Reader Peter in NYC sends a long, very encouraging Washington Post story about how Chipotle, the Mexican restaurant chain that's a personal favorite of Your Working Boy's, has started buying pork from farmer Joel Salatin, a star of "Crunchy Cons" and "The Omnivore's Dilemma" for sale in its Charlottesville store. The story is a fascinating account of the challenges faced by a progressive-minded corporate food chain in trying to incorporate the "eat-local" trend into their operations. You've got to really respect what Chipotle is trying to do here, and the extra lengths they've gone to to accomodate buying their pork from a local small farmer who's raising his pigs in a non-industrial way.
If Chipotle succeeds, they could be a model for other food chains to follow -- and that, in turn, could create a market for locally, organically raised meat all over the country. On Sunday, my newspaper is going to run an essay from two local small farmers who quit their jobs as engineers to raise flowers and vegetables full time on their small farm outside of Dallas. I'd heard about their farm -- I won't name it now, in case for some reason the piece gets rescheduled; I know we're having a little bit of trouble getting photos -- through the local foodie grapevine, and their CSA is hard to get into because the quality of their produce is so high. I contacted one of the farmers about an interview, and she sent me an e-mail about their work that was so long and well-written that we decided to turn it into a column.
Anyway, she told me that the demand for fresh, locally grown produce is so great that they can't possibly meet it -- and that the culture really is changing fast, creating a booming market for small farmers like her. She and her business partner write that if you don't mind hard work, and if you have a good business plan, market conditions are such that small-scale farming can now finally pay. This is great news, and I'd like to know from readers of this blog if you're seeing the same thing happening where you are.
If small-scale farming is ever going to grow in this country, it's going to require a further shift in the culture of eating, like our local farmers are seeing ... but the process will really be goosed by enlightened corporations like Chipotle taking the risks to make it happen. I don't want to hold Chipotle out as doing pro bono work; obviously they wouldn't do it if they didn't see a way to make money off of it. But they are enlightened in the sense that they're sensitive to emerging food trends, and are willing to adjust their business model to fit it.
That said, if my local Chipotle started putting Windy Meadows Farm chicken in their burritos, I might never eat anywhere else, ever again.
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Local farmer i have gone to for chicken (free range with supplemental feed) sold his farm to a developer. No Chipotles here.
Steve
"This kind of "botique" production of meat or any other commodity, is extremely dependent upon the population being well blessed with ample discretionary income. This is not a solid financial base for any industry, as cultural fads, or even mild recessionary times will erase the market created."
This isn't something new, though; it's simply the way most food was raised and sold a century ago, or even 50 years ago on many farms around here. (There's one dairy processing plant in town now, but go to auctions and you can find old milk bottles with dozens of farms' names on them.) It's only "boutique" now because only a small number of people are doing it. Increase the demand, the supply will increase, and prices will come down. There's no reason it can't work as well as it did for my grandparents. Maybe not in places like New York City, but as Joel Salatin says, maybe that means we shouldn't do things like New York City.
It seems to me a recession could even help the local food trend, especially one based on high oil prices. Get fuel prices high enough that it's not profitable to ship food across oceans and continents, and local food and backyard gardens will become more competitive.
Take away the government subsidies for industrial food and let them compete honestly. The prices we currently pay for "cheap" industrial food are hidden in our taxes, which cover subsidies and environmental cleanup, and in environmental degradation that is not easily remedied.
All agriculture is hard on land, but there are ways to reintroduce biological health and balance. But the little growers, who do things sustainably to support a healthy eco-system, have to internaliza all the costs.
With gas prices going up, the premium paid on local food is going away now. The future of food security is not huge farms and centralized processing plants and complicated transportation systems. It is small communities that work out the details among neighbors. It is, I think, deeply conservative, in the best understanding of that term.
Mhoram and The Watcher, I'm cautious too. For instance, many people simply cannot afford the premium prices for local "specialty" foods, especially meats, poultry, and vegetables. For another, gas prices are pushing up towards $4 a gallon, and that's going to put a crimp in driving across town (or across the state) just to find one or two particular (and very expensive) items.
I too celebrate quality foods coming to the market, especially from local producers. But frankly, many are priced right out of the market. Michael Pollan in "In Defense of Food" IMO is pretty cavalier about the whole issue of price, claiming "we should be spending more on food." Tell that to people trying to raise families on low wages, no medical insurance, etc.
Good post, Rod. I love your blog. I too am a crunchy con, and a Christian to boot. I'm now working in the organic food and farming arena. I applaud this type of partnership -- Chipotle and Salatin. Local food is one thing the big food corps will not be able to co-opt. But we need better structure of distributing local food. Maybe this will be a model for that.
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