Past Harvest Award Winners

2007

Glynwood Harvest Farmer Award:
The 1200+ Family Farmers, Organic Valley Family of Farms
www.organicvalley.coop

Glynwood Harvest Good Neighbor Award:
Grow Montana
www.growmontano.ncat.org

Glynwood Harvest Connecting Communities, Farmers and Food:
Community Food Security Center
www.communityfoodbank.org

Glynwood Harvest Award for The Wave of the Future:
Added Value & Herben Solutions
www.addedvalue.org

2006

Glynwood Harvest Farmer Award:
Sam and Denise Hendren, Clover Mead Farm

Glynwood Harvest Good Neighbor Award:
Brad Matthews & Paul Wigsten, The Culinary Institute of America
www.ciachef.edu

Glynwood Harvest for Working at the Intersection of Health and Local Food
Kaiser Permanente Comprehensive Food Policy
www.kp.org

Glynwood Harvest Connecting Communities, Farmers and Food Award:
New Entry Sustainable Farming Project
www.nespf.org

Glynwood Harvest Award for The Wave of the Future:
The Strolling of the Heifers
www.strollingheifers.com

2005

Glynwood Harvest Farmer Award:
Ron Khosla, Huguenot Street Farm
www.flyingbeet.com

Ron Khosla is an important member of his local community and has influenced sustainable agriculture internationally as founder and director of Certified Naturally Grown. Starting from scratch, he and his wife, Kathryn, have made Huguenot Street Farm a key part of the fabric of New Paltz, while actively sharing the very practical, cost-effective solutions he has developed with other small farmers, locally, nationally, and internationally.

Ron and Kate purchased 77 acres of open cornfield in 1999. For five years, they camped on the property with no running water while they began building a house. The house they built is super-insulated and can be heated with the existing light bulbs and one small space heater. A wood stove sites unused – and disconnected – in the corner.

They now run a 225+ share Community Supported Agriculture farm and harvest and distribute more than two tons of food each week with a minimal amount of hired labor. Ron’s goal was to find and model better ways for small farmers. His favorite statement is “There’s GOT to be a way to do this better.” And he finds it.

His innovations include:

• figuring out how to convert old tractors to solar power. Electric motors require far less maintenance than gasoline and diesel engines and, given their different torque curves, they allow the farmer to move much more slowly and have more control. Most importantly, they allow small farmers to automate their operations at an affordable price. After seeing Ron’s converted Allis-Chalmers “G”, so many people wanted one of their own that Ron applied for and received a USDA-SARE grant to write an online manual telling how to create one in a weekend for under $2000 with no more skill than it takes to change the oil in your car. (See: www.flyingbeet.com/electricg.)

• developing an under-bed heating system for a green house made from off-the shelf solar collectors and run off a standard hot water heater. Unlike expensive commercial systems, this one s so cheap that it pays for itself well before the first heating season is over. The system is so efficient, that heating bills are about one-tenth of a standard greenhouse.

• an 8’ x 12’ home-made walk in cooler, cooled entirely with a $400 window air conditioner, which uses a light bulb on a thermostat to fools the unit into thinking it is 80 degrees when it is really only 40.

• a 16’ x 125’ home-made greenhouse that is moveable and made to accommodate a tractor, to facilitate quick planting and turnover. Each costs only $535 to construct, using readily available materials.

• a system for growing one’s own strawberry plugs organically and at extremely low cost on a commercial scale. Because there are no significant commercial sources for organic strawberry plugs, organic growers are allowed to use non-organic ones, but they are expensive and highly sprayed. Ron’s system has been written about widely and now saves family farmers across the country hundreds of dollars a year, while allowing organic production.

In 2002, Ron and Kate gave up their “Certified Organic” status when the USDA took it over, and now follow a far stricter set of standards that prohibit many of the currently approved organic pesticides and fungicides. The farm is irrigated only with clean and tested spring water.

At the same time, Ron founded and became director of Certified Naturally Grown (CNG), an alternative certification program only open to small organic farmers that sell locally and directly. By May of this year, 350 farmers from around the United Stated had registered and the program had been endorsed by the Atlantic Chapter of the Sierra Club. The CNG program has been adopted by the Wholesome Food Association in the UK and is proposed as the format for the new small farmer certification program in Ireland. Recently, farmers in Canada and Australia have also begun to adopt the system.

Ron was one of the primary drafters of the “Participatory Guarantee System” (PGS), an organic certification program that relies on volunteer inspections by other grower-peers. He also serves on the PGS working group for the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements and has spoken at trade shows and conferences in several countries around the world.

The Khosla farm runs along one mile of the Wallkill River and abuts an historic street on which sit several Dutch Huguenot houses dating back to the 1600s. The Wallkill Valley Land Trust considers the farm to be a key to saving the historic and scenic New Paltz area. The Khoslas are protecting their land and benefiting the surrounding area by placing an easement on their land, which will ensure that its fields never produce a crop of houses.

