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Glynwood Harvest Farmer
Award
The 1,200+
Family Farmers
Organic Valley Family of Farms
LaFarge, Wisconsin
Glynwood Harvest Good Neighbor Award
Grow Montana
Butte,
Montana
Glynwood Harvest Connecting Communities,
Farmers and Food Award
Community
Food Security Center
Tucson,
Arizona
Glynwood Harvest Award for The Wave of the Future
Added Value and Herban Solutions
Brooklyn,
New York
Glynwood Harvest Farmer Award
Awarded to a farmer who has developed a sustainable
farming operation and effective relationships within his or her home
community and other communities where the food is consumed.
The 1,200+
Family Farmers
Organic Valley Family of Farms
LaFarge, Wisconsin
click here
for photos
click here for award presentation audio
(5 mins)
http://www.organicvalley.coop
As a farmer-owned
and managed cooperative, Organic Valley Family of Farms has created
a critical model for how small and mid-sized farms can compete in a
marketplace where the costs of production often exceed standard
commodity prices. The success of Organic Valley can be attributed
to the original seven farmers that created the cooperative. Their
vision and courage to aggregate their product and develop a brand
that is recognizable in the marketplace has allowed hundreds of
farmers to stay on the land and earn a decent wage. In 2006, sales
of Organic Valley products reached $335 million—making it one of the
most successful organic marketing ventures in the U.S. today.
Organic Valley
Family of Farms has created an important and viable market for
mid-sized farmers in North America. The cooperative fills the
market gap between the commodity market and direct marketing
techniques. Over 80% of the farmland in the U.S.
is composed of mid-sized farms, yet
these are the farms that are most often struggling to survive,
being too large to direct-market
their products to consumers and too small
to complete in a global, consolidated market. As a result, mid-sized
farms are disappearing. For example, in Iowa, 18.5 percent of
mid-sized farms were lost from 1997
to 2002 alone.
At the same time, Organic Valley has created a viable
market for mid-sized farmers. In less than twenty years, Organic
Valley has grown from modest beginnings to having a national impact
on hundreds of farmers and millions of consumers. In 1988, seven
farmers in Wisconsin founded the Coulee Region Organic Produce Pool
(CROPP). CROPP has since grown into the largest farmer-owned
cooperative in North America (CROPP markets under the Organic Valley
brand). The cooperative now includes more than 1,200 farmers in 29
states and one Canadian province. The milk, beef, vegetables, and
other foods produced on these farms are all processed in-house to
create 130 organic products that are sold across the country.
The vision of the original CROPP farmers has been
institutionalized through Organic Valley’s commitment to
sustainability on multiple levels. This includes the economic
stability of the farmer, the environmental stability of farming
practices, and the social stability of rural communities. Organic
Valley is unusual, even among cooperatives, in that it pays stable
prices that are set by the farmers and are significantly higher than
commodity prices. While farmers across the country are aging and
young people are leaving the farm, the average age of Organic Valley
farmers is 43 and getting younger every
year.
Organic Valley
does not subscribe to a typical business model based on the bottom
line. For example, its Generation O Program works with youth to
encourage and support a new generation of organic farmers. The
program helps develop new young leaders within the cooperative,
supports mentoring programs, and provides educational opportunities
for youth and young farmers.
Overall, the 1,200+ farmers that comprise the Organic
Valley cooperative are ensuring that mid-sized farmers can continue
to grow wholesome food while supporting their families and the
environment by farming the land sustainably.
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Glynwood Harvest
Good Neighbor Award
Awarded to an individual or organization that has supported regional
agriculture in innovative ways, which might include but are not
limited to public education, new connections between farmers and
urban consumers, or developing financial techniques to support new
farmers or farmers who transition to new products.
Grow
Montana
Butte,
Montana
click here
for photos
click here for award presentation audio
(4 mins)
http://growmontana.ncat.org
Grow Montana, a project of the National Center for Appropriate Technology,
is making community-based food systems a
centerpiece of the State of Montana’s economic development policy.
