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Vertical Farming: Ugandan Company Develops Solution for Urban Agriculture
We speak to Lilian Nakigozi, founder of Women Smiles Uganda, a company that manufactures and sells vertical farms used to grow crops in areas where there is limited space
We speak to Lilian Nakigozi, founder of Women Smiles Uganda, a company that manufactures and sells vertical farms used to grow crops in areas where there is limited space.
Image from: How We Made It in Africa
1. How Did You Come Up with the Idea to Start Women Smiles Uganda?
Women Smiles Uganda is a social enterprise formed out of passion and personal experience. I grew up with a single mother and eight siblings in Katanga, one of the biggest slums in Kampala, Uganda. I experienced hunger and poverty where we lived. There was no land for us to grow crops and we didn’t have money to buy food. Life was hard; we would often go to sleep on empty stomachs and our baby sister starved to death.
Growing up like that, I pledged to use my knowledge and skills to come up with an idea that could solve hunger and, at the same time, improve people’s livelihoods, particularly women and young girls living in the urban slums. In 2017, while studying business at Makerere University, I had the idea of developing a vertical farm. This came amid so many challenges: a lack of finance and moral support. I would use the money provided to me for lunch as a government student to save for the initial capital of my venture.
I managed to accumulate $300 and used this to buy materials to manufacture the first 20 vertical farms. I gave these to 20 families and, in 2018, we fully started operations in different urban slums.
2. Tell Us About Your Vertical Farms and How They Work.
Women Smiles vertical farms are made out of wood and recycled plastic materials. Each unit is capable of growing up to 200 plants. The product also has an internal bearing system which turns 360° to guarantee optimal use of the sunlight and is fitted with an inbuilt drip irrigation system and greenhouse material to address any agro-climatic challenges.
The farms can be positioned on a rooftop, veranda, walkway, office building or a desk. This allows the growth of crops throughout the year, season after season, unaffected by climatic changes like drought.
In addition, we train our customers on how to make compost manure using vermicomposting and also provide them with a market for their fresh produce.
Image from: How We Made It in Africa
3. Explain Your Revenue Model.
Women Smiles Uganda generates revenue by selling affordable, reliable and modern vertical farms at $35, making a profit margin of $10 on each unit. The women groups are recruited into our training schemes and we teach them how to use vertical farming to grow crops and make compost manure by vermicomposting. Women groups become our outgrowers of fruits and vegetables. We buy the fresh produce from our outgrowers and resell to restaurants, schools and hotels.
We also make money through partnering with NGOs and other small private organisations to provide training in urban farming concepts to the beneficiaries of their projects.
4. What Are Some of the Major Challenges of Running This Business?
The major challenge we face is limited funds by the smallholder farmers to purchase the vertical farms. However, we mitigate this by putting some of them into our outgrower scheme which helps them to generate income from the fresh produce we buy. We have also linked some of them to financial institutions to access finance.
5. How Do You Generate Sales?
We reach our customers directly via our marketing team which moves door to door, identifying organised women groups and educating them about the benefits of vertical farming for improved food security. Most of our customers are low-income earners and very few of them have access to the internet.
However, we do also make use of social media platforms like Facebook to reach out to our customers, especially the youth.
In addition, we organise talk shows and community gatherings with the assistance of local leaders with whom we work hand in hand to provide educational and inspirational materials to people, teaching them about smart agriculture techniques.
6. Who Are Your Main Competitors?
Just like any business, we have got competitors; our major competitors include Camp Green and Spark Agro-Initiatives.
Image from: The Conversation
7. What Mistakes Have You Made in Business and What Did You Learn From Them?
As a victim of hunger and poverty, my dream was for every family in slums to have a vertical farm. I ended up giving some vertical farms on credit. Unfortunately, most of them failed to pay and we ended up with huge losses.
This taught me to shift the risk of payment default to a third party. Every customer who may need our farms on credit is now linked to our partner micro-finance bank. By doing this, it is the responsibility of the bank to recover the funds from our customers and it has worked well.
8. Apart from This Industry, Name an Untapped Business Opportunity in Uganda.
Manufacturing of cooler sheds for the storage of perishable agricultural produce is one untapped opportunity. Currently, Ugandan smallholder farmers lose up to 40% of their fresh produce because of a lack of reliable cold storage systems.
Providing a cheap and reliable 24/7 cold storage system would dramatically reduce post-harvest losses for these farmers.
“I’m Opting For Localized Franchised Farming”
Engineering student wants to start her own farm in New Jersey
“In the States, the food system is so inefficient both in the way it’s produced, at a massive scale and in terms of quality,” says Natalie Radu. "The problem is that consumers are left in the dark. They don’t know what pesticide is used on the food they’re eating. GM foods are not labeled. Let aside the waste this industry has.” Natalie says that many don’t have access to healthy food. When walking around in the Bronx for instance, on the lookout for a grocery store, it’s so much easier to buy a pack of soda for half the price of fresh produce.
‘Localized franchised farming’
“McDonald's is known for real estate. If only we could do a Wholefoods / McDonalds franchise where customers could walk in and snip off lettuce, directly available to consumers. I’m opting for localized franchised farming. I have been trying to figure out a location in terms of real estate, but, from the perspective of a small business, New Jersey and New York prices are very high. I would have to start out in a place that’s cheaper on average. However, I would definitely apply for grants to fund the initial infrastructure for the farms."
Natalie Radu in action on her channel
Natalie has her passion for writing and her engineering study to her advantage when starting a farm. “I think because of this intersection I will be able to work with the science and also have the ability to convey that science. I can make the lettuce we’ll be growing feel personal for someone that’s in their own house, miles away or even across the world. That’s the biggest thing, you have to get people excited about vertical farming, at least as excited as you are. However, when it comes down to engineering I’m going to need some help.”
“My family immigrated from Moldova to the US around the collapse of the Soviet Union,” says Natalie. “My grandparents used to grow several fruits in the backyards and my affection for farming started right about there, it’s in my blood.” Natalie, an 18-year-old engineering student has been determined to run her own farm in the future. It all started with finding a proper research topic, which turned into her biggest passion nowadays.
As Natalie’s based in New Jersey, she is surrounded by several vertical farms. She wanted to pass by some farms near her to visit and stumbled upon Good Feeling Farms. Eventually, Natalie was able to do an internship at Good Feeling Farms to get a better understanding of every aspect of a vertical farm, from seeding to growing to harvesting. Good Feeling Farms is a New Jersey-based wholesale micro greenery that specializes in microgreens and hydro lettuce. The farm is run by a team of three, taking care of the cultivation and harvesting process.
Inside Good Feeling Farms' growing facility
Ever since her internship, Natalie is determined to run her own farm in the future. She currently runs a YouTube channel, where she experiments with indoor hydroponics. She recently spoke at a local TEDx event about the inefficacies in traditional food production and distribution systems.