Glynwood Harvest Good Neighbor Award:
Carolyn Mugar, Executive Director FarmAid
www.farmaid.com

In the words of Mark Ritchie, President of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, “For twenty years I have watched Carolyn Mugar connect community, farm and food. No single person has done more to make this happen here in the United States. No one…Part of the success of Farm Aid has been Carolyn’s ability to see past the distractions, differences, and diversions and to clearly understand the things that connect us rich and poor, famous and everyday, urban and rural, young and old….She was an architect and stone mason for the new food movement – one that is benefiting all of us….Carolyn is a national treasure.”

In August 1985, in the midst of a massive farm crisis that was driving hundreds of thousands of farm families off their land, Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp announced that rock and roll and country artists would join together to hold a concert to raise awareness and money to help family farmers. Willie Nelson knew that he needed a passionate, dedicated person to distribute the funds that would be raised – someone who not only understood the problem, but also could be on the ground, working directly with farmers. He hand-selected Carolyn Mugar to be Farm Aid’s Executive Director.

In the fours weeks leading up to the concert, Carolyn traveled throughout farm country, meeting with farmers, farm activists, church leaders, groups operating crisis hotlines, social service groups and others – all in an effort to determine where contributed funds should be directed to do the most good for family farmers. The Farm Aid concert brought together 54 artists and more than 78,000 fans, raising more than $7 million. Within hours of the curtain’s close, Carolyn was working to get the funds out to the countryside.

The first concert was envisioned as the only concert that would be needed; the Farm Aid artists thought they’d bring awareness to the problem and the problem would be resolved. Carolyn worked within this assumption until, after three years of doing the work of Farm Aid from her kitchen table she made it clear that Farm Aid was a real organization that needed a real office and staff.

With Carolyn’s guidance, Farm Aid has evolved from a heartfelt response to crisis to a leader in the growing good food movement that is keeping family farmers on – and bringing new farmers to – the land. From the beginning, Carolyn knew that emergency aid alone would not solve the problems. She also knew that, as she says: “Farmers know the solutions.” Since the days of the first concern, Carolyn has been working with family farmers and farm groups across the country to devise longer-term solutions.

Farm Aid has raised more than $27 million to build and strengthen our system of family farms. Through public education and direct grants, Farm Aid supports effective and innovative efforts to promote sustainable agriculture, fight factory farms, advocate for fair farm prices and provide credit counseling and direct assistance to farm families.

Another of Carolyn’s favorite sayings: “Each family farmer is a building block for the good food future,” has provided the framework that has guided Farm Aid’s program work. Carolyn has stood with grassroots farm organizations to fight and defend family farmers’ livelihoods against the pressure of factory farms. Carolyn helped to put together Farm Aid’s Family Farm Disaster Fund to provide emergency services and funds to families affected by floods and other natural disasters. She helped organize farmer summits on genetic engineering to coincide with the annual Farm Aid concerts. She went to Washington with Willie Nelson to lobby for changes in the Clinton and Bush Administrations farm and free trade policies and attended farm conferences around the world to build strong global connections between international family farm organizations working for just farm and trade policies.

Farm Aid also engages in projects designed to reach out to farmers, farm groups and consumers to increase and strengthen the connection between family farms and consumers, by helping farmers take advantage of the opportunities created by greater market demand for good food. Farm Aid is expanding its farm resource network to provide assistance and practical advice to farmers who want to transition to sustainable and organic growing methods while supporting efforts that encourage young farmers. Carolyn has also shaped Farm Aid’s public message to help consumers understand that family farmers are integral to a future of good food.

Carolyn has led Farm Aid to become a unique networking organization that can bring together groups that seem widely diverse – the Teamsters and United Steelworkers, the National Family Farm Coalition and the Farmer’s Legal Action Group, the Federation of Southern Coops, rock stars, celebrity chefs and local food security activists.

In the words of Glenda Yoder, the Associate Director of Farm Aid, who nominated Carolyn for this Harvest Award: “Farm Aid’s success in seeding and fueling this ‘good food movement’ stems from Carolyn Mugar’s unwavering commitment for over 20 years to stand with family farmers in their fight for survival and justice.”

Fred Kirschenmann, Director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, observed that “…when Farm Aid began its work 20 years ago we all thought we were dealing with a “farm crisis” that would one day be over. Now we realize that we were dealing with a fundamental structural problem endemic to industrial agriculture and it is my understanding that Farm Aid is now gearing up to face this new reality as it prepares for its next 20 years of work. If anyone can successfully address this daunting issue it will be Carolyn.”

Glynwood Harvest Award for Working at the Intersection of Health and Local Food:
Paul and Barbara Stitt, Natural Ovens Bakery
www.naturalovens.com

Paul Stitt founded Natural Ovens Bakery in 1976 because he perceived a need for “fresh, filling and satisfying, preservative-free whole grain food in the Midwest.” Natural Ovens has now grown to over 300 employees with over a hundred trucks on the road, delivering to more than 1500 markets, five days per week.

Meanwhile Paul and Barbara Stitt have devoted themselves to educating the public about nutrition, inspiring others to achieve better health and wellness. A special focus of their concern has been students.