In just over two years, this project has engaged a diverse set of
players in the food systems, including
state agencies, non-profit activists, agricultural organizations,
and anti-hunger advocates. The coalition has already helped pass
legislative changes to state procurement laws, initiated a new
college-based program to create model institutional buying programs,
and conducted innovative research to demonstrate the need for, and
importance of, a vibrant Montana food system.
Grow Montana’s central message is that supporting a
regional food system is an economic development strategy. Its
research has already compelled state decision makers to take action
to support Montana-grown food. Grow Montana’s approach and success
provide an effective model for policy-makers and food system
advocates across the nation.
Grow Montana has harnessed the collaborative energy of
nonprofit organizations, state agencies, and others previously
working on different parts of the food system. The coalition
has focused on promoting community economic development policies
that support sustainable Montana-owned food production, processing,
and distribution, and that improve citizens' access to Montana
foods.
They are accomplishing this through innovative partnerships,
research, education, and legislative initiatives.
In a short-time, Grow Montana has several impressive
accomplishments. In order to build the case for the importance of
the state’s food system, members conducted university-based research
and wrote a report titled, “Unlocking
the Food Buying Potential of Montana’s Public Institutions.”
They also conducted specific research on how many food miles - the
distance from farm to fork - a typical hamburger and fries meal
traveled to a university dining hall
versus a meal that was sourced with Montana ingredients. The
research has served as a fun learning tool, but also a reality check
that revealed the inefficiencies in the conventional food system and
the potential economic benefits of supporting Montana’s food system.
Grow Montana has also created a FoodCorps program,
mobilizing a whole team of AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers to work on local
food projects around the state. The program works at numerous
universities throughout the state,
including Salish Kootenai College, a tribal college on the Flathead
Reservation. The purpose of the program is to create model
institutional buying programs at state universities that can be
replicated at other institutions.
Lastly, Grow Montana has worked on building legislative
support for its ideas and initiatives. The coalition helped pass a
bill that amended the state procurement policy,
allowing state institutions to spend more on foods grown or
processed in Montana. This opened a $33 million dollar
potential market to local farmers and ranchers.
Although a young project, Grow Montana has accomplished a
tremendous amount through its joint efforts and tremendous drive.
The project demonstrates the potency of using economic development
as a cornerstone argument for building regional food systems. The
project also is a model for the importance and power of
collaboration.
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Glynwood Harvest Connecting
Communities, Farmers and Food Award
Granted to
recognize outstanding work that transcends these categories.
Community Food
Security Center
Tucson,
Arizona
click here for photos
click here for award presentation audio
(6 mins)
http://communityfoodbank.com/community-food-security-center
The Community
Food Security Center (CFSC) serves as a model for how combating
hunger and promoting local foods can be synergistic goals. By
encouraging home gardening and offering affordable,
regionally-grown, fresh fruits and vegetables for sale around the
county, CFSC is helping to combat hunger and poor nutrition while
promoting the regional food system. The Center believes that a
sustainable regional food system is possible when all community
members, regardless of income, are participants. Their mission is
backed up by an array of concrete programs and quantifiable results.
Community Food
Security Center (CFSC) is a project of Community Food Bank (CFB)
which serves Pima County, Arizona, an area the size of New England.
CFSC works with community partners to establish a local food
system in Pima County. The Center has numerous programs and
provides a variety of services and opportunities to address hunger
and improve access to regional, fresh, and sustainably raised foods
to people of all incomes and abilities.
CFSC grows chemical-free food in a demonstration garden and
nearby farm. In Tucson, outside its office, CFSC manages a 7,000
square foot garden with a greenhouse and chicken coop. They also
have a 10-acre farm on the outskirts of Tucson. The garden and farm
are used as training sites and sources of local, healthy foods for
low-income residents.
CFSC encourages home garden production by providing
education and training in sustainable gardening methods in both
English and Spanish. The Center teaches residents how to grow food
without chemicals in a desert environment, including techniques to
conserve water. The program purchases garden material in bulk and
sells it at cost to gardeners and offers free compost, starter
plants, and seeds. They also offer on-going technical support and
at-home assistance throughout the season. The Center believes that
home gardening is the healthy food “equalizer” for people with low
incomes, and that growing some of your own food is the first step to
participating in the local food system. In 2006, nearly 400
individuals and 34 institutions, such as churches, used the garden
trainings and home-gardening resources.