Natalie says: “I’ve tried many growing conditions for plants and I think you can grow them under many different conditions. You have to work with your circumstances. Ideally, your indoor garden would be sustainable. The growth mediums could be sanitized and reused to lessen waste. Besides being water-efficient, vertical farming really shines in the areas of automation and data science. The ability to collect and analyze plant data constantly and instantly modify environmental factors has massive potential for produce cultivation as we know it.”
For more information:
Natalie Radu
natlydrad@gmail.com
Author: Rebekka Boekhout
© VerticalFarmDaily.com
Vertical Farming Takes Root In Taiwan
Taiwan is uniquely placed to benefit from the application of information technology to agriculture, enabling it to help provide food for an expanding global population.
Exposed root system for hydroponically grown plants at YesHealth's iFarm in Taoyuan. Photo: Jules Quartly
After becoming a world leader in semiconductors and other electronic products, Taiwan is now looking to smart agriculture as its next vine to climb. The island aims to supply much of the world’s fruit and vegetables within the next 30 years.
This might seem rather unlikely until you consider that the future of farming is not land and labor but factories and robots. Furthermore, Taiwan already possesses in abundance the tools that tomorrow’s smart farmers will use, including solar and advanced light technology, chemicals, gene editing, drones, smart sensors, software, algorithms, data mining, and big data.
Many of these technologies are being put to use in a glittering new 14-story vertical farm at Copenhagen Markets in Denmark’s capital. The first phase of construction of the 7,000-square-meter facility finished in early December. It is one of Europe’s biggest and most efficient vertical farms and was built using a blueprint of patented technologies from Taiwan’s YesHealth Group.
The result of a partnership between YesHealth and Danish agritech startup Nordic Harvest, the farm looks like a fancy warehouse from the outside. The interior is fitted with rows upon rows and columns upon columns of trays containing leafy greens, growing under an intense battery of more than 20,000 smart LED lights. The plants are tended by engineers in lab coats and guided by software that processes over 5,000 individual data points to optimize plant health.
Rows of fresh produce grown under batteries of LED lights at iFarm. Photo: Jules Quartly
The LEDs provide variable spectrum light for 100 different kinds of plants, nanobubble hydroponics oxygenate the roots and inhibit bacterial growth, and liquid microbial fertilizers derived from oyster shells, brown sugar, and soy milk provide essential nutrients for plants and soil. Even the music played to the plants is science-infused, with classical or light jazz music ranging between 115 and 250 Hertz seeming to work best.
Production at the new vertical farm is set to begin in the new year and will scale up to around 3,000 kilograms of leafy vegetables per day by the end of 2021, equating to approximately 1,000 tons of greens annually. Crucially, unlike most farms, these figures are close to guaranteed since production is not at the mercy of climate, the weather, pests and disease, pesticide residue, nitrate levels, or hundreds of other variables that affect traditional farming.
According to Jesper Hansen, YesHealth Group’s Chief Communications Officer, the partnership with Nordic Harvest has been a productive one so far. It took just five months to install the farm and all the produce is pre-sold to ensure the operation is profitable by Q3 of 2021.
“This collaboration is just the start of a long-term journey together,” Hansen said in an email from Denmark. He notes that the two partners plan to expand to other Scandinavian countries over the next several years.
Hansen credits Taiwan for its efficient development of the technology and know-how to reproduce vertical farms all over the world and calls the Danish development “a crucial milestone in our international expansion.” He adds that the company is eyeing new partners in Europe, Asia, and the MENA (the Middle East and North Africa) region.
YesHealth is the brainchild of serial tech entrepreneur Winston Tsai, who started an LCD screen company at age 21. His “eureka moment” came after being diagnosed with liver cancer and partly linking his illness to pollution in foods. After recovering, he made it his mission to produce affordable, pesticide-free produce by harnessing the power of technology.
He founded YesHealth Agri-Biotechnology Co. Ltd. in 2011 and six years later established YesHealth iFarm in Taoyuan’s Luzhu District. The iFarm cultivates an ever-expanding range of leafy vegetables and herbs in a 2,500-square-meter warehouse factory. It produces 1,500 kilograms of leafy greens per day, a yield which the company says is 100 times more efficient than a traditional farm using the same space and requires only 10% as much water. In addition, YesHealth has a farm in China’s Shenzhen, which harvests up to 2,500 kilograms per day.
A tour of iFarm is well worth a visit and introduces the wide variety of plants grown there. Photo: Jules Quartly
YesHealth’s products are sold to major retailers both in Taiwan and abroad, including restaurants, hotels, and airports. Its stated aim is to supply a total of 7,000 kilograms of leafy greens per day worldwide in 2021.
Diners enjoy a meal at iFarm’s restaurant, which overlooks the vertical farm. Photo: Jules Quartly
Having sampled the produce at the iFarm, I can confirm the arugula grown there is as tasty as any I have tried, while the lettuce and leguminous alfalfa is a perfectly clean, green, and crunchy eating experience – the result, I was informed, of an optimal growing environment and harvesting at exactly the right time.
A plate of salad featuring leafy greens grown at the iFarm site. Photo: Jules Quartly
In a sense, it’s back to the future for Taiwan, which had a largely agricultural economy up until the 1950s. Agriculture was one of the pillars supporting the nation’s economic miracle after World War II. With the help of mechanization and productivity gains, agricultural production at that time contributed around a third of Taiwan’s GDP.
In more recent times it has accounted for just 1.8-1.9% of GDP. That greatly reduced figure, which includes animal husbandry, fishing, and forestry, is not due to a decline in agricultural output per se, so much as the growth in manufacturing and the emergence of a pervasive service sector.
Taiwan has a wide range of rich, often volcanic soils that are exceptionally fertile, along with a subtropical climate that provides plentiful sun and rain. It is known as the “Fruit Kingdom” because of the quality of its fruit, with dozens of varieties ranging from bananas and papayas to wax apples and guavas. More than 100 kinds of vegetables grow all year round.
On the other hand, Taiwan’s mainly mountainous geography means just 25% of the land is suitable for farming. Meanwhile, climate change is affecting agricultural production by increasing summer temperatures and making rainfall more unpredictable. At the same time, considerable soil erosion, acidification, contamination by chemicals and heavy metals, and strong pesticide use have diminished soil quality over the last 50 years.
Furthermore, the proportion of Taiwanese involved in farming has rapidly declined, from 37% of the population in the early 1970s to the current 15% or less, according to the Yearbook of the Republic of China. Not only is the farming population declining, but it’s also ageing as well.
Those factors may not pose as much of an issue, however, since the old model of agriculture is being disrupted so dramatically that even economies of scale are being upended. Given the large size and advanced technology of the U.S., it may come as no surprise that it is the world’s biggest exporter of food as measured by value. Second on the list, however, is the Netherlands, which has just 0.045% the area of the U.S.