Through their school lunch program project, they have demonstrated that good nutrition has an impact on student behavior and their ability to learn. Their project began in 1997 at Appleton Central, an alternative high school in Appleton, Wisconsin. This school had been a difficult place, with hallways full of frantic students, some carrying weapons, and a principal burdened by having to deal with serious disciplinary problems.

Natural Ovens installed a kitchen to provide nutritional meals for a hundred teenagers. The vending machines and junk foods were removed overnight. Natural Ovens supported the school with whole grain fresh breads and freshly prepared fruits and vegetables for five years.

From the first year, attendance rose, behavior problems fell, the school experienced no expulsions, no drug use and no weapons on campus.

After seeing the effects of whole, fresh foods on the students’ behavior and academic ability, the school’s superintendent, principals, teachers and parents decided to offer fresh nutritious foods to all 15,000 students in the Appleton School District. On administrator summed it up: “I can’t buy the argument that it’s too costly for schools to provide good nutrition for their students. I found that one cost will reduce another. I don’t have the vandalism, litter and the need for high security.”

To help motivate other schools to provide nutritious food for students, the Stitts have produced a “Roadmap for Healthy Foods in Schools”, which includes a 14 minute DVD that tells the Appleton story. More than 1800 copies have been distributed. (It is available at www.naturalovens.com).

Since 2004 Natural Ovens has been working with Perspectives Charter School, an advanced school in the Chicago area. Based on the results to date, they have been invited into seven additional charter schools in Chicago this year.

The Stitts recognize several persistent challenges. Many schools are unwilling to change to a healthy lunch program for fear of additional costs and a concern that students won’t like the food. There is a period of adjustment during the first year, as the food system adapts and students learn more and experience the food. For example, when the Appleton school experienced an initial problem finding cooks, a police liaison and social studies teacher, both men, prepared the food in the interim. According to Barbara Stitt, “The first year is a little rocky, but by the mid to late part of the year, they all get the hang of it.” The food service came around, and it now making more money than ever.

Two years ago the Stitts developed what they thought to be an appropriately lofty goal – getting healthy foods to the students of every school in the United States within ten years. Given their success to date, and the growing movement which they exemplify, we are betting on them achieving their goal. We all have a lot riding on it.

Glynwood Harvest Connecting Communites, Farmers and Food Award:
Chesapeake Fields Institute
www.chesapeakefields.org

In spite of the State of Maryland’s leadership in farmland protection, the profitability and long-term viability of farming in the state is still open to question. The Chesapeake Fields Institute was created to help preserve the farmers in the Delmarva Peninsula of Maryland, a traditional agricultural region faced with persistent development pressure from nearby major metropolitan areas including Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington. DC. Approximately 60 million people live within a few hours’ drive.

The mission of the Chesapeake Fields Institute is “To strengthen the profitability of traditional agricultural markets for family farms, while conserving the region’s natural and agricultural heritage.” The organization is devoted to creating a paradigm shift so that farmers, land owners and decision-makers will see that “preservation through profitability” is a viable alternative to residential development.

The Chesapeake Fields Institute has spawned two companion organizations: Chesapeake Fields Farms, LLC and the Chesapeake Fields Farmers Coop. While the purposes and functions of each Chesapeake Fields entity are very different, the overall Chesapeake Fields mission is the same – “to help save the family farmers and our farmland.” Together, and working with an array of public and private partners, they are developing new consumer products that provide solid domestic and international markets for farmers through a community-based enterprise that is locally-owned and operated using environmentally sound practices.

When CFI began in 1999, it realized that most local farmers relied upon selling grain to local poultry companies. However, the poultry industry was changing and its long term presence in the region was coming into question. CFI worked closely with researchers at state land grant universities, private seed companies and state and federal laboratories to determine profitable alternatives for regional farmers, by examining the food attributes of crops grown regionally and researching consumer preferences. To date, this research has focused on soybean, wheat, popcorn, edamame soybeans, flax and food corn.

Based on this research, CFI concluded that farmers in the region needed to shift from gain and oilseed used as animal feed to the production of crops destined for domestic and international consumer markets.

In 2003 the companion Chesapeake Fields Farmers, LLC (CFF), was launched as a community-owned for-profit venture that would implement plans developed through the Institute’s research. CFF is responsible for the development, manufacturing and marketing of consumer food products made from locally grown identity preserved grains. Currently these products include artisan breads, popcorn and soy snacks.

The Chesapeake Fields Farmer’s Co-op has also been formed to allow the farmers willing to transition to production of IP grains to have an ownership interest in the overall operation. The Co-op will insure an adequate supply so CFF can meet its production schedule. For producing crops according to the IP protocol, farmers will receive a percentage of CFF’s profits.

The close, supportive working relationship between Chesapeake Fields Institute, Chesapeake Fields Farmers and the Co-op may be unique in the Country. CFI serves as the generator for new agricultural enterprises to be developed and carried on by Chesapeake Fields Farmers. CFI provides a host of valuable services that would otherwise be beyond the financial capacity of CFF, including education/agri-tourism, agricultural extension services, product and process research projects in applied and pure research, and funding for external research partners within nearby universities.