In addition to helping people learn how to grow their own
food, CFSC helps residents access regional, naturally raised foods.
The Center manages two farmers’ markets in neighborhoods where
access to fresh fruits and vegetables is very limited. Both markets
sell only regionally grown, chemical-free foods and accept Food
Stamps and WIC vouchers, allowing more residents to access fresher
food. CFSC also created a Community Foods Consignment project
through which home gardeners and small scale growers can sell extra
produce at farmers' markets without having to manage their own
stands. This allows them to generate income, share the bounty with
other community members, and take a first step into active
participation in the production of food for sale. The Center also
manages a Good Groceries Mobil Market that provides low cost, high
quality products to rural communities with limited access to healthy
foods.
Finally, CFSC also works on education and advocacy
projects, including working with Southern Arizona Legal Aid Benefits
Clinic and with faith communities around issues of food security and
economic and food justice.
CFSC manages a diversity of creative projects to address
food access from numerous perspectives, including affordability,
self-sufficiency, and transportation barriers. This highly
integrated and pragmatic program is a leader in linking anti-hunger
efforts with promoting a sustainable regional food system, all in a
challenging desert environment.
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Glynwood Harvest Award for The Wave of the
Future
Awarded to a young person, or organization involving
young people, helping to create the next generation of consumers who
will understand the importance of nutritious food and will help
forge stronger connections between city consumers and rural farmers.
Added Value
and Herban Solutions
Brooklyn,
New York
click here
for photos
click here for award presentation audio
(12 mins)
http://added-value.org
In the middle of
Red Hook, Brooklyn, there is a 2.75 acre farm overflowing with
vegetables and fruits during the growing season. If that’s not
surprising enough, the farm is managed by Added Value and Herban
Solutions, a non-profit organization that depends on young people
from nearby Brooklyn neighborhoods to grow, market, and share the
bounty with the neighborhood. But the project is more than just
about growing food: along with the concrete skills learned on the
farm, Added Value offers opportunities for teens to gain leadership
abilities and knowledge about food justice, obesity, and other
social issues faced by their neighborhood. The farm also brings the
community together through its farmers’ markets, school tours, and
volunteer program that attracts people of all ages.
Added Value is a non-profit organization that uses urban
agriculture to promote the sustainable development of Red Hook,
Brooklyn. On a 2.75 acre farm, Added Value combines the best of
after school programs, summer school, job training, nutritional
classes, and food security efforts. The farm is located on a
previously dilapidated asphalt playground, and provides the
centerpiece of Value Added programs. NAdded Value is creating not
only a new generation of informed consumers, but a generation that
is ready to confront and change the way we eat and improve our
communities on multiple levels.
The farm is operated by staff, students, interns, and
volunteers, and creates an intergenerational space and experiential
educational environment that provides meaningful work for
neighborhood teens, generates economic activity, and improves the
health and well-being of the community. Fruits and vegetables from
the farm are sold through Added Value’s farmers’ market and
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program and to neighborhood
restaurants. Farm produce is also donated to those in need.
Added Value effectively harnesses the power of food to
improve neighborhoods and empower teens to make positive changes in
their lives and community. Value Added has several youth programs
to help realize the broader goal of sustainable, community
development. During an intensive 8-week training program, young
people learn the skills necessary to grow food from seed to sale
while developing a strong sense of self and community. During the
school year, Value Added runs a program that allows teens to take
over the operation of the farmers’ market and build a strong
foundation of knowledge about pressing issues affecting their
community such as obesity, under employment, and food security.
Value Added also runs a leadership program that provides training
related to media literacy and creation, sustainable business
development, and community education and organizing.
Added Value’s work focuses on one neighborhood, but its
success and focus demonstrate the potential of urban agriculture to
teach skills, develop leaders, and transform a neighborhood.
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