According to a National Geographic report in September 2017, the Netherlands’ achievement can be attributed to the work coming out of Wageningen University & Research, 80 kilometres from Amsterdam in the heart of Food Valley – the world’s agricultural equivalent of Silicon Valley in California. The university strives to come up with ways to increase yields and sustainability, and then to disseminate that knowledge.
New generation
With its strong background in information technology, Taiwan is in a good position to follow that example. The island manufactures everything required for what is known as precision agriculture, a farming management concept that uses IT to collect data from multiple sources as a means of increasing crop yields and boosting profitability. Taiwan is thus the ideal place for putting together prototypes relatively quickly and cheaply.
YesHealth, for example, makes its own LED lights through a local contractor rather than relying on a major manufacturer like Philips, which means it’s nimbler in terms of bringing focused, new tech to the market – and reaping the dividends. According to the company’s Program Manager, Dennis Jan, Taoyuan’s iFarm has the sixth generation LED lighting, while new iterations that are increasingly productive and energy-efficient are being rolled out on an almost annual basis.
The Council of Agriculture (COA) recognized some time ago the need for a precision approach to farming. In 2016, it developed the “Smart Agriculture 4.0 Program,” which was passed by the legislature a year later.
COA realized that the nation’s “calorie-based food self-sufficiency rate is relatively low” and that “shortages in food supplies and escalations in food prices” will inevitably occur as the world’s population expands from 7.5 billion to an expected 10.5 billion by 2050.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations says that in order to meet the needs of all these additional people, about 70% more food needs to be produced. Gains achieved in improving crop yields have plateaued and are unlikely to rise again without a complete transformation of the agricultural landscape through the introduction of city farms, vertical farming, and the application of information technology.
In a written response to Taiwan Business TOPICS, COA commented: “With the rapid development of sensing technology, smart machinery devices, IoT, and big data analysis, smart agriculture has been growing in various fields.
“For example, it can monitor and control the production environment automatically to keep animals and crops in the best condition,” COA said. “It can predict harvesting dates and yields through data analysis and make adjustments to maintain a balance of production and marketing, and it can use smart automated machinery in agricultural operation to significantly reduce the labor burden.” Such uses, says the Council, “make agriculture more competitive.”
Fruitful results
Besides fruit orchards, other sectors that COA has included within Agriculture 4.0 include seedlings, mushrooms, rice, aquaculture, poultry, livestock, and offshore fisheries.
COA cites Taiwan Lettuce Village as an enterprise that has benefited from precision farming. The company halved fertilizer use but improved harvest efficiency 1.5 times by introducing a fertilization recommendation system, a harvesting date and yield prediction system, synchronous fertilizing technology, and transplanter and harvester technology.
According to COA the application of precision farming increased yield prediction accuracy by 5% and prevented 350 metric tons of overstocking. In addition, plant disease and pest control were improved through the use of a cloud-based system and machine learning algorithm. “The results were very fruitful,” COA concluded.
Agriculture 4.0 doesn’t just apply to the growing of produce; it also looks at the storage, transport, and export of goods. As an example, COA points to a relatively new fruit hybrid that was originally developed in Israel in the late 1960s. The atemoya – or pineapple sugar apple (鳳梨釋迦), as it is known in Taiwan – is a heart-shaped fruit with green, scaly skin. A cross between wax apples and the cherimoya (often referred to as Buddha’s head fruit locally), it has become synonymous with Taiwan and export success, much like the kiwi fruit and New Zealand.
Previously, 90% of the country’s atemoya exports went to China because it is so close. Later, the Taitung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station introduced a frozen whole-fruit technique that enables 95% of thawed fruit to have a “consistent ripening texture and dramatically improved the raw material quality.”
The technique involves a quick freeze to -40° Celsius, which inhibits bacteria, allowing the whole fruit to be transported at a fairly standard -18°C. After thawing, it can meet the rigorous food safety standards of Japan and South Korea.
Traditional farmers may harbor concerns about agriculture becoming a primarily manufacturing process, taking place under artificial light. However, Kevin Lin, Head of Business Development at YesHealth, insists that what the company is doing is still agriculture.
“This is nature; we are just optimizing it,” he says. “Sustainability is at the forefront of what we do, and our focus now is on ensuring the energy costs of vertical farming – such as heating and lights – are lowered and the source is sustainable.”
In this way, Lin says, Taiwan can produce cheap, healthy, and environmentally friendly food that can help feed the world, even as the global population approaches the staggering 10.5 billion mark.
Food Trends Suppliers Should Know to Stay Ahead of the Curve in 2021
With growing concerns about climate change, sustainability and healthy living, 2021 will bring new trends to the food industry. Plant based foods are expected to increase in popularity as more people try to consciously live a more sustainable life.
From insects and pumpkin-seed oil to Brad Pitt-branded wine and transparent packaging, these are the food trends expected to take the U.S. by storm in 2021.
What Will People Be Eating in 2021?
It’s predicted that Americans will be consuming a lot more of the following foods and drinks in 2021:
Insects — According to Forbes, 2.5 billion people around the world eat cooked or raw insects regularly. Many in the U.S. still consider the concept of insect consumption a little grotesque, but attitudes are expected to shift in the coming months with several startups, including Exo cricket protein bars in New York, securing significant funding from investors.
Boxed wine — It’s hard to believe that boxes of wine were considered classy before they were tacky. But in 2021, consumer appreciation for boxed wine is predicted to return. It’s easier to store, cheaper to transport, generates half the carbon dioxide emissions, and has a longer shelf life than its glass-bottled counterparts.
Alternative oils — Whole Foods Market predicts that consumers will become more experimental in their use of oil, choosing walnut, pumpkin seed, and sunflower seed oil over traditional options like olive oil.
Celebrity alcohol — There was an arguably better time when everyone knew someone who wore the Britney Spears perfume. But in 2021, it’s all about Brad Pitt’s rosé and Cara Delevingne’s prosecco, as alcohol brands and vineyards look to drive revenue through partnering with big-name celebrities.
Kombucha — Kombucha is a fermented, lightly effervescent, sweetened black or green tea drink that first hit the mainstream in 2018. Since then, its health benefits have been lauded, and the drink has been growing in popularity. It’s gluten-free and can be filled with live probiotic cultures.
Sweet and Umami — The Green Seed Group suggests that the big flavor combination of 2021 will be umami and sweet. Think rice infused with fish sauce caramel and nori and pork floss.
How Will People Be Eating in 2021?
It’s not just what people eat and drink that will change in 2021, but the entire culture surrounding it.
COVID-19 has contributed to a rise in passionate amateur chefs. With so many people spending much of 2020 stuck at home with extra time on their hands, cooking has become something of an outlet. Indeed, 74% of respondents to a Sensodyne/OnePoll survey said they used cooking as a coping mechanism to manage the stress of being at home, 44% have learned a new recipe, and 32% have taken online cooking classes.