The concept of “identity preserved” (IP) crops is integral to the CFI program. The IP protocol provides the ability to trace a crop back to the field in which it was grown. CFF is “ahead of the regulatory curve” in providing this level of purity and performance in its products, one which it believes consumers will increasingly demand.

The natto soybean provides an example of how these organizations work together. The natto soybean effort started as a test project within CFI. In 2002, eleven local growers participated in the first value-added contract to produce these soybeans for the Japanese food market. CFF took over the project and expanded production and sales in 2003. Because of the quality and IP protocols, farmers received premium payments for each bushel. By crop year 2004, 18 farmers were participating with almost 1800 acres under cultivation.

Looking to the opportunity provided by major population centers nearby and the Delmarva’s attraction as a tourist destination, Chesapeake Field Farmers has also begun to introduce and market high quality bread, soy snacks, and popped corn throughout the mid-Atlantic region.

Early on, CFI determined the need for an agricultural business park to serve as the site for the processing of the IP grains and for businesses that would produce value-added products from them. The manufacturing operations will be “visitor friendly” and designed to be part of a comprehensive agricultural entertainment and education center. Current plans call for the first building to begin construction during early 2006. Ownership of the land and the brands will be held by the nonprofit organization to ensure that, once the products are successful, the business is not purchased by a multinational corporation that will not share the mission of supporting the region’s farmers.

The range of the Chesapeake Fields group’s impact is illustrated by some of the recognition received: CFI was recognized by the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy with an Eastern Shore 2010 Achievement Award for distinguished leadership in Eastern Shore land use and by the Shore Leadership Program for CFI‘s economic development work. CFF has been recognized by the Kent County Chamber of Commerce as “Small Business of the Year in 2005.”

Glynwood Harvest Award for Innovator of the Year:
Neil D. Hamilton, Esq, Professor and Director of the Drake Agricultural Law Center and
Chair of Iowa food Policy Council
www.law.drake.edu/centers/aglaw

Professor Neil Hamilton’s career has been devoted to encouraging the development of a more sustainable agricultural system. He has accomplished this in a place many of us might consider unlikely – as a professor at a private school of law in Iowa.

This fall, Professor Hamilton begins his 25^th year as a legal educator, during which time he has founded the Agricultural Law Center at Drake School of Law, the first such center in the country. He has helped thousands of students, farmers, consumers and officials, as well as lawyers, appreciate the critical role law plays in shaping the future of our local, regional and national food systems. He has helped make clear that agricultural law is about more than just farming. He has helped the public become more conscious that decisions we make about what we eat also influence farmers, the farm economy and the land.

In1996 Neil articulated a new vision for agriculture in an article entitled “Tending the Seeds of the New Agriculture.” It paints an effort to pull together the many disparate parts of alternative agriculture – from farmers markets to community gardening to organic farming and saving heirloom seeds – into one comprehensive, cohesive and optimistic movement.

His effort to nurture this new vision resulted in part from his increasing concern about industrial agriculture, which he addressed in a series of courageous and thought provoking law review articles, including “Agriculture Without Farmers”, “Who Owns Dinner” and “Why Own the Farm if You Can Own the Farmer and the Crop?” He helped assist farmers confronting these issues by writing valuable books such as the Farmers Legal Guide to Production Contracts and by speaking out for the need for alternative marketing systems to support producers who want to maintain their independence.

In 1999 he wrote “The Legal Guide to Direct Farm Marketing”, which is widely used by farmers throughout the country who need to understand legal issues involved in participating in this important form of marketing. He wrote the first law review articles analyzing sustainable agriculture and direct marketing for the larger legal community.

Neil’s passion for helping people understand the issues facing society found an important outlet through guest editorials in the Des Moines Register. In the late 1990s he wrote more than 70 op ed pieces for the Register that helped shape the public discourse on many issues including, perhaps most importantly, food and farming. His approach was perhaps best summed up with his challenge that before Iowa could become known as the “food capitol of the world” it should become the food capitol of Iowa. In recognition of his leadership on this issue, Governor Vilsack appointing him to chair the newly created Iowa Food Policy Council in 2000. The Council has helped lead many important innovations in Iowa, including in the operation of state programs such as the delivery of the food assistance program, which received a Congressional Hunger Center Award in 2003.

Neil has effectively promoted better food policy at the national level as well. He was deeply involved in the effort that secured USDA support for food policy councils in more than a dozen states and the Hopi Nation. These councils have helped create new opportunities for thousands of farmers, including many from traditionally underserved populations such as minorities, women and specialty crop growers.

Through his leadership, Drake has developed the State and Local Food Policy Project to coordinate and promote the work of the various state and local food efforts. Among its educational initiatives are a series of National Workshops, a “Toolkit on Sate and Local Food Policy” and an award winning video – “Making the Connections in Iowa’s Food System” – which was written, produced and narrated by Professor Hamilton. The video tells the story of the innovations in Iowa’s food system from the growth of Niman Ranch’s pork initiative to the role of Practical Farmers of Iowa promoting the Buy Fresh Buy Local effort.

