Most farmers who work farmer’s markets and farms stands are proud of what they produce. And many want to tell just how they do it.

There’s the grass-fed beef farmer who firmly believes you don’t need to use grain to finish beef cattle. Or another farmer who collects stinging nettles with gloves to provide greens early in the season.

Then again I never returned to the farm stand where the farmer talked glowingly about the power of Roundup, a herbicide that’s toxic to wildlife. I understand that it makes his job easier, but today there are a multitude of great alternatives.

Be Curious and Polite

Best not to turn the questions for farmers into an interrogation. Show your curiosity. Slow down. Listen and learn. Chat as you shop. Other shoppers nearby might pick up a thing or two. If the market isn’t too crowded, start slowly.

1. “Beautiful day. So how’s the season been going for you this year?” Sometimes better to start with “is there anything here you’re particularly proud of? Anything unusual?”
2. “When did you pick this fruit or vegetable? Is it ready to eat today? How do I store it?” Chefs will tell you that berries picked after a heavy rain are worthless. This year’s peaches were particularly insipid for the same reason. Some items like winter squash can last for months if stored correctly.
3. “Are you able to use organic or sustainable principles on the farm?” It’s so easy to ask “is this organic” but the fact is many farmers do not have the time and in some cases the money for organic certification. That doesn’t mean they don’t follow those very same principles on the farm.
4. “Does this produce come from your farm?” Small farms can grow an amazing amount of food but it is unlikely that they will have fruit trees and kale growing on the same patch. But that’s okay if your farmer gets produce from growers they know. It’s very likely they can talk about their neighbors’ practices.
   
5. “Do you use any synthetic products like pesticides or fungicides?” The correct answer for organic is no not ever. Dan Tawczynski of Taft Farms north of Great Barrington, Massachussets never sprays, but he still reserves the right to if his crop is in danger. Dan is as leery of chemicals as you would be. Well, actually, more so: He lives on his farm. Instead Dan employs “Integrated Pest Management (I.P.M.) where a farmer uses all of the means at his disposal in order to control a particular pest. IPM includes the extensive use of natural predators coupled with constant field scouting along with crop rotation and biological pest controls. Sprays can remain a part of an IPM program, but they are a last resort rather than the first line of defense”
6. What was the animal fed? Was the animal raised outside or indoors? Was there supplemental food? If so, when was it provided? Was the grain GMO (genetically modified)? You may have a great chicken, heritage breed, raised outdoors—but then the farmer uses GMO feed.
7. At what point do you give your animals antibiotics? Organic means never. In fact once an organically raised animal is given an antibiotic it is often sold to a non-organic farmer. But for many farmers the answer will be only when absolutely necessary to protect the animal. Lynn Mordas at Dashing Star Farm has greatly reduced deworming of her sheep through genetic selection, pasture rotation and by looking into her sheeps’ eyes. Basically, Lynn will not let her sheep graze to where the grass is less than 2” high to minimize their contact with parasites. And the eyes? Well parasites create anemia, which leads to mucous around the eyes.

Knowing how your food is produced tends to become a topic of conversation with friends and family. Learn to appreciate the richer taste of farm-fresh eggs. You’ll try new vegetables, like that delicata squash that you thought was for the mantle but really works better on the plate. By asking questions you learn something new, show respect for the farmer and make an invaluable connection to your food and local community.

Resources:

Fruits and vegetables with high levels of pesticides where organic or sustainable is a must-buy.

Friend of the Farmer

The Toronto Star sent Margaret Webb to find farms that produce the raw materials for junk food. The result of her search is a compelling and unsettling piece about the journey of food from field to factory to snack.

Ultimately, however, Webb articulates what many of us already know and are working toward in the way we eat, produce and distribute food:

Food is powerful. Change is possible with every purchase we make, in every link we forge between good food and good farming, and in every bite we take.

From Where they grow our junk food:

Follow the flow of food. That’s what any farmer will tell you. Because apples don’t grow in supermarkets.…to get to the root of the exploding obesity epidemic, I went in search of a junk food farm.

Such farms are not so easy to spot. No fields of Dorito bags waving in the breeze, no orchards blooming with soda pop, no soil bursting with 99-cent burgers.