Reduced access to on-the-go, takeout food has seen breakfast truly become the most important meal of the day, and the demand for interesting and diverse breakfast recipes will increase into 2021. Cooking enthusiasts are also investing more time and effort in making baby food and looking for creative takes on staple meals.
Coupled with this newfound enthusiasm for cooking is, unsurprisingly, a newfound enthusiasm for health and wellbeing. Forbes reports that 54% of American consumers care more about the healthfulness of their food and beverage choices in 2020 than they did in 2010. This will see demand for superfoods, probiotics, and supplements grow in 2021, with many food suppliers already incorporating functional ingredients like vitamin C which promise to support the immune system. In a June 2020 survey conducted by GlobalData, 23% of global consumers confessed to stockpiling vitamins and supplements.
COVID-19 has certainly driven Americans to evaluate the relationship they have with food and drink but, fortunately, extreme diets and food fads are expected to lose popularity in 2021. Instead, people are expected to take a healthier and more sustainable approach to healthy living by embracing balance and moderation.
How Will Food and Drink Be Packaged in 2021?
Before COVID-19, food and drink packaging was headed in a very sustainable direction, with consumers increasingly concerned about excess waste and ocean-bound plastics.
But the pandemic has led to increased concerns about biosafety, particularly surrounding the packaging of food and drink. In recent years, many retailers have committed to eliminating unnecessary packaging, but some of these efforts will likely be undone in 2021 due to health and safety concerns and retailers’ desire to reassure their customers. Starbucks, for example, banned the use of reusable cups at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak.
Despite these setbacks, developments in sustainable and environmentally friendly packaging will continue in 2021.
Other trends will include an increase in transparent windows within food packaging that allow consumers to assess product quality, and QR codes, which can verify product and ingredient claims.
How Will Attitudes to Sustainable Living Change in 2021?
More than two-thirds of consumers want to ensure their everyday actions have a positive impact on the environment. This includes an interest in sustainably produced items, and a shift towards the consumption of plant-based proteins: in 2020, 28% of Americans ate more proteins from plant sources than they did in 2019. Another sustainability trend will see food suppliers up-cycling underused ingredients in a bid to reduce food waste.
Although the year 2021 won’t include a country-wide shift to veganism, retailers can expect increased demand for plant-based food as consumers commit to a more balanced diet and look to reduce their meat and dairy intake.
Image Credit: Rido / Shutterstock.com
Laura Ross Dec 15, 2020
US - WISCONSIN - VIDEO - Appleton International Airport Starts Growing Its Own Greens In Hydroponic Garden
According to Pat Tracey with Appleton International Airport, “We want to provide travelers with a safe and healthy traveling experience and we’re just always looking for how can we make the airport a safer and healthier place.”
Oct. 23, 2020
GREENVILLE, Wis. (WBAY) - As part of renovations in the terminal, Appleton International Airport teamed up with ThedaCare to promote healthier travel. Even before the pandemic, the airport added hand sanitizing stations, healthier food options for on-the-go-travelers, as well as other upgrades. Now, some of the airport’s food will now be fresher than fresh.
Whether travelers are coming or going, at Appleton International Airport, they’re all greeted by a live plant wall. It’s not only aesthetically pleasing, but it also adds fresh air to the building. The restaurant menu has been upgraded to include more nutritious meals as well. It’s all part of ATW’s “Healthy Connection” partnership with ThedaCare.
According to Pat Tracey with Appleton International Airport, “We want to provide travelers with a safe and healthy traveling experience and we’re just always looking for how can we make the airport a safer and healthier place.”
It doesn’t get much healthier than farm to table.
“People are so sick and tired of getting food that’s traveled over 1500 miles, that only has a day or two of shelf life if any, and has lost a bunch of nutritional quality along the way. On top of all of the salmonella outbreaks with Romaine lettuces and things like that. We’re really getting tired of not having really fresh, high quality, affordable stuff,” says Alex Tyink with Fork Farms.
A recently-installed hydroponic garden, from Green Bay based Fork Farms, sits only about 15 feet away from the restaurant inside the airport terminal. The garden will produce 300 hundred pounds of fresh greens a year, food that will be harvested here and simply walked to the restaurant by its staff and incorporated in what they serve.
Tyink says, “These plants are only about a week old, just from planting the seed and so they have another two to three weeks left to go until they’ll be a nice big full head of lettuce and the staff here is going to put them into the sandwiches.”
While the hydroponics farm will produce enough leafy greens for sandwiches and burgers, the airport does hope to eventually expand the program,
Pat Tracey adds, “For business travelers who travel a lot on the road, the hardest thing is to eat healthy and so we’re trying to do our part and give people a good healthy option when they’re here in Appleton.”
Wisconsin, Meet The Green Bay Woman Who’s Opening The Nation’s First Urban Snail Farm
McDonald, 65, has spent the last four years researching and getting permits for her business, Cupid's Arrow Escargot LLC. She's submitted her initial permits to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug and Administration
Sandy McDonald Says Americans Can Learn To Love Homegrown Escargot
By Rob Mentzer
December 30, 2019
People have been eating snails for thousands of years.
"They're healthy," said Sandy McDonald — low in fat, high in cholesterol. "They have amino acids, Omega-3 fatty acids, niacin, iron, vitamin D complexes, magnesium. I could go on and on."
Their taste, McDonald says, is rich and earthy, like a mushroom.
Despite all these selling points, it's pretty likely that escargot, as cooked snails are known, isn't part of your regular dinner rotation.
McDonald would like to change that.
Sandy McDonald. Courtesy of Sandy McDonald
McDonald, 65, has spent the last four years researching and getting permits for her business, Cupid's Arrow Escargot LLC. She's submitted her initial permits to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug and Administration. She's got a space near Green Bay's Titletown district, approved by the city for use as a site of heliciculture, which means raising snails.
She's set to become the first snail farmer in the Midwest, and the first in the nation to do it in an indoor, urban environment.
McDonald sees Cupid's Arrow as connected with the farm-to-table movement and the movement toward local food. Most of the snails served as escargot at American restaurants are imported, and it's illegal to import live snails, which means American diners are getting a less-fresh canned version. McDonald plans to sell snails to chefs around the Midwest for escargot and to harvest snail slime for use by the cosmetics industry. Over time, she hopes to sell snail eggs, too, that can be served as escargot caviar.
The reason for the government's strict controls on snail imports and cultivation is because snails are an invasive species that can harm natural ecosystems. One variety, the giant African snail, is banned from the U.S. in any form, and will be seized and removed by the government if found.
Cupid’s Arrow Escargot will be constructed with required security measures that keep the snails or their eggs from getting out of the building. The pens are escape-proof. The USDA requires the dirt to be processed before it’s disposed of, but McDonald hopes to use vermicomposting to avoid having to dispose of much at all.
