Locally grown, locally marketed, locally eaten: A roundtable discussion By Lauren Newkirk Maynard Field & Fork Network is a new local foods advocacy group founded by Christa Glennie Seychew, a food journalist and founder of Feed Your Soul Buffalo, and Lisa Tucker, editor of Edible Buffalo magazine. The network’s goal is to grow Western New York’s already rich “foodshed” by making lasting connections between the region’s producers and buyers—the latter being processors, distributors, retailers, and restaurant industry. An advisory board including area farmers, chefs, restaurateurs, and agricultural advocates from Cornell University’s Cooperative Extension and the American Farmland Trust was formed to plan Field & Fork’s inaugural Farmer-Chef Conference in February. The board sat down with Spree to talk about the joys and frustrations of creating better access to locally sourced, fresh, seasonal food. Daniel and Jane Oles; Adam Goetz What are some of the most important issues to you and your business regarding local agriculture and cuisine? David Reino, owner, Raisin Acres Farm, Franklinville: When we bought our run-down and abandoned farm in 1990, we wanted to build a financially and environmentally sustainable enterprise that could serve as a model for the restoration of our agricultural base here in WNY. We have a wealth of good soils and a favorable climate that could provide a solid economic base for our rural communities. The traditional commodity production model, which has been in place for many years, no longer provides a livable return for smaller and medium-sized farms; thus the trend to ever larger and more centralized “industrial farms.” The current emphasis on sustainable practices and carbon footprints is an opportunity for these smaller operations to compete in the market. The opportunity to provide food directly to the consumer/restaurateur is an exciting development. It has energized our operation and could do the same for many other producers. Adam Goetz, executive chef and owner, Sample, Buffalo: By buying directly from farms, we can get what we want—like Promised Land’s beautiful cipollini onions and fabulous dry beans. I had no idea that kind of thing was available around here. The quality is amazing, and we’d ordinarily have to pay through the nose for such special orders. I try to make time to visit the farm, because you really get inspired to cook creatively and seasonally. David Cosentino, partner, Aroma Group restaurants: I’ve found that locally sourced products are the best buy for your dollar—they’re more sustainable, safer (you often can’t trust the factory-farmed products), and you cut down on transportation costs. Plus, they just taste better, as Europe has always known. I started getting the Oles’s produce because I want to give my customers deeper, more authentic tastes. We buy their zucchini, broccoli, squash, and fabulous yellow beans. Local garlic is simply amazing—the best I’ve ever tasted. Daniel and Jane Oles, owners, Promised Land CSA, Alden: Through direct marketing, we’re connecting with the consumer through our CSA and concentrating on our product. The chef connection is new, but exciting. Since having chefs like Dave and Adam out to our farm, we’ve enjoyed watching how they use our produce. We don’t tend to eat at restaurants, so working with chefs has been powerful motivation to grow more and try out different varieties for them like baby arugula or the cipollinis. Reino: “Feeding cattle for slaughter is an art of sorts that requires meticulous attention to detail and a strict quality control process. The learning curve is steep; it took me a number of years until I could confidently finish cattle for my restaurant customers.” Lisa Tucker and Christa Glennie Seychew with the Field & Fork advisory board; Tucker Goetz: “Where and how do we find the best stuff? How can we purchase it in volume but keep the quality high? We can become a new customer base for the farmers.” What are the biggest challenges facing WNY farmers and restaurants in building a local food system? Christa Glennie Seychew/Lisa Tucker, Field & Fork Network: We believe that the biggest obstacle is the lack of information. Finding a farmer who grows what you need is not an easy task for a chef in our area. Outside of the very seasonal farmers’ market business, there is currently no resource for chefs or individual consumers interested in sourcing local products. That is not unique to WNY; it is the case all over the country. Another example of how the lack of information is an obstacle for us is the simple misunderstanding (or “minimizing”) of our local bounty. Few people know that the variety grown here in Western New York is a unique and rare gift. We grow fantastic strawberries, grapes, apples, and corn—most everyone knows that. What they may not know is that we have farmers growing dozens of varieties of heirloom tomatoes, ramps, artichokes, kiwi fruit, mushrooms, and