Bill Niman, founder of Niman Ranch (a winner of the 2003 Glynwood Harvest Good Neighbor Award, which stressed the critical role that the company has played in helping small hog producers economically viable) stated that: “Neil Hamilton has been an invaluable advisor to Niman Ranch and to me personally for many years. He was especially helpful when, some ten years ago, we set up our Iowa-based network of family hog farmers. Neil’s many bright ideas, moral support and boundless energy have been a very real part of our success.”

Neil lives these ideas and values at home. He and his wife Khanh operate Sunstead, a ten-acre garden farm where they produce and market vegetables that appear on many menus in Des Moines.

Their farm is a center for food and gardening activities. He also formed the Slow Food Des Moines Convivium which now has more than 100 members; its largest annual event is the All Iowa Whole Hog Luau Pie Making Contest and Baked Bean Cook-off. In 2004 Neil raised more than $40,000 to develop the Greater Des Moines Buy Fresh Buy Local campaign, which has developed innovative approaches including a Buy Local Pledge that has been taken by more than 1,000 local consumers.

For the past two years, Neil has been researching and writing a book with the theme of Food Democracy, which examines how many of the issues that we see as simply involving food and farming are really about much more – they are the expression of democratic tendencies and their success or failure will in many ways reflect the health of our political system.

His colleagues have called Neil “a talented, hard working, productive and impassioned visionary”; “educator, leader, local food activist, scholar, visionary and friend.”

“An articulate spokesman, innovative thinker and tireless, dedicated leader in the struggle to promote food democracy in the US.” In sum, as another said: “Producers, consumers and citizens throughout the US have been positively impacted by his food system work and will continue to be in the years to come.”

Glynwood Harvest Award for The Wave of the Future
Barbara Belotte
www.greenteens.org

In the words of one Nominator: “Among her peers, Barbara stands out…Barbara is laudable not only for her accomplishments at the age of 20, but also for the number of people and organizations she has impacted since she moved to this country from Haiti just a few years ago. She is being nominated for this award because of her innovation and activism in her community to show teens and the rest of the world why community food security is so important to her.”

Barbara began working with the Green Teen Community Gardening Program in Poughkeepsie, New York, soon after her arrival from Haiti. Her introduction to American culture, while not without its stresses, provided learning moments for Barbara and those she met. As she put it:

“I have educated younger and older people on organic agriculture, on having a good diet, on nutrition, and on land preservation. I have brought some of my values and culture to the people in the area, especially the younger kids I mentored…To my peers, I have shown a different way of life and how people outside the United States see life. Everyone lives in their own world and people don’t always see that there is a whole lot going on in the world outside of this country. People’s don’t always realize the other perspective, and there is so much knowledge to be gained by connecting with people from all over the world.”

As one of her colleagues put it: “She confronted the intricacies of race and nationality in intense and life-changing ways during those six weeks. While to many of us such a concentration of new ideas, experiences and perspectives would have been utterly overwhelming, Barbara always displayed her characteristic poise and leadership.”

While working with the Green Teen program, she also worked on the Community Food Project in the development of its first value-added, youth-driven food product – the Hot Shot Nectarine Salsa.

Her leadership potential was recognized by her peers when she was chosen to represent the Green Teen program at the Community Food Security Coalition and Kellogg Foundation Food and Society national conferences. She was also asked to serve on the Diversity Committee of the National Community Food Security Coalition, where she increased her leadership and communication skills while interacting with professionals from around the country on issues of mutual concern.

After graduation from Poughkeepsie High School, Barbara worked for the children’s Media Project, a Poughkeepsie nonprofit organization and developed a TV segment on the Green Teen program that exemplifies her ability to link farmers, immigrants, minorities and teens with her fresh perspective on why it is critical to preserve and protect culturally-appropriate ways of eating and producing food in an environment free of contaminants.

In focusing her video project on this program, she was able to continue to build a connection between urban youth and the farming community, increasing awareness of the importance of farming and calling attention to the farm-urban connection. In the words of a colleague: “Barbara has been particularly insightful in recognizing the need for these connections and for taking pro-active steps at her own initiative to make a difference.”

Barbara is currently working full-time to put herself through Dutchess Community College, where she is majoring in communications, and serving on the Board of Directors for the Children’s Media Project of Poughkeepsie.

Barbara is also active in the Dutchess Community College’s Multicultural Coalition. As an active member, she helps organize cultural evenings where people from countries around the world share their foods, recipes and music. She is also helping to construct a website for foreign students at Dutchess, to help them in the transition of leaving country and family behind.

In sum, “Barbara has made the world a better place for all people – those of us who grow food and eat it, people who were born in the United States or who have moved or been brought here, and teens who need to understand where there food comes from.”

2004

Glynwood Harvest Farmer Award :
Bellvale Farms, NY
www.bellvalefarms.com

Bellvale Farms, a dairy farm located on 450 acres only 50 miles from New York City, has been producing milk for more than 150 years. Judy and Al Buckbee have lived on the farm for nearly 40 years. Now, their son, Skip, and daughter, Amy, her husband Tim and their two children all live and work on the farm. In the words of their Town Supervisor, the Buckbees “…are the epitome of the American farm family and all of the great values that these families have stood for over the years.”