It will be "a complete ecosystem," McDonald said. "They'll be born, raised and processed in the same building."
Snails need a consistent temperature of 68 to 70 degrees. They need moisture, so the pens will have humidifiers. They eat grains (McDonald hopes to get some of the byproducts of nearby Titletown Brewing such as spent hops and barley) as well as fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes and cucumbers.
McDonald plans to start with a purchase of 2,000 snails from an Irish snail farm. As long as the conditions are right, she says, they won't require a whole lot of tending.
"They just kind of do their own thing," she said.
The history behind snail-eating is no joke. Pliny the Elder, the ancient Roman historian, describes heliciculture in the first century as having been "brought to such a pitch of perfection" as to produce "fattened periwinkles" that were "quite an object of gastronomy."
Today, escargot is best known as part of French cuisine, though it's also eaten across Europe and in Morocco. In the U.S., the two certified snail farms are in Long Island, New York, and Quilcene, Washington. (She'll be buying her starter snails from Washington's Little Gray Farms.)
McDonald's application to the city of Green Bay says she'll be the only employee at first, but it's possible that she'll hire other snail-minders as the business grows.
She acknowledges that it's taken a long time to get the business up and running — a metaphor about a particular animal's pace of travel comes to mind. But it feels good to be this close to launching. Cupid's Arrow Escargot will begin operations in the spring.
In the long run, McDonald says, it's even possible that escargot could become not the sole province of fancy foodie culture, but something more mainstream.
"I'd like to hook up with a good chef," McDonald said. "Why can't there be, you know, snail poppers? (We can) bring this food into the United States."
Note: An earlier version of this story misstated McDonald's progress on getting federal permits. She has submitted her application.
Rooftop Farm-to-Table Food Part of Javits Expansion
The new venture will source food from a working farm being built on the roof as part of the center’s massive expansion. Brooklyn Grange will manage the farm and work with the Cultivated culinary team
by REW July 19, 2019
The 1.2 million Javits Center expansion is expected to be complete next year.
The Javits Center is launching a new hospitality brand aimed at offering a locally grown and celebrated food and beverage operation to exhibitors and visitors.
The new venture will source food from a working farm being built on the roof as part of the center’s massive expansion.
The New York Convention Center Operating Corporation (NYCCOC), which operates the Javits Center, has joined with Levy Convention Centers and CxRA to launch the brand called Cultivated.
NYCCOC president Alan Steel believes Cultivated will redefine hospitality at the Javits Center undergoes 1.2 million square foot set to be completed in 2021.
The 1.2-million-square-foot addition has been designed by tvsdesign at a cost of nearly $1.5 billion. It will increase the total area of the facility to 3.3 million square feet and add an extra 22,000 s/f to what is already the largest green roof in New York City.
In collaboration with a design/build team led by Lendlease (US) Construction LMB Inc. and Turner Construction, the project features 90,000 s/f of permanent exhibit space, to be combined with current exhibit space, which will create an approximately 500,000 s/f exhibition hall.
In addition, the expansion will include 45,000 s/f of meeting room space, a 55,000 s/f ballroom, and a green roof terrace and pavilion accommodating 1,500 people for outdoor events.
As an urban convention center, the team is also creating an on-site truck marshaling facility with room for more than 230 event and exhibit related trucks and 27 new loading docks out of the public view.
The new Cultivated hospitality venture will focus on sustainability and community and use of state-of-the-art technology to create “an inspirational culinary experience that captures the vibrancy and vitality of the greatest city in the world.”
As well as the rooftop pavilion and outdoor space, the expansion will include additional kitchens, multiple food preparation stations and loading docks, all designed to transform the on-site catering experience.
Andy Lansing, president and CEO of Levy. “We’re rolling up our sleeves and working closely with the restaurants, purveyors, farms, and community organizations that define New York’s culinary scene. Anyone who visits Javits Center should leave feeling like they experienced the best the city and state have to offer.”
All event managers, exhibitors and attendees at the Javits Center will now be served by the Cultivated team.
New menus and a new microsite are dedicated to advanced and on-site catering services and a leadership team at Cultivated will leverage local resources and producer partnerships to showcase New York offerings.
The Javits Center will offer coffee roasted by El Dorado Coffee Roasters, based in the Maspeth section of Queens and sustainable beer made by re-using bread made on-site in partnership with a local brewery.
There will be a line of products infused with honey harvested from the Javits Center’s rooftop bee hives; and straws will be scrapped as the center introduces 100 percent compostable serviceware
Cultivated will also play a role in the success of a one-acre rooftop working farm being constructed as part of the expansion project.
When completed, the farm is expected to produce up to 40,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables, which will be directed to the convention center’s kitchens where Cultivated staff will create a true roof-to-table experience for customers throughout the year.
Brooklyn Grange will manage the farm and work with the Cultivated culinary team.
Italy: Thirteen Hectares of Lettuce Grown On A Floating System
All types of lettuce are grown with the floating system on an area of 13 hectares. The whole system is automated to produce salad marketed under the brand name Ninfa. The location is Standiana, (Ravenna), near the large amusement park Mirabilandia, famous in Italy. "Here we also have fun with water - and we produce lettuce with water", entrepeneur Gianluca Rossi says.
The owner Gianluca Rossi
High quality
A production site of this size, with these technologies is not often seen in Europe. According to Rossi he gets positive responds on his systems, even from the major seed companies in the world.
"The 13 hectares are part of a 100-hectare farm. The design took more than six years to complete and I did it myself together with the leading experts. I made many trips abroad before it was done", he recalls.
Here is how the roots appear in the support, just removed from the water
On the track, oriented in the direction of the processing warehouse, the panels with the lettuce.
Gianluca shows how everything is done with utmost care. "Our greenhouses only serve as protection, not to anticipate cycles. The production runs from mid-April to December, while in the winter months it is suspended."
The cultivation takes place with floating panels certified for contact with food. The roots are immersed in water. Nutrition is carried out with the classic triad of elements N, K, P and microelements. Weed killers are not needed, of course. Defence follows the technique of integrated control.
Watch the video!
The positioning of the panels with lettuce on the railroad.
180 hectare land
"With traditional methods, adds Rossi - considering also the rotations, in the open field - it would take 180 hectares of land to produce what we can do in 13 hectares of floating system. In our case, the rotation is nothing more than the replacement of the "old" water that is not wasted but returned to the fields of the remaining 87 hectares of our company".
No water waste
At first glance, it might seem that there is a waste of water, but that is not the case. "Careful management allows for prolonged and waste-free use. With the same number of plants produced, the reduction in water consumption varies between 70 and 80% compared to a traditional method".
Here are some other numbers: 9 million cultivated plants expected in 2019, 4000 tons of products and 169,000 floating support panels. "Our history goes back a long way, Rossi points out, because it was my father, from a very young age, who dedicated himself to the trade in vegetables. At a national level, we are already known for our activity as traditional producers, and now we want to make ourselves known for this new reality".