more. Western New York is also home to aged, raw milk cheeses, Berkshire pork, pasture-raised beef, heritage rabbit—gourmet-quality foodstuffs that most restaurants are willing to pay for (and are currently sourcing elsewhere). Goetz: Chefs in Buffalo need more info—we’re hungry for communication about where to buy local, and lots of us are talking about this now. The younger chefs, especially, are happy to share good sources with each other. It’s just a changing mindset. Where and how do we find the best stuff? How can we purchase it in volume but keep the quality high? We can become a new customer base for the farmers. Cosentino: I wish more farmers would grow for local restaurants. It’s gotten easier for consumers who can visit all the farmers’ markets, but not necessarily for restaurants. Glennie Seychew: As I always like to say, we’re dealing with a case of ships passing in the night. There’s the farmer who rises very, very early and then must quit by dark, and the chef who typically works from the afternoon till late into the early morning. Neither one has much free time to network. The Oles: Another major obstacle is that state and local government money is going away; we need to do more privately to boost our local economy and support local farmers. We wish more politicians understood farming and how hard it is to compete with big industrial farms that are rapidly pushing out smaller, more diverse farming in New York State. Reino: The regulatory environment for livestock producers is a big stumbling block in the development of a farm-to-table network. USDA slaughter facilities are in short supply and usually booked months ahead of time. In our particular case, we had to break out of the traditional mindset and trust the ability to sell directly to the consumer or restaurateur. This posed operational and financial challenges that we have overcome with some difficulty. Most beef producers rely on the yearly sale of calves for their income. Holding them back until slaughter causes a big shortfall in income for about two years, which many operators would not be able to manage. Feeding cattle for slaughter is an art of sorts that requires meticulous attention to detail and a strict quality control process. The learning curve is steep; it took me a number of years until I could confidently finish cattle for my restaurant customers. Oles: “We don’t tend to eat at restaurants, so working with chefs has been powerful motivation to grow more and try out different varieties for them like baby arugula or the cipollinis.” Seychew: “We grow fantastic strawberries, grapes, apples, and corn—most everyone knows that. What they may not know is that we have farmers growing dozens of varieties of heirloom tomatoes, ramps, artichokes, kiwi fruit, mushrooms, and more. Western New York is also home to aged, raw milk cheeses, Berkshire pork, pasture-raised beef, heritage rabbit …” What do you hope the Field & Fork Network will accomplish? Reino: I hope that the Field & Fork Network will energize local restaurateurs and consumers to look locally for their produce and meats and in doing so provide the necessary stimulus to re-invigorate the local agricultural economy. It could serve as a broker of sorts between the producer and the end-users to market the product, which in my experience has been the biggest obstacle for producers. Glennie Seychew/Tucker: The Field & Fork Network’s mission is four-fold. The Annual Farmer-Chef Conference is one arm of our organization. It is the first responsible step toward growing our local food network. Chefs are eager to purchase high-quality food in quantities that a farm can sustain without resorting to industrial agriculture farming practices, yet a farmer can be far more profitable selling in case or bushel quantities to a restaurant than he/she can by selling piece-by-piece at their own farmstand. However, farmers and chefs speak different languages and the Farmer-Chef Conference provides these two groups with a unique networking opportunity in addition to some workshops which will help bridge the gap. The three other methods in which Field & Fork will begin to re-connect the local food network are through our online social community which will connect consumers, farmers, chefs, and other food-industry professionals; a printed local food sourcing guide (which will be available through local bookstores and markets) will act as a tool for consumers to locate farms, wineries, restaurants, markets and other artisan producers in WNY’s eight counties; and our Green Restaurant Program, where we will consult with local restaurants to help them achieve a specific level of responsibility with their energy and water consumption, waste, recycling, and re-use. For more info: fieldandforknetwork.wordpress.com. Lauren Newkirk Maynard is a freelance writer and a staunch supporter of good eating in Western New York. SUBSCRIBE NOW Back to the Table of Contents Back to Top