What led you to decide to become a farmer?

I was born and raised on the south side of Madison. My grandmother always had gardens, and I grew up spending time with my family planting, weeding, and harvesting produce. After I served in the Vietnam War, I developed food allergies. I only trusted myself to grow and prepare my food!

Describe Half the 40 Acres Farm.

In 1982, I decided to become an organic farmer. I leased 20 acres of land off of Fish Hatchery Road in order to be able to help provide healthy produce to people in low-income areas. I grow a variety of produce free from nonorganic pesticides, insecticides, and herbicides.

How did you become involved in farmer’s markets?

For the first ten years, our farm participated in the downtown farmer’s market. Then in 2002, I became a vendor at the South Madison Farmer’s Market and began managing it the next year. We now have five markets at four locations, including the Labor Temple, Villagers Mall, Rimrock Road, and Gilbert Road. I’m committed to serving diverse neighborhoods, which can often be food deserts. These people need to have access to safe, affordable food just like everyone else. Many of them grew up with their parents and grandparents having gardens, and they know the taste of real food.

Describe your partnership with Growing Power, founded by Will Allen in Milwaukee to promote urban agriculture.

We have the Market Basket Program, a CSA-style food distribution program that features a weekly delivery of ten to fifteen various vegetables from our Rainbow Farmer’s Cooperative. In cooperation with Growing Power and the Center for Resilient Cities, we’re trying to turn the former Badger School into a green charter school. Our vision includes having it run on solar and wind power, establishing green houses, focusing on agriculture, and even having an onsite Boys and Girls Club.

How else are you involved in the Madison community?

I’m really committed to community education. For instance, on July 2-3, 2010, I’ll be offering a workshop on aquaproducts and greenhouses. I also established the Program for Entrepreneurial Agricultural Training (PEAT) as a way to teach today’s youth how to grow and market healthy food. Not only does PEAT show kids the importance of eating fresh produce and whole foods, but it gives them a chance to run their own business and take pride in their work. Kathleen Falk has endorsed this program, too. It’s incredible to see their enthusiasm – these kids really blossom through PEAT.

How has Local Dirt helped you?

I want to support Local Dirt – it’s a great resource for farmers and customers. I hope to use it more for the farmer’s markets and to get word out about the Rainbow Cooperative and the workshops.

Full disclosure, I live in Wisconsin.  Look at photos of the recent blizzard in New York, drop the temperature about 20 degrees and you will get a feel for what it is like in Wisconsin right now.

Another fact, I’m a locavore. If you are wondering how these two facts could both possibly be true you aren’t alone. A recent NYT article (found in the business section, why?) claimed that it simply isn’t possible to eat local in the wintertime.  What?  Did he attend US history classes?

I would love to throw stones but, hey, I was in his shoes once myself.  It was three years ago when I decided to join the only 100 Mile Eat Local Challenge, which just happened to be going on in California during the first week of March.  Can you guess what is growing in Wisconsin during March?  My lawn.  And even that isn’t growing much.

That week taught some valuable lessons about how to eat local.  They were learned the hard way, through a lot of desperation and a little hunger. Hopefully the five tips below will help you avoid the same weight loss and caffeine withdrawal headaches.

Eating Local 101

1. When in Rome…

Find out what is local to your area. Look at state food & beverage reports, go to a farmers’ market, and look at cookbooks from 60+ years ago.

The NYT article pointed out that wine is a common break in philosophy for locavores, who will ship wine from overseas to eat with their local salad.  Through research I realized that 100 years ago every small town in Wisconsin had its own creamery (for cheese) and its own brewery.  Prohibition shut down all the breweries but the past 20 years have seen a comeback in microbrews.  Just like wine, there are so many varieties of beer it is hard not to find one that appeals.

2. See past the produce section

Go beyond fresh produce.  Beef, poultry, fish, dairy, eggs, wheat, beans, nuts, and many other items can be found year round.  That said, many farmers around here have storage facilities able to keep products such as potatoes and squash fresh all the way into February.

3. Preserve the summer

A hard lesson for myself and the first pioneers to learn was “think ahead”.  Freezing, canning, drying, and processing are all ways to preserve local food.  Some of these can be found at farmers’ markets and grocery stores.

Planning is a rule not just for the year but for the week.  If meals are planned and thawed, ready to cook, there is less temptation to order out or pop in a sodium-licious microwave meal.

4. It’s not all or nothing

Start small.  So, maybe your morning coffee isn’t local.  That doesn’t mean you can’t still have a big impact on the environment and local economy by substituting a few items in your meals, or asking your favorite restaurant to make a few changes.