The Buckbees also exemplify the creativity and dedication required to remain in farming in an area with growing development pressure. During the past decade, they have taken several steps to ensure its future. They were among the first farmers to sell their development rights to the Town of Warwick’s farmland preservation program. With the proceeds, they purchased additional acreage and made their operation more economically viable for current and future generations. With the involvement and skill of that next generation, they have diversified their operation to include a Creamery, which produces homemade ice cream and caters to daily commuters and hikers from the Appalachian Trail, as well as local residents. Eventually they plan to become a fully operational dairy-processing creamery and will produce and sell cheeses, milk, yogurts and other dairy products.

They were also among the first farmers in the area to adopt rotational grazing of their herd, which assures not only the high quality of their milk but the sustainability of the local environment. Their stewardship, including careful manure management, is credited with protecting a rich underground aquifer that is relied upon by thousands of people, and ensuring that brook trout continue to spawn in the streams that run through their fields.

The Buckbees know how important it is for children to learn that milk doesn’t come from a bottle. It is not unusual for them to welcome hundreds of visitors to their farm each week through their Sunday Open House, school group trips and invitations extended to Creamery customers.

In the words of a neighboring farmer, “Bellvale Farms is a family farm that is connected to the fertile soil beneath them, connected to the community around them, and connected to the customers they serve.”

Glynwood Harvest Good Neighbor Award:
Berkshire Grown
www.berkshiregrown.org

The mission of Berkshire Grown, a nonprofit organization founded in 1985, is to “support local farmers who preserve and sustain the beauty and bounty of the Berkshire region.” Berkshire Grown promotes local agriculture as a vital part of a healthy Berkshire economy and landscape through a variety of events, programs, and promotions that bring farmers and consumers together.

In the words of Berkshire-Taconic Community Foundation, Berkshire Grown “invents ways to incorporate a vibrant agricultural based economic sector with community enhancement projects.”

Many of the farmers in Berkshire County are traditional dairy farmers who have faced the challenge of transitioning into new markets. Berkshire Grown has helped these farmers reach new markets while simultaneously helping to expand those markets by educating chefs, food buyers, politicians and the public about the importance supporting regional farmers.

Berkshire Grown’s many innovative programs include:

Share the Bounty, through which donated funds are used to purchase shares in community supported agriculture programs which are then donated to food pantries or kitchens;

Business to Business (B2) Program, which fosters the development of partnerships between farmers, food producers and professional food buyers, such as restaurants, specialty markets, caterers, and inns;

Buy Local Campaign, which promotes local food during the growing season and educates the public on the importance of buying local through advertisements and the Buyer’s Guide to Locally Grown Food, Plants, and Flowers. Farm Fresh Fax reports are used to alert supermarkets of what products are available and from which farms.

As a result of this effective marketing of Berkshire products, one farmer has written, “all the farms in the area know that, within reason, there is a market for almost anything we can grow.” The results of this work illustrate the multiple benefits of connecting local farms and communities. For example, the Community Foundation refers to the Share the Bounty program as a “’two-fer’ for a donor…each dollar goes for two good projects: supporting local growers and feeding people healthy food who wouldn’t have it otherwise.” And the Berkshire Natural Resources Council, the County’s land conservation organization, has noted that “…in a very direct way, they support our work: If farmers can make a living on the land, they will not be forced to sell out. Berkshire Grown helps keep the county green.”

Glynwood Harvest Connecting Communities, Farmers and Food Award:
Bert and Tish Paris
Tera Johnson and the Animal Welfare Institute

Bert and Trish Paris, who farm in Belleville, Wisconsin, Tera Johnson, former President of a Wisconsin dairy, and the Animal Welfare Institute, have been leaders of a project designed to help grazing dairy farmers produce a new, value-added product by raising veal in a humane manner. This project stands as an inspiring example of what can be accomplished when farmers and others from across the public and private sectors come together to drive innovation that will improve the economic viability of family farms.

Bert and Tish Paris are visible, vocal and successful advocates of pasture-based dairy systems – or grazing – an important part of the movement toward humane, sustainable agriculture. The Paris’ began as conventional dairy farmers, but once they had children, Bert wanted reduce his use of heavy machinery – the backloaders, feed mixers and other big equipment needed for conventional confinement dairies that can be noisy and dangerous. “I wanted farming to be something we could do together as a family.” Bert said. “I have some of my best conversations with my children when we are out here working with the cows.”

Bert and Tish are active spokespersons for dairy grazing, welcoming visitors to their farm and generous in their sharing of what they have learned. Bert has served as a mentor for numerous young farmers who are starting grazing dairies and is an active promoter of the Wisconsin School for Beginning Dairy Farmers and the Dane-Green Graziers, which provide support and instruction to other farmers.

Because grazing systems require much less investment in buildings and manure handling equipment, dairy grazing systems operate at lower cost than confinement operations. So although their output may be less, their lower costs can result in a higher net income. The lower costs make dairy grazing an important tool for revitalizing family farms, especially for new farmers, who may have less access to start-up capital.

