn holds the relationships very closely. On any given Wednesday, she can tell you who grew what (go this week, and ask!).

Have you ever picked fresh strawberries? If you keep them for longer than 3 days, they start to compost. Do you ever wonder how they can grow those fruit in California, pick them, wash them, package them, and then ship them to Texas where they sit on a store shelf?

Your food is thousands of miles fresher. A squash picked a day before co-op is going to be more flavorful and have higher nutritional value that one that is shipped across the country. If a cob of corn looses sweetness from my field to home, what happens as it travels in a semi from Kansas to Texas. The same is true with all produce.

In essence, you too are building a farm. You are part an organic farming community. Like anything else, building takes time and money. I hope that with time, things change, and local food can become cheaper and cheaper but still retain its variety and quality. We’ll see. But one I can promise you is that the principles and ethics behind your food will not change with time.

Your Farmer,
Stacey

BENEFITS OF BUYING LOCAL

A relationship with your
farmer.

You are one hand away from the farmer. On any given Wednesday, Carolyn can tell you who grew what (go this week, and ask!).

Fresher produce

Your food is thousands of miles fresher. A squash picked a day before co-op is going to be more flavorful and have higher nutritional value that one that is shipped across the country.

Community

In essence, you too are building a farm. You are part an organic farming community.

Investment in your
local economy

The $ that you spend on your squash is turned over three to four times in your local economy. That dollar buys equipment at stores like Damon Farm and Ranch. That $ bought bee boxes from Wabash Feed.