Just being aware of where your food comes from is a big step in the right direction.  Someday all food will have to identify its farm of origin, eliminating dangerous national food recalls.  Ah, yes, there I go dreaming again…

5. Adjust expectations

Find recipes for the local foods you have instead of the other way around.

Recently we tried to source local food for a Wisconsin school cafeteria.  When asked for a short list of products to search for, the cook listed kiwi, oranges and bananas. No joke.

Why do we expect a variety of produce to be inexpensive and available year-round? Perhaps if the true cost of growing strawberries and tomatoes in the winter time and trucking them thousands of miles were reflected in the cost, people would adjust by eating locally.

By focusing on the span of the growing season and on local consumption, you can make sure that you’re eating smart and supporting your local farmer. Want to know what’s in season right now? That’s easy – just visit the homepage of the National Resources Defense Council. With a quick search, I found a long list of produce available now in Wisconsin or in bordering states including: beets, bunching greens, cabbage, carrots, garlic, horseradish, Jerusalem artichokes, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce mix, mushrooms, onions, parsnips, potatoes, rutabagas, shallots, spinach, sweet potatoes, turnips, and winter squash.

Sure, I can go to my nearby grocery store and purchase tomatoes for a reasonable price. But those tomatoes were likely shipped from across the country – shouldn’t those food miles be (perhaps substantially) reflected in the cost? And if they were, wouldn’t I be more inclined to make squash soup rather than bruschetta for tonight’s appetizer?

The NRDC notes that, “In the space of a generation, we’ve become accustomed to eating food that’s never grown roots in local soil. In fact, most produce grown in the United States travels an average of 1,500 miles before it gets sold.” Those food miles quickly add up, and they contribute to global warming and air pollution. But what if we noticed those food miles more readily, like in an increase in our grocery bill?

The issue of food prices also ties into an earlier blog post on California’s irrigation problems. If eating local depends on the sustainability of local farms, and if the sustainability of local farms depends on irrigation, perhaps we need to take a hard look at our priorities and our practices.

According to the World Water Forum, farming accounts for 70 percent of the world’s water consumption – and most of its wasteful use. By designing and implementing more efficient irrigation systems, we can address problems related to water shortages and we can continue to support local food consumption. Of course, new irrigation systems cost money. What if the government implemented a tax on non-local food? Such an idea has already been proposed for soda, which could result in hundreds of millions of increased state revenue. Would American taxpayers support it?

“They’re not violent, just desperate. They just want to eat,” Brazilian Army Colonel Fernando Soares said in a recent Reuters article. “The problem is, there is not enough food for everyone.”

Two weeks after a devastating earthquake, Haiti is once again facing a food crisis. During the 2008 hurricane season, 70 percent of the country’s agricultural land was flooded and most of its roads and bridges were destroyed. Not only did Haitians lose most of their corn, bean, and banana harvest, but the lack of infrastructure resulted in pockets of severe food shortages. Over 800 people were killed and 3.3 million needed emergency food support.

Before natural disaster struck the country again this month, Haiti’s food supply was already in a precarious state. The Food and Agriculture Organization had declared the country the most malnourished and poverty-stricken country in the western hemisphere. To complicate matters, Haiti relies heavily on imported food. According to the World Food Programme, 48 percent of national consumed food is imported, 47 percent is produced locally, and food assistance meets the remaining 5 percent of the country’s needs. The earthquake severely damaged ports, roads, and other infrastructure that are critical to distributing food throughout the island.

Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive notes three key problems with food distribution. First, the spontaneity of the aid resulted in cargo planes delivering content that needed to be identified and labeled. Next, officials struggled to unload and store aid. And finally, the shortages of available trucks and sufficient gasoline – coupled with damaged infrastructure – have further hampered distribution efforts.

If food cannot reach Port-au-Prince, will individuals then leave the city in a desperate attempt to survive? An article in Food Safety News warns, “More than one million Haitians may run away from the Port-au-Prince section for the countryside in search of food and clean water, which could further strain struggling farms.” But even in other areas of Haiti where earthquake damage was less severe, how can imported food reach inhabitants?

While these questions are asked in the aftermath of the earthquake, they allude to the fact that Haiti’s insufficient infrastructure and emphasis on imported food has left the country in a perpetually precarious state. To solve this, aid agencies and the government need to do more than repair roads or distribute seeds. They need to create a comprehensive system of drainage canals to prevent future flooding, double the allocated amount in the country’s budget for food production, and change the long-standing practice of exporting textiles in exchange for importing food.