What you do see are vast operations growing the raw materials for junk food: soybeans and corn.  The two crops go into the production of many things: pharmaceuticals, industrial products, animal feed – and inexpensive calories.

It has provided an abundance of cheap calories for a food system that operates by Doritos economics. A bushel of corn produces some 440 two-ounce bags of 99-cent chips. Farmer grosses $3.70 for the bushel of corn, Doritos more than $440.

Dave Ferguson grows ingredients for junk food on his 364-hectare farm about an hour west of London, Ont. With no market for local food in his area, he has few other options than to grow soybeans and corn, along with wheat and a little alfalfa.

….Ferguson, a fit 50-year-old, says the demand for cheap food, combined with competition from ever cheaper global imports, has placed relentless pressure on farmers not only to grow these crops, but to expand…He says the demand for cheap food also puts pressure on farmers “to work every corner, every square inch” – eliminating woodlots, wetlands and buffer strips near vulnerable waterways. He knows that current farming techniques – growing too few crops in limited rotation, with chemical fertilizer, and returning too little organic matter to the soil – is mining his land of fertility, and that the current methods will not feed increasing populations.

…Walk upstream of the Sydenham, or any waterway in Ontario’s agricultural belt, and you can find a junk food farm. Turns out environmental degradation and junk food farming go together like fries and a Coke. Or a Coke and insulin.

In the 1950s, before farming started to industrialize in Ontario, we spent about 20 per cent of our income on food. Most of us spend less than half that now, less than any other nation in the world.

But we’re paying in other ways – environmental degradation, health-care costs and transportation.

“We’re paying too little for our food. We’re losing farmers like soil erosion. They’re being lost to factory farms. What we’re doing is screwing the land and screwing the farmers. It’s almost a crime. We’ve got cheaper food and we’ve become fatter. We’ve got pollution closing beaches. We have built ourselves a mini hell and food is part of that problem.”

read the full article

via @farmon

What’s On My Food is searchable database that uses research from the USDA’s Pesticide Data Program to rank the toxicity of fruits and veggies (fresh, canned and frozen), meats, grains, dairy products and water. (via Bitten)

I’d love it if someone could turn this into a mobile tool for people faced with the choice of $8.99/lb for organic, local garlic vs. $2.99/lb for conventional, domestic garlic, as I was yesterday.  I chose the cheaper garlic because my budget is limited.  And while there’s no specific data on garlic in the database, I learned that onions, a similar crop, have extremely low amounts of pesticide residue, which made that choice a little easier.

Peaches and apples, on the other hand, are a different story.  Armed with data on the residues found in these fruits, it was an easy choice to buy the more expensive local, pesticide-free options.

As I’ve noted before, when we get cheap food, we aren’t necessarily paying for its true cost.  There are hidden costs to the environment, to individual health, and to local economies.  With an unlimited budget, I’d always choose the local, pesticide-free option.  Most of our food budgets, however, are limited.  Easy to use, data-driven tools can make it a little easier to spend wisely and eat well.

Post script on the price of garlic…

Farmers should get a fair price for their products and, more often than not, they are paid far too little.  However, $8.99 a pound for garlic is a little extreme.  This was garlic that a talented local farmer sold direct to a wonderful local retailer.  It’s good garlic.  But I needed a lot of garlic to cook with the 2 bushels of tomatoes I’m turning into sauce for the winter.

As of October 2nd, Rodale’s Price Report lists the highest price for bulk organic garlic at $99.75 for 30 pounds in Seattle, and the lowest at $79.50 in Los Angeles.  Which means the wholesale price range is $2.65 – $3.33 per pound.  And certainly, it costs more for a small scale farm to produce garlic locally than a big-ag organic farm.  But what’s reasonable?  What’s possible? And how do we make this accessible?  Any thoughts on this?

via Fayster on flickr

The best way to know your food you is to purchase it directly from the people who produce it.  The farmer who grew your salad or raised the chicken you’re roasting for dinner.  The artisan who made the cheese that’s going into the omelette you’re making with the eggs that came from the farmer who also grew the potatoes you’re going to eat on the side.

