Farmer's Corner

Welcome!

This week's topic of conversation, what exactly does local mean? While there are many legal stipulations to being a local organic farm, the term "local" is not clearly defined. So many factors come in to play when considering local agriculture. It is not solely a geographical concept. A United States Department of Agriculture publication explains local food as "related to the distance between food producers and consumers," as well as "defined in terms of social and supply chain characteristics."

According to Wikipedia there are "a number of different definitions for local. In 2008 Congress passed H.R.2419 amendment. In the amendment "locally" and "regionally" are grouped together and are defined as ''(I) the locality or region in which the final product is marketed, so that the total distance that the product is transported is less than 400 miles from the origin of the product; or ''(II) the State in which the product is produced. —Bill Text - 110th Congress (2007-2008) - THOMAS (Library of Congress). They (Wikipedia) also stated that in May 2010 the USDA acknowledged this definition in an informational leaflet.[7]

The Nutrition Digest Vol.36 No.2 states that Safeways defination of local is anywhere within a 8 hr truck ride. Wal Mart's local defination is anywhere in the same state, and Whole Foods local defination is anywhere within a 7 hr truck ride. That would mean when you go shopping at Whole Foods or Safeway and you see a sign that says local it could be from Nevada or even Arizona. With that said, it's no wonder why the term "local" has been the topic of debate and controversy for quite some time.

 What's our stance on local? Our first priority is to provide directly from our farm. It doesn't get more local than that. However when our CSA members make requests which cannot be grown here for various reasons and to give more weekly variety, (e.g. weather, frost, variety, etc.) we do try to accommodate our valued CSA members when possible which means it might not always be local to Sonoma County. An example of this would be summer stone fruit. Everyone wants peaches and apricots which likes hotter weather than we typically get, so we get those from outside of Sonoma County while trying to stay as close as possible to our area. For those we might go to the Woodland area which is about 1 and 1/2 hrs. away. 

I hope you have found this week's Farmer's Corner informative as well as helpful in understanding where your CSA produce comes from.

I look forward to seeing you all this week when picking up your CSA boxes. Don't forget to try one of our many selections of CSA add-ons. This week we will be promoting Clover Organic Low Fat Cottage Cheese. Stop by for a tasting when you're picking up your CSA box.

Your local farmer,

Sharon Grossi
Valley End Farm