Aerial view of the Standiana farm. There are 13 hectares of greenhouses with lettuce grown in floating systems
Minerals
Water, like the earth, does not of itself, contain enough nutrients, but they are both a means of mixing, holding and conveying them. Unlike traditional methods, in the tank, the mineral salts are available only to plants that absorb according to their daily needs, excluding leaching, waste and dispersion into the surrounding environment or in the aquifers.
"More yields, less waste of nutrients, less water consumption, no forcing, concludes Rossi. There is a difference, even from an organoleptic point of view. The panel tests carried out on the Ninfa salad have shown a higher percentage of mineral salts than traditional crops, with a significant increase in shelf life.
Vertical Farming, Blockchain And The Circular Economy Are Bringing ‘Farm to Table’ Into The 21st Century
Your groceries are getting a 21st-century reboot thanks to a new research centre focused on the future of food.
Australia’s population is forecast to hit 30 million by 2029 and reach almost 50 million – double the current population – by 2066. That’s a lot of mouths to feed, and with most of this growth concentrated in cities, the question needs to be asked: how can food production keep pace?
A new Future Food Systems Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) has received funding to the tune of $35 million to help answer that question over the course of the next decade.
The new CRC will focus on advanced food manufacturing, as well as how the sector can be more sustainable as Australia’s population continues to grow.
A cornucopia of challenges
Modern food production faces problems on many fronts. Growing populations demand increased output. Meanwhile, fewer people are choosing a life on the land, and climate change will create obstacles, some of which are hard to predict.
Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews said the new Future Food Systems CRC is designed to help Australia stay on the front foot in this area by bringing industry and research together.
“What we have to do is make sure we are looking towards the future and we’re clear what the issues are that we need to address,” she said at the launch event at UNSW.
These challenges include boosting the productivity of regional and peri-urban food systems, making it easier for innovators to bring their prototypes to market, and managing farm-to-table supply chains with extreme accuracy.
The CRC will initially work with regional stakeholders in six ‘food hubs’ to apply the latest innovations in advanced manufacturing, logistics and food science to farms, greenhouse complexes, factories and freight.
Besides putting food on local tables, streamlining food systems and making them more sustainable would place Australia in a good position to become the breadbasket of Asia.
“If I look at food in particular, we have almost half of the world’s population directly north of us … Australia is ideally located to play a key role in this area,” Andrews said.
Agriculture 2.0
This investment comes with opportunities for engineers who are interested in the intersection of food and technology. From genetic engineering to robotics, there are myriad forms this research can take. UNSW Engineering Dean Professor Mark Hoffman said this will be achieved through partnerships between engineers, technologists and primary producers.
“This CRC will move Australia into a new era of high-technology food production, transforming one of our most important industries and reinforcing our place as a major world food producer,” Hoffman said.
Plans are already in place for developing high-tech agrifood precincts in Liverpool, NSW, and Peel, WA. The Liverpool precinct will be developed in parallel with the new Aerotropolis in western Sydney. Developing these precincts includes providing design and circular economy solutions for water and energy use.
The Future Food Systems CRC website states it will partner with major growers and technology entrepreneurs to develop indoor and vertical farming facilities to increase the amount of food production taking place near existing infrastructure. Developing indoor urban agriculture could be worth up to $395 billion globally by 2030, according to a Food Innovation Australia report.
Circular economy solutions like water recycling, renewable energy and water management will facilitate this. Blockchain platforms and automation will also make an appearance as the CRC works with freight and logistics providers to get goods from A to B.
Queensland University of Technology’s Professor Doug Baker, who is also involved in the project, said there needs to be more integration between planning policy, design and infrastructure, and high-tech growing facilities around transport hubs.
“It’s about being smarter with agriculture and infrastructure, and integrating technology and robotics into that,” he said.
He said an example of a well-integrated future food system was automated, vertical-farming greenhouses located near airports or ports so crops could be picked, packed and shipped with minimal fuss.
Dr Chris Lehnert, a robotics researcher at the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision, sees enormous potential for robotics and automation in future food systems, particularly indoor protected cropping.
“The future potential of robotics in indoor protected cropping will be their ability to intelligently sense, think and act in order to reduce production costs and maximise output value in terms of crop yield and quality,” he said.
To further build this capability, the CRC will support 60 PhD students and train future generations interested in using technology to create more sustainable food production systems.
This funding, which will be doled out over the next decade, is on top of $149.6 million the CRC has previously received from more than 60 industry partners interested in this work.
Rachael is the digital editor for create. She loves having a job that lets her go down rabbit holes, ask interesting people (hopefully) interesting questions, and indulge her need to know why things are they way they are and how they got that way.
Tags: AGRICULTURE AGTECH AUTOMATION CIRCULAR ECONO MYFOOD ENGINEERING MANUFACTURING RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ROBOTICS SUPPLY CHAINS SUSTAINABILITY SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Announcing “Food Talk With Dani Nierenberg” And 23 Great Food Podcasts
Food Tank is excited to introduce the podcast “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg.”
Contributing Author: Katherine Walla
Food Tank is excited to introduce the podcast “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg.” On the podcast, Nierenberg invites chefs, experts, and activists to outline their ideal food system—and how their projects are making a better food system more attainable. This week we launched two brand new episodes with New Orleans legend, restauranteur Dickie Brennan, and activist Karen Washington, the owner of Rise and Root Farm. We hope you’ll listen, subscribe, rate, review, and let us know who you would like to see interviewed. You can listen to “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg” on Apple iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you consume your podcasts.
Food Tank is also highlighting 23 podcasts we admire—podcasts that explore issues relating to food politics, environment, history, access and affordability, and women’s equality. Listen, enjoy, learn, and of course, let us know which podcasts are your favorites.
A Taste of the Past, a Heritage Radio Network podcast, connects food cultures of the past to the present, reaching back as far as ancient Mesopotamia and Rome. Host Linda Pelaccio, a culinary historian, invites authors, scholars, and culinary experts to discuss food history. The podcast not only covers single ingredients, such as noodles, but also trends in recipes, dining, and employment in the food system.
2. Agro Africa
Channel Africa’s podcast Agro Africa discusses agriculture and its role in Africa’s development. The podcast brings together entrepreneurs, farmers, and researchers searching for solutions to industrial agricultural practices or practices threatened by climate change. Agro Africa not only discovers ways Africa’s agriculture must change in the future, but also discovers agricultural changes it has made in the past that contribute to the continent’s preparations for climate change.
3. Bite
Bite is “a podcast for people who think hard about food.” Hosted by Mother Jones Magazine Writers Tom Philpott, Kiera Butler, and Maddie Oatman, the podcast invites farmers, chefs, scientists, and writers to explore food. Together, they uncover the politics, history, and science behind food choices today. Bite also breaks down news from the food world for listeners of all backgrounds.
