DATELINE: tirana-durres-tirana-durres-tirana-durres-ohrid    

Author: Sam      

While on what turned out to be a nine hour bus ride (we were told it would be between 4-6, but things can bottleneck at the border of a country famous for drug smuggling) that double-backed to where we had been only a few hours prior, I had a couple of random thoughts about a recent trip to Vermont. Here they are: In my preliminary essay for this class, I looked at Vermont's food system from a very analytical and removed perspective, based solely on the assigned readings and my own general assumptions of how food systems work. I attempted to divide the system into its constituent parts and reconstruct them into a cohesive whole, trying to focus on its interconnectedness. I failed. However, the stark contrast of how my understanding of Vermont's food system has changed underscores the impact of my experience over the 10-day span of the class. In addition to the production of dairy, produce, maple and their respective producers and consumers, several other less tangible factors play directly into how Vermont's food system functions. The way the human actors in the system interact, the positive energy surrounding the legislative and extra-governmental activities related to food production, and the demonstration that "conventional" and "organic" producers can coexist without conflict within the same economic space all shape the vibrant food system I recently experienced. Along those lines, Hardwick's food system is in many ways microcosmic of the entire Vermont food system. While it may be beyond the scope of this paper to flesh out this comparison, the different business models employed in Hardwick demonstrate that the definition of "local" varies and is not necessarily as tied to where food winds up once it is produced as much as to where it comes from. Community was a common theme for everyone we spoke to during the class, from farmer to government official. This extended not just to Vermonters' refrain that "everybody knows everybody" but also to a collective desire to steward the land and the economy. A perfect example of this is the Intervale center. The center's primary focus is to incubate new local farmers. As a result of this process, they help create jobs in the Burlington area agricultural sector, which in turn stimulates interest and activity in locally grown food and the local economy. On top of that, the Digger's Mirth collective, one of the Intervale's oldest and largest farms, pays exemplary wages to all of its employees, some of whom are female Rwandan refugees. The farm has also been involved with obtaining the funds to buy a machine that reads EBT cards at the Burlington Farmers' Market, and they have begun growing some of the native crops of Burlington's expanding Vietnamese and African populations. Coupled with the state of Vermont's program of matching EBT and WIC dollars spent at farmers' markets, these actions bring greater numbers of normally disenfranchised people into direct contact and involvement with the local food system. I was really surprised by how closely connected so many people are in the Vermont food world, and I believe that it is a large part of why the energy and vibrancy of the state's food system is so conspicuous. It is not just the farmers themselves who foster this sense of community. The energy in both the government and associated non-governmental organizations seems to be a driving force in the system as a whole. Because "everybody knows everybody", there is an exceptional level of access by NGOs, farmers, and community members to those who wield power in the state government on behalf of Vermont. Both Keep Farms Local and the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund were started in association with the government of Vermont. While taking markedly different approaches to creating economic opportunities for the state's agricultural workers, both organizations share a common goal of creating jobs and increasing the access of information, in turn increasing economic opportunity for Vermont farmers. The directors and other employees of KLF and VSJF act as a direct link between legislators and their constituents, but from what Diane Bothfeld of KLF said, official meetings are open to the public and attendees are required to participate in the discussion. Accordingly, they need to be well informed and engaged in order to effectively contribute to debate. This foments the creation of an informed population, thus further building awareness of and participation in the local food system. Moreover, in talking with employees of either organization, the passion, drive and excitement they feel when discussion their respective organizations' projects is palpable. While there is a heavy focus on "organic" produce farming in Vermont, the same cannot be said for dairy. However, this does not seem to create conflict, and all producers have a keen sensitivity to environmental stewardship. The "conventional" St. Albans Co-op has found ways to effectively manage their water use via a recirculation system and Monument Dairy is in the process of installing a methane digester in order to convert gasses from their waste lagoon into enough electricity to fuel not only their own farm, but to also sell some energy back to the grid. I think it is in part because of these exercises in waste management that the tensions between organic and conventional producers are lower. Also, the conventional dairy industry in Vermont is still relatively small-scale by national standards and there is a focus on both animal welfare and production quality, which in Vermont go hand in hand. Lastly, organic milk production is still a niche market in Vermont and the United States as a whole. 85% of all fluid milk produced in the state is exported and most of that is not organic. The market does not demand organic so farmers are not producing it. However, because of their shared concern for the land, the animals, and the economic viability of the industry, the organic and the conventional are able to coexist without friction. The Hardwick food system in many way serves as a microcosm of all these ideas. The Center for an Agricultural Economy is attempting to educate the local population and bridge the gap between the government, local businesses and the community. Yes, both High Mowing and Jasper Hill are profit-motivated, but they also have created significant numbers of jobs and opportunities for Vermont "agripreneurs". Jasper Hill's largest client is Cabot, the biggest Vermont-based dairy brand by sales and revenue. Jasper Hill's cheese cave creates an environment where small and large, conventional and organic, export and local consumption-based companies can co-exist, all under the auspices of supporting Vermont's agricultural economy. The export-based nature of some of Hardwick's local foods economy does not conflict with a local food system. The lesson from my entire experience in Vermont is that there is room for all players. With the immense amount of fluid milk and Cabot and Cracker Barrel products produced in Vermont, it would be impossible for these products to be consumed only on tables within the Green Mountain State. Conversely, because the fresh produce has only a limited shelf-life and because farmers are by and large not growing at a large enough scale to warrant export, almost all of the fresh fruits and vegetables they grow stay within Vermont or its immediate proximity. The concept of local food has therefore taken on a new understanding for me. It is less about consumption than production, insofar as the point of production of a food item and the point of origin of the resources used for its production seem to be more important than the final point of consumption. This does not mean that a Florida lemon eaten in Vermont is part of a "locavore" diet. However, if we are to assume that given the state of the average American diet, whereby our food travels vast distances to reach our plate, we should look first at finding the foods immediately available to us which are sourced from our community. After those resources have been exhausted we should look to the whole food items which are thought of as "local" elsewhere and attempt to source those foodstuffs from the most geographically proximate and appropriate place. Upon reflection and reexamination of my impressions of Vermont's food system before and after our class, it has become obvious that beyond the products or the people that make up the system, it is the intangibles that most define the Vermont food system. There is a palpable energy of a population proud if its agricultural heritage that is using practices honed in the twentieth century as a foundation on which to improve in the twenty-first. The discussion among those involved is trying to create a definition of "local" that best serves the needs of all Vermonters and best stewards the land for the current and future generations. I am still putting pieces of this incredible ten-day immersion into perspective and I imagine that I will be for some time to come. It was an eye-opening experience that has deeply affected my understanding of the whole of the American food system. And the cheese was pretty good too.