But like all farmers, Bert and Tish are also running a small business that has to work economically. One challenge inherent in dairy grazing is the need for livestock that perform well under grazing conditions, which has encouraged many grazers to cross-breed their Holstein herds with other breeds or to use alternative and heirloom breeds, which are smaller than Holsteins. One unfortunate consequence is the loss of a commercial market for the male calves, since the mixed breeds do not produce good beef cattle. According to Bert Paris, in some years, the Graziers receive only about $20 for a young calf.

Many diverse interests have come together to develop a way for the grazers to diversity their farm income by raising these male calves in a humane way, to create veal that will appeal to the segment of the meat-eating market that has objected to the tight confinement methods by which standard veal is produced. If the new way of producing veal succeeds, farmers may receive asmuch as $600 per calf.

With the leadership of Tera Johnson, then President of a Wisconsin dairy, and the support of a Value Added grant from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Bert and Trish Parish began to experiment with ways to raise the male calves that would meet protocols for “humane treatment” developed by the Animal Welfare Institute, while producing veal that would be attractive to chefs and, eventually, a broader market.

The Animal Welfare Institute, based in Washington, D.C., was founded in 1951 to reduce the pain and fear inflicted on animals by humans. One of its core programs seeks to reform production systems for the rearing of farm animals and replace them with methods which are both humane and practical. AWI sees this veal project as a way to develop and open new markets for products that improve farm profitability, through developing and implementing husbandry standards that improve the welfare of dairy cattle and calves.

Since milk and grass fed veal is a new product, no market currently exists for it. Since the color and other properties of the meat are very sensitive to nutrition inputs, which will vary depending on temperature and weather conditions when the calves are being raised, the market for this product needs to be educated that variability is natural and desirable rather than problematic. So another aspect of the project has been to develop a national network of opinion-leading chefs who are interested in purchasing the product.

This is a complex project involving many players, including other farmers, the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, experts in veal calf nutrition, chefs, and potential purchasers and distributors.

While challenges remain, this project stands as an inspiring example of how creativity and cooperation across many interests can help sustain family farms.

Special Glynwood Harvest Award for Innovative Communications

Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) and The Meatrix

The Meatrix is a three minute flash animation piece that has demonstrated the extraordinary potential reach and impact possible when innovative communications skills are brought to bear on agricultural issues. The Meatrix is on the forefront of the expansion of activism online.

The Meatrix was born of a collaboration between GRACE, which is dedicated to eliminating factory farming in favor of a sustainable food production system, and Free Range Graphics, which supported the project with its first Flash Activism Grant.

The concept was to parody The Matrix movie by presenting striking similarities between the mes in the original movie and today’s corporate agriculture system in a way that would be marketable to consumers. It has shown that a short, humorous and factual cartoon can alert millions of people to a serious, worthy cause.

Within the first week of the film’s debut, over one million people had viewed The Meatrix. As of June 2004, that number exceeded 5 million people from around the world, with over 5,000 new viewers each day.

At the end of the movie, viewers are directed to an “action page” where they are encouraged to visit sites that help them access meat from sustainable family farms (such as www.eatwellguide.org) and learn more about viable solutions to factory farm operation (www. Sustainabletable.org). As a result, tens of thousands of people have visited these sites.

By December 2003, more than 27,000 websites had linked to The Meatrix. The organizations that linked their websites have experienced increased traffic to their sites as a result. In response to requests generated by the film, GRACE has sent tens of thousands of educational packets all over the country and has included information from other related organizations.

MarketingProfs.com, a site for marketing professionals, labeled The Meatrix the “New Marketing Order” for its ability to influence the consumer through the media. It has won the “Film for Thought” award from the Media That Matters Film Festival and was an official selection at the Telluride Mountain Film Festival.

Special Glynwood Harvest Awards for Innovative Communications:
Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE)
www.gracelinks.org

Glynwood Harvest Wave of the Future Award:
The Lower East Side Girls Club and b-Healthy
www.b-healthy.org

The Lower East Side Girls Club and b-Healthy!

If we are to be successful in sustaining regional agriculture, we must ensure that theunderstanding of the importance of fresh, nutritious food is shared across generations and that strong connections are created between urban consumers and regional farmers. These two New York City organizations share a commitment to making this happen. We trust that they are helping to create The Wave of the Future.

The Lower East Side Girls Club is dedicated to providing a place where girls and young women ages 8 to 21 can develop confidence in themselves and their ability to make a difference in the world. The Lower Eastside Girls Club programs expose more than 500 economically disadvantaged girls and young women per year to an innovative and comprehensive mix of enriching programs and world of work experiences. Many of the projects undertaken by the Girls Club explore the connections among food, health, community supported agriculture and sustainable cuisine. It believes that the food choices adolescents make lay the foundation for the health and wellness, and in turn shape the choices they make for their future families.

For the past several summers, the Girls Club has run a high school level leadership development week at a farm in the Hudson Valley where the girls learn about food production and its relationship to environmental issues. Girls also intern with the farm’s stands in the NYC Greenmarket system, gaining a window into the economics of farming and marketing and the logistics of food security and feeding cities.