On Farmer to Farmer, host Chris Blanchard introduces listeners to successful farmers and growers. The podcast, made by farmers for farmers, explores what it takes to make a farm successful. Listeners can hear about a range of issues including employment in the farm sector, soil fertility, farming challenges, and even the secrets to cultivating carrots.
Food Heaven Podcast co-hosts Jessica Jones and Wendy Lopez share tips for using diet and health choices to commit to sustainable, healthy living. The podcast invites experts in topics like food, health, and nutrition to share advice on ways listeners can work toward their desired healthy lives. Jones and Lopez’s focus on health goes beyond food, covering topics such as mental health and body kindness.
6. Gastropod
Co-hosts Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley discover more about food on Gastropod. The podcast brings together experts at research labs, farms, and archaeological sites in order to use food as a tool to understand the world and its history. Gastropod also tries to identify the role that food plays in shaping cultures, history, and current trends.
7. Good Food
Good Food presents the latest news about what’s happening in food and restaurant culture throughout America. Host Evan Keliman discusses the latest water and agricultural issues, food politics, and cultural movements relating to the food system. Kleiman’s take on life, culture, and the human species explores trends in southern California, ranging from avocados, tacos, and the best L.A. pie.
8. Gravy
Gravy spotlights Southern foodways, highlighting the way Southern traditions and food innovations intertwine in the region. Host John T. Edge uses the food we eat to explore the American South as it evolves with new dynamics, movements, stereotypes, and voices. Gravy’s episodes also show how the South accommodates new immigrants and their traditions, coming from around the globe.
Part of the United Nations World Food Programme’s Storytellers project, Hacking Hungershares stories about hunger and nutrition in current events. Host M.J. Altman shares the stories of those not only living with hunger, but fighting it: Altman talks to aid workers, journalists, lawmakers, community leaders, and survivors to encourage listeners to find their own place in fighting hunger.
10. Homesteady
Homesteady finds ways for listeners to lead a self-sufficient and sustainable life, growing and raising food on their own. Host Aust—a farmer and father—lives off the land with his family, trying to create a steady life on the farm. The podcast realistically portrays the obligations of homesteading, from foraging and hunting, to farming and harvesting.
Plate of the Union brings together chefs, farmers, and policymakers with passions for advocacy. Sponsored by Food Policy Action, the podcast aims to promote safe, healthy, and affordable food for all. Host Spike Mendelsohn—celebrity chef and Chairman of the D.C. Food Policy Council—joins Food Policy Action’s Executive Director, Monica Mills, to discuss guests’ dreams for a better food system and their initiatives bringing these dreams into reality.
12. Real Food Reads
Founder and Director of Real Food Media, Anna Lappé believes books have the power to expose reasons why the food system is broken and solutions to fix it. On Real Food Reads, Lappé brings listeners together to discuss top books in food. The podcast also brings prominent authors into the discussion, considering questions big and small, for the future of the food system.
13. Sound Bites
Sound Bites brings together researchers, academics, dietitians, and more to talk about strategies to find good food and maintain healthy nutrition. Host Melissa Joy Dobbins tackles topics including healthy diets, weight management, diabetes, agriculture, farming, and more. Sound Bites aims to provide listeners with credible information on the latest food news and events, like recent episodes on pesticides, pop culture’s psychological effects, and school food.
Small Farm Nation seeks to show listeners the benefits and obligations of having a successful sustainable farm. Host Tim Young gives tips on how to attain success by treating the farm as a business, with marketing strategies and branding tools. The podcast addresses topics like business growth, finding customers, community involvement, and social media engagement to help listeners in any stage of the process of building a farm.
On Sustainable World Radio, host Jill Cloutier interviews sustainability experts about possible solutions to environmental challenges. The podcast focuses on the environment and natural world, exploring ecology, soil, herbal medicine, organic growing, regenerative agriculture, and more. Cloutier also explores the link between psychology and ecology, hoping to find solutions to climate change.
The Beginning Farmer Show follows host Ethan Book—farmer, blogger, and founder of Crooked Gap Farm—as he starts his farm from scratch. Book shares both the easy and difficult lessons he learned along the way growing crops and raising livestock, including listeners in his hard decisions such as downsizing his herds.
On The Doctor’s Kitchen, United Kingdom National Health Service Doctor Rupy Aujla seeks to show listeners that food is medicine. Aujla sits down with experts and researchers to discuss how nutrition and lifestyle are dependent on one another. The podcast outlines the smartest diets for specific illnesses and diseases while avoiding fad-diets and trends.
18. The Eater Upsell
The Eater Upsell is Eater’s flagship podcast hosted by Eater Editor-in-Chief Amanda Kludt and Audience Development and Special Projects Producer Daniel Geneen. The podcast covers food news, restaurant culture, and industry trends, with a deep look into the newest food innovations. The Eater Upsell also presents the “10 Best Food Stories” each month.
The Female Farmer podcast is part of the Female Farmer Project, which seeks to document the rise of women in agriculture and their roles in the food system. The podcast serves as a platform for women to share their stories, discussing all aspects of being a female farmer. Co-hosts Audra Mulkern and Kate Doughty dive deep, bringing up discussions not only about feminism, but also motherhood, disability, and veteran support.
20. The Food Chain
The Food Chain, a BBC podcast series, examines the business, science, and cultural significance of food. On the podcast’s special segment, “My Life in Five Dishes,” top chefs and food writers tell stories about their lives remembering five dishes that influenced them. Host Emily Thomas also composes stories of what it really takes to put food on the table.
The Secret Ingredient dives deep into one food system ingredient each episode focusing on anything from tomatoes, to school food, and even to democracy. Co-hosts Raj Patel, Tom Philpott, and Rebecca McInroy explore food history to tell listeners why they’re eating the food they eat, and why the food system appears as it does today.
The Splendid Table explores the intersection of food and life with conversations about culinary arts, culture, and lifestyles. New host Francis Lam, an award-winning food writer, gives a glimpse into the food world, discussing ideas about cooking, sustainability, and food culture. Known as “the radio program for people who love to eat,” The Splendid Table received numerous accolades since its start in 1995, including James Beard Foundation Awards for Best National Radio Show on Food and more.
The Urban Farm Podcast assembles special guests to discuss urban gardening and growing. Host Greg Peterson aims to motivate every listener to grow some of their own food with podcasts covering topics like urban beekeeping, chicken farming, composting, and more. The Urban Farm Podcast also explores tools and resources to help listeners make better choices in their local food systems.
‘Farm-To-Table’ Shouldn’t Only Be For Rich White People
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Farm-to-table, if we reframe it, should be a term that better acknowledges the efforts of everyone in the process. Moreover, it should mean that we acknowledge and work to repair the varied, multigenerational, and systemic forms of oppression that directly impact the millions of people who labor to bring food from farms to tables.
