March 2012

How To Level the Local Food Playing Field
Jeff Gangemi Mar 29, 2012 The Beat 0 comments
Originally posted on the Slow Food USA Blog. The numbers clearly show that demand for local food is growing. According to the USDA, the market for local food “sales to intermediaries, such as local grocers and restaurants, as well as directly to consumers through farmers markets, roadside stands and the like” could reach $7 billion this year, up from about $5 billion in 2008. There are lots of ways to support the local food movement. Of course, starting a farm, investing in sustainable food businesses – even buying organic – all require relatively significant financial resources. Increasingly – and particularly through the use of technology – people from all sorts of backgrounds are able to...
New Book Explores Local Food, from Veganism to Deer Hunting
Jeff Gangemi Mar 28, 2012 hunting 0 comments
Former vegan Tovar Cerulli ate no meat products for ten years. Now, he hunts and eats deer meat from around his home near Marshfield, Vermont.  A PhD student in the communications department at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Cerulli chronicles this journey – and his discoveries of the complexity and ambiguity of food production – in the new book, The Mindful Carnivore: A Vegetarian’s Hunt for Sustenance. Published by Pegasus Books, the book came out in February and is distributed by W.W. Norton in hard copy and e-book formats. In the book, Cerulli describes how his concern about animal welfare and the environmental impacts of the meat industry led him to vegetarianism...
The Challenges and Rewards of Etsy and the Artisanal Food Business
Jeff Gangemi Mar 22, 2012 Artisan 0 comments
 We recently came across an interesting post on the food section of the blog on Etsy.com, the online marketplace for individuals buying and selling the vintage, the artisanal, and the crafty. It’s sort of like the eBay for creative types.  The post, written by Danielle Tsi, also keeps a blog called Beyond the Plate. Tsi is like many of us who love food of all sorts, but the local and artisanal especially. Also like many of us, she has dreamed of starting her own food business but has so far not taken the leap. One reason, she says, is the prevalence of advice to the contrary, like this post she cites on the popular site Chow called “3 Reasons Not to Start a Food Biz”. But Tsi...
Virginia Department of Agriculture Promises $1.65 Billion Bump to Local Economy
Jeff Gangemi Mar 19, 2012 $10 Buy Local Challenge 0 comments
The Virginia Department of Agriculture promises a $1.65 billion bump to the local economy—that’s if every household in Virginia spends at least $10 per week on locally grown foods.  What a remarkably simple proposition! And unlike many government programs, the math actually checks out: a total state population of just over eight million (according to the U.S. Census) divided by the average household size of 2.5 people, times 52 weeks a year, times $10 would indeed bring in just over $1.65 billion. The “$10 Buy Local Challenge” appears to have gained support among a group of key players in Virginia’s agriculture industry, and it’s great that the VA Department of Ag. has gone to such...
Innovation May Hold Key to Dairy Farms’ Survival
Jeff Gangemi Mar 16, 2012 Adam Davidson 0 comments
A great recent piece in the New York Times speaks to just a few of the ever-mounting challenges facing America’s dairy farms. As they are exposed to the inherent fluctuations in milk and feed markets, it’s become exceedingly challenging to predict profit margins with any reasonable amount of accuracy. That leaves many dairy farmers at best among the working poor, if not completely out of business. Fulper Farms, a New Jersey dairy farm examined in the piece, illustrates how value-added products and new business models are becoming more than nice to have. Making artisan cheese, for instance, isn’t just a way to build the farm’s brand; it could be the key to its very survival. And starting a...
USDA: Local Food and Farms Create Jobs. We Just Don’t Know Why
Jeff Gangemi Mar 15, 2012 Compass 0 comments
  Much has been made of the USDA Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Compass. We at FarmPlate approached the new tool with a healthy skepticism, particularly the map, which attempts to show all of the projects that the USDA has helped to fund in the last several years. While we’re still not impressed with the clunkiness of the map (its user guide is seven pages long, though they promise ongoing improvements), the rest of the site is surprisingly user-friendly, and in some cases downright inspiring. One part that tickles our fancy is a convincing argument about why local agriculture is so beneficial called “The What and Why of Local Foods,” particularly the parts where the USDA is...
Real Food Baby Steps at Burger King?
Jeff Gangemi Mar 08, 2012 antibiotic-free 0 comments
We at FarmPlate came across an interesting column/interview from EcoSalon.com, in which writer Anna Brones interviews the executive chef of Burger King, one of the mightiest of the mighty fast food chains. The overall question she poses in the piece is, “Can fast food be real food?” It’s hard not to jump to a quick answer to that question, so maybe a more nuanced approach is helpful. For instance, perhaps a useful alternative question should be, “Why can’t fast food be real-er?” And that’s what is interesting about this piece. Brones explores that very question with one of the few people in this world capable of making fast food become real-er… And she finds that Burger King is taking...
New Harpoon Brewery Beer Made With Vermont Maple Syrup
Jeff Gangemi Mar 07, 2012 beer 0 comments
In 2003, Harpoon Brewery introduced the “100 Barrel Series” to showcase the individual brewing talents of their brewers.   The most recent one – #35 out of 100 – is a locavore’s dream. Harpoon Catamount Maple Wheat was brewed using Vermont maple syrup by native Vermonter Brett Simmons. “Local maple syrup for a local maple beer is really a no-brainer,” says Simmons. “As a Vermonter, it’s nice to be able to utilize ingredients that are produced locally.” The original version of Catamount Maple Wheat was brewed in 2009 by Harpoon Vermont sales representative John Baker. Simmons based his own 2011 version on John's recipe, and even sourced a portion of the maple syrup from Baker Farm –...
Earth to Portlandia: Backyard Goats and Chickens Filling Up Animal Sanctuaries
Jeff Gangemi Mar 05, 2012 animal welfare 0 comments
When does backyard gardening turn into backyard farming? Around the time when well-meaning folks decide to supplement their vegetable patch with some laying hens, or else maybe some chickens or a goat or two. Though that kind of arrangement undoubtedly works well for some, others are finding that their urban or suburban locale doesn’t make for very convenient animal husbandry. According to a recent piece in E – The Environmental Magazine, that’s resulted in a growing incidence of animal abandonment, with sanctuaries from Upstate New York to Oregon overburdened with chickens and goats. Municipal animal shelters typically aren’t equipped to care for livestock, so these well-meaning animal...
National Geographic Traveler Highlights Great Farmer-Chefs
Jeff Gangemi Mar 01, 2012 Chefs 0 comments
In the March/April issue of National Geographic Traveler, writer Andrea Cooper highlights some of the great farm-to-table chefs who truly practice what they preach.  In some hot spots around the country, it’s getting easier to find fresh food at restaurants, but many of the establishments in this article make “fresh” seem entirely relative. For instance, Brian Scheehser of Trellis in Washington State serves a “two hour” salad with ingredients harvested just two hours before serving! The piece also highlights the following farm/restaurants: Cinque Terre and Vignola  •  Portland, MEBlack Creek Bistro  •  Columbus, OHHarvest Moon Grille  •  Charlotte,...