The Girls Club has also developed a twelve week entrepreneurial training curriculum in local high schools which results in student run after school juice/smoothie and muffin bars. The program is facilitated by “Sweet Things” – a mother-daughter baking company which operates the Girls Club commercial kitchen and its baking/entrepreneurial training program. This fall the Girls Club collaborated with PS 188 to pilot the @ Good Foods Cafe, where girls serve smoothies and nutritious treats with a dollop of sustainability education to 120 milddle school students at the start of their school day.

In June 2003, the Girls Club opened its own Farmers Market. Farmers from Long Island and the Hudson Valley were assisted by high school girls from the leadership program who visited the farms that supply the market, interviewed the farmers and created photodocumentary stories. The girls also run workshops at the market to educate the community on agricultural and environmental issues; produced a video public service announcement entitled “Fat or Phat?” extolling the virtues of eating fruits and vegetables; and wrote a special issue of their newspaper “Girls Out Loud” dedicated to agriculture and the environment.

b-healthy! (Building Healthy Eating and Lifestyles to Help Youth) is a New York City-based organization founded in 2001 through which adult and youth food activists, chefs and others work to strengthen the food justice movement in the United States. b-healthy!’s mission is to educate low-income urban youth ages 14-21 about cooking, nutrition and the relationship between food and health; to encourage them to connect personal health to community health; and to help them empower themselves to organize around issues related to health and well-being.

b-healthy! was founded in response to the dramatic increase in obesity and chronic diseases among low-income youth, with the understanding that these diet-related diseases result from of lack of education about proper diet and nutrition and lack of access to healthy, affordable food in most low-income communities.

b-healthy!’s approach combines education about healthy cooking and nutrition with education around the globalization of agriculture, the corporatization of food, and social activism aimed at creating more access to healthy and sustainable foods in low-income communities.

b’healthy!’s programs include:

CHOP (Creating Healthy Organic Power) Project, a skills-building training project that teaches basic cooking techniques, nutrition, the relationship between food and health, the influence of our diet on the environment, and contemporary politics surrounding food.

CHOP Project II, a training program in youth organizing for graduates of CHOP.

SEEDS: Training and Technical Assistance for Non-Profit Organizations and Community Based Organization, which helps other organizations learn how to educate young people about diet and health and helps their staff envision ways to support youth in making dietary changes.

b-healthy! is working in both New York City and the Bay Area in California. It is actively partnering with other nonprofits in both areas, including Just Food in New York City and the People’s Grocery in Oakland.

2003

Glynwood Harvest Farmer Award:
Jim and Moie Crawford, New Morning Farm, PA
www.newmorningfarm.net

Jim and Moie Crawford of New Morning Farm in Pennsylvania have also responded to new market opportunities. The Crawfords grow more than 40 types of vegetables on their 95 acre certified organic farm. In each growing season they plant almost 200 times to make their produce available to restaurants and other customers over an extended season. Jim was also in the lead in creating the Tuscarora Organic Growers Cooperative, which facilities the marketing for dozens of producers year round.

The Crawfords were nominated by Nora Pouillon, chef and owner of two of Washington, DC’s most popular restaurants, who uses the Crawford’s produce and is a longtime advocate for improving the quality and nutritional value of the food supply.

Glynwood Harvest Good Neighbor Award:
Niman Ranch
www.nimanranch.com

Niman Ranch, based in California and Iowa, for its success in nurturing and marketing a network of small producers, resulting in some of the nation’s highest quality meat. Niman is a company that markets and distributes meats from a network of small producers who adhere to a strict code of animal husbandry principles. Increasing numbers of consumers and restaurants request these products to obtain high quality meat, produced in ways that respect the welfare of the animals and the environment. The national market created by Niman Ranch has been critical to sustaining many small producers, particularly small hog producers in Iowa.

Glynwood Harvest Connecting Communities, Farmers and Food Award:
New York City’s Just Foods, NYC
www.justfood.org

Rogowski Family Farm, NY
www.rogowskifarm.com

Just Food, a nonprofit organization, has played a leading role in encouraging the growth of CSAs in New York City. It matches groups and farmers based on specific needs. It also shows groups how to implement a range of payment options that encourage participation by low-income community members. Just Food assists new farmers through peer to peer mentoring and a Farmer Toolkit. The CSAs provide more than 80% of the income for some of the farmers and is critical to their ability to stay in business. Just Food’s work has also inspired soup kitchens and food pantries to explore how they can meet more of their needs through local farms. In 2003, the program will provide 300 tons of locally grown vegetables, through 2,100 shares to 6,300 CSA members, including 1,000 low-income members.

The growing number of consumers who want fresh, high quality food has provided new opportunities for farmers – and many are responding creatively. For example, the Rogowski Family Farm in Orange County, New York worked with Just Food to establish the first CSA in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, and have adapted quickly to their customer’s needs. After their Williamsburg customers introduced the Rogowskis to the special vegetables used in Hispanic cuisine, the Rogowskis began to grow them. When they realized that seniors weren’t participating in their local CSA because they didn’t need a full “share”, they created a “Senior Share of the Harvest” – a smaller share at a smaller price. Eventually they plan to create a CSA that includes prepared foods.