MIKE BLAKE / REUTERS
Carlo Petrini’s Slow Food and Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse are often credited as the originators of the farm-to-table movement in America. Some of the most notable names who have written about and championed it are Wendell Berry, Michael Pollan, Dan Barber, Wes Jackson and Barbara Kingsolver. They’ve all done significant work to advance the idea that food sourced directly from farms makes a difference. They’ve inspired many, myself (a cookbook author) included, and today the term is ubiquitous in restaurants and kitchens across the country.
They’re also all white. That’s a problem. It means that the concept and execution of farm-to-table ideas and values are predominately centered on white voices even though so much of the food in this country, from the production of it to the preparation of it, has always and continues to depend on the labor of people of color.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Farm-to-table, if we reframe it, should be a term that better acknowledges the efforts of everyone in the process. Moreover, it should mean that we acknowledge and work to repair the varied, multigenerational, and systemic forms of oppression that directly impact the millions of people who labor to bring food from farms to tables.
To start at the farm, know that 96 percent of rural landowners are white. The five largest landowners in America, all white, own more rural land than all black Americans combined. Land ownership, and the support systems to navigate and maintain it, is vital to a more just food system. The more varied the group of people that own land, the more those with power will be aware of and able to address issues that affect everyone who works the land. Initiatives like Black Urban Growers, the lawyer-slash-organizer Jillian Hinshaw, and the interactive map Reparations for Black-Indigenous Farmers are all working to shift the balance.
When we say farm-to-table, we often leave out the toil of everyone in the ‘to.’
And what about everyone who works on the farms? In 2017 the annual median income for agricultural workers was $23,730. This number is already staggeringly low, but keep in mind it doesn’t account for undocumented workers and it includes a range of jobs with varying incomes. According to a 2010 report by Southern Poverty Law Center, the average personal income for female crop workers was $11,250 (compared with $16,250 for male crop workers). Moreover, the industry is rife with wage theft. In a survey of 51 poultry processing plants, the U.S. Department of Labor found that all of them hadn’t paid employees for all of the hours they worked.
Agricultural workers also risk dangerous working conditions, including exposure to pesticides and other toxic chemicals. They, especially immigrant women, also regularly face sexual harassment and abuse at work. In a 2014 study, a farmworker from Salinas, California, made reference to “the field de calzon (field of panties) because so many supervisors take women there to rape them.” And if a worker seeks justice, she or he will rarely find that the legal system protects them.
JUSTIN SULLIVAN VIA GETTY IMAGES
Too often when we say farm-to-table, we leave out the toil of everyone in the “to.” The same ugly cocktail of racial, economic, and gender discrimination that takes place on farms is mirrored in food processing factories and restaurant kitchens all over America. Risks for workers relying on tips and minimum-wage salaries to make ends meet range from health and safety hazards at poultry processing plants to rampant sexual harassment. Just look at the names that have made headlines in the past few months. Workplace abuse can also come from the very customers that employees serve.
And the tables themselves? They’re just as economically inaccessible as the farms the food came from in the first place. The “farm-to-table” label often sends clear signals about price points and aesthetics. A quick scroll through the 1.4 million Instagram posts marked #farmtotable are primarily of white people with gardens or at nice restaurants. When we say “farm-to-table,” it seems that we are saying the term belongs to wealthy white people with access to tables laden with abundant produce. This means we are leaving out so many and so much.
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So what do we do? How do we dismantle the term and reframe it to be more inclusive and equitable?
People’s Kitchen Collective, a group in Oakland, California, has devoted the last year to a series called “From the Farm to the Kitchen to the Table to the Streets,” working specifically to redefine what farm-to-table can mean. Co-founded by Saqib Keval, Jocelyn Jackson, and Sita Bhaumik, the collective aims to show how we can reframe the phrase to keep the whole journey from farm to table in mind while simultaneously honoring and creating space for people of color at each step. “We crave spaces that deliberately center our voices and experiences. As people of color, our lives are shaped by displacement, migration, loss of land, and access to resources. In the absence of land, we create space by eating in public,” reads the organization’s website.
I have been personally so inspired by their work that I asked them to contribute to my last book, Feed the Resistance, and to participate in an event for it.
SANA JAVERI KADRI
Peoples Kitchen Collective meal in Oakland, California. April 1, 2017.
In April 2017, they hosted a community meal where they asked participants to explore how farming has been a way to create place despite displacement ― how cultivating land means having some ownership over it. In August, they went from the farm to the kitchen and asked participants to share stories of kitchen remedies for illness, trauma, and separation. And in February, they invited people affected by xenophobic immigration policies to come to the table for a meal in remembrance of the signing of the executive order mandating the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. They produced a resource guide to accompany the meal, a way to extend the work past the table.
On Sunday, their largest meal yet will take place in the West Oakland neighborhood, a way to push farm-to-table from private spaces to a large, very public one. The setting will span a city block and the group will provide a free meal for 500 participants.
People’s Kitchen Collective recognizes that cooking is one of the surest ways to create and sustain community. And their work shows us how we can make the term less centered on white experiences and more grounded in food justice.
We can all be part of this reframing, whether we’re communicating to our representatives that we need the 2018 Farm Bill to include considerate provisions for small farms and for everyone eligible for SNAP benefits, making conscious decisions about which farms we source our food from, or considering whose tables we sit at and who we invite to sit at our own.
Let’s go from farm to table ― and beyond.
Julia Turshen is the author of Feed the Resistance, Small Victories, and the forthcoming Now & Again. She is also the founder of Equity at The Table, an inclusive digital directory of women/non-binary individuals in food.
Ikea’s Teaching You How to Use a Hydroponic Vertical Farm
Ikea’s Teaching You How to Use a Hydroponic Vertical Farm
IKEA‘s innovation lab Space10 created a pop-up hydroponic vertical farm during this year’s London Design Festival. The space was created to showcase Space10’s Lokal project, where microgreens are grown indoors, locally and vertically, aims to provide a space-saving and sustainable way for people to grow their own food, as well as testing how Londoners felt about food grown hydroponically and, more importantly, whether they liked the taste of the microgreens.
Local Produce
February 19, 2018 | by LAUREN TOLAN
Do you know where your “local” fruits and vegetables come from? Co-owner of Buckingham Farms, TJ Cannamela, talks about the importance of knowing when and where your crops are coming from, and also how they were treated. He strives to grow fresh vegetables, year round, without the use of pesticides or other chemicals. One way to do this is through the use of hydroponics, which cuts water usage down by 80%, results in quicker plant growth, and eliminates the need for pesticides.
Cannamela advises people to be cautious and ask questions when buying from local markets. He acknowledges a few businesses in the area that stay true to the way many of us perceive the terms “local” and “fresh”. Which to many of us, means having been picked this morning. The state recognizes the term “local” to be in reference to a 250 mile radius around your business. How would you define it?