That’s why we created Local Orbit and our sellers are committed to our core standards.

However, we can’t always get to a farmers market (and Local Orbit isn’t widely available – yet!),  and there are plenty of foods you can’t buy locally.  The trick is figuring out, in the words of Good Guide’s Transparency Manifesto, three simple things everyone should know about their food but don’t: Where did it come from? How was it made? What’s in it?

As Collin Dunn writes in Treehugger, Labels on food items are as numerous as the aisles they’re sold in, and many proclaim that they’re helping you be healthy, helping the planet, or both. The truth is that there are myriad labels out there that aren’t worth the shiny sticker they’re printed on; certifications that promise to be “all-something” or “whatever-free” that aren’t under any government or third-party oversight, free to be molded and marketed by anyone who puts a product on a shelf.

You don’t have to put up with that, though. Here are seven certifications that’ll help guide you to green food enlightenment.

From Pringles to starfruit, you can learn about specific products on the Good Guide site – and you can use their mobile applications to help you at the grocery store.

For fish and seafood, the Environmental Defense Fund’s mobile seafood selector is really useful.  For fruits and veggies, check out the Environmental Working Group’s shoppers guide to pesticides.

The simplest guide to avoiding confusion: if you don’t know where it comes from, choose something else.

According to Drug Safety Hub, “The Food and Drug Administration reported that more than 100 patients have died while taking the blood thinner heparin since early 2007. Nearly 800 severe allergic reactions associated with heparin have also been reported.”

Mack writes:

What does contaminated heparin in our drug supply chain have in common with Memorial Day BBQ? [or Labor Day]

Scientific Protein Laboratories, the company that brought us contaminated, deadly heparin made from pig intestines was founded by Oscar Mayer, the company that likely will be providing the hot dogs you grill on the barbee this holiday weekend…Mr. Mayer was “apparently interested in profiting from the whole pig, and he started [Scientific Protein Laboratories] to make use of the animal byproducts of his food empire,” says Jacob Goldstein over at the WSJ Health Blog.

There are other ways to minimize waste, maximize profit and reduce the chance that you’ll even need prescription drugs.  How about eating the whole pig, locally sourced and unprocessed?

Might it be tastier and more nutritious than high fat, high sodium Oscar Meyer Weiners?

Here’s all the info you could ask for – and more – if you care to find out. (disclosure: I’ve never done this myself – but one day…)

How to Roast a Pig: Hot dogs are for weenies—for a real summer feast, go whole hog.

Going the Whole Hog

By buying direct from the farmer…you halve your costs and double his profits.

The prospect of buying a whole hog, nose to tail, with every bristle in between, is an alien concept in the modern world. Where once it was a necessity – a pig would provide both fresh and preserved sustenance for a family for months – it now seems merely excessive.

Carnal Knowledge

I wanted a proper pig, a big one. Could Paul get me a big pig? Well, yes, he probably could. His neighbor had sows, and if I ordered one before it was slaughtered it wouldn’t have to be inspected by the Department of Agriculture. This, Paul said, was a good thing. In effect, he explained, I’d be buying a living animal—“Think of it as a pet”—rather than a dead one cut up by a butcher.

The Long Awaited Pig Roast (warning – not for the squeamish)

I went to pick up my pig on a Friday, in the pickup truck, assuming it would be in box of some sort with ice. But, no! Mr. Pig, as he came to be known, was in a heavy duty clear plastic bag and nothing else. He obviously could not go into the truck bed like that…there was a moment of sheer panic and then the obvious solution popped into my head. He’d go up front with me, safely belted in like the important passenger he was.

The Whole Pig Roast

For those brave enough to tackle cooking a whole pig, this becomes an amazing summer celebration event which you will remember for years. Your friends will be impressed and, even more importantly, your taste buds will be impressed! The sight of a whole pig roasting over a fire pit is unforgettable and creates an air of celebration and good times. The glazed, golden skin is beautiful and delicious. This is truly a feast for all your senses!

Whole Pig Butchering Class (warning – really not for the squeamish)

The Whole Hog: Exploring the Extraordinary Potential of Pigs