Money Where His Mouth is in New York
APRIL 23, 2008 - Here’s a story about local food making inroads into politics…
I panicked when flood damage prevented nearly half the local farmers from planting in 2007. Sure, I didn’t consider myself a big proponent of local foods; I just like putting the best, freshest meals on the table for my wife and son. Still, I freaked, and scoured the web for lists of farmers’ markets, direct retailers and other places where I could get local food.
I made the mistake of doing this at work. My boss was, shall we say, very interested in how I spent my day. I showed him a host of places to get food that I never knew was available locally: meats, cheeses, butter—a lot more than corn on the cob and salad greens. Then I bet him I could do an entire meal using nothing but local foods. He took me up on it, and challenged me to do it for a year.
My boss is a politician: New York State Senator Tom Libous.
Food crops and meats are a $50-million industry in his district around Binghamton, NY. Our math showed that if we could get each of the 110,000 households he represents to have just one $15 all-local meal each week, we could add $86 million a year to the local economy.
Libous knows a good policy program when it’s fed to him and his 15 guests: steak and chicken, potato salad, cheese-stuffed tomatoes and a variety of desserts. The larger challenge was to keep it up for a year. And in some ways, it’s a bigger challenge than the 100-mile diet. Libous’ district is, maybe, 1,800 square miles. The 100-mile diet draws from an area more than 17 times larger – 31,400 square miles.
But I tried.
Immediately, I found I had to cheat. The floods of 2006 had closed down the only flour mill in our district, but there was one just a few miles outside the district. However, nobody nearby presses vegetable oil for human consumption. Try making a good stir-fry or salad dressing without it.
Those exceptions aside, I did pretty well. I joined a community-supported agriculture service for most of my produce, and supplemented it with beef, chicken, pork, eggs and dairy from other local providers. I stocked up on frozen tomatoes and pumpkins as well as good recipes for greens.
But I faced some big challenges:
- There’s no single place to buy local foods once the farmers’ markets close for the season. There’s no year-round farmers’ market in our district, and the closest one is 80 miles away, near Syracuse.
- There was no complete list of local food providers, and I spent weeks going through web sites, agricultural extension lists, phone books and weekly newspapers to compile one.
- There was no USDA-certified slaughter facility nearby. Few farmers were willing to ship meat 80 or 90 miles to have it cut for retail sale.
I persevered. For nine months, I averaged two all-local meals a week and typically spent $35 or $45 on local foods. My all-local Thanksgiving was the best turkey I ever had. The prime rib for Christmas and the ribs and cole slaw for Superbowl Sunday were great. But by the end of January, I ran out of vegetables, except frozen tomatoes.
I still spend $25 or $30 a week on meats, egg, cheese, honey and maple syrup, but one just can’t get fresh local produce in February in the northeast United States—except for some hydroponic lettuce greens I found nearby.
But the experiment, so far, was enough to convince Libous he could help. He secured a $100,000 grant to help local farmers advertise their products. We plan a mass-media campaign, with a number of promotional events; and he’s trying to persuade a local meat-cutter to pursue USDA certification. Every few weeks, he asks me to post an update on my progress on his website, www.tomlibous.com. We call it “Buy from the Backyard.” People can find out what’s available, what the challenges are and even my favorite recipes.
I’m not sure I’ll ever entirely adopt the 100-mile diet: I like my cinnamon and pepper and my three-year-old is fond of bananas. but the experiment has introduced me to a whole new world of food to have fun with. Next up: I’m going to try mutton.
—By Todd McAdam
