Newsletters: May - June 2007

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Board Report-Supporting Local Farmers

By Helen Hennessey

During our fall 2006 retreat, one of the issues NLM board owners tackled was how to best support local, organic, cooperative and fair labor suppliers. Our goal was to explore and learn about the issues these suppliers face so that we, as a board and as owners, could determine the impact on NLM and its policies. We had many questions such as what values should guide us in choosing locally-grown products over organically-grown products or vice versa. The following three speakers brought some interesting perspectives to our board meetings.

Herman Holley and Louise Divine of Turkey Hill Farm (click on turkeyhill@earthlink.net for farm report). On December 4, 2006, Herman and Louise launched NLM's first presentation of local growers/suppliers by sharing their lives as farmers and marketers of organic goods. It was clear that we have a community of growers in our region and that cooperation among farmers trumps competition. With them, we discussed ways NLM might better support suppliers such as Turkey Hill Farm.

Les Harrison, the extension agent for the Department of Agriculture (DOA) (harrisong@leoncountyfl.gov) and new to the job since August, gave a lively and informed discussion on January 8 of the region's strengths in agriculture and provided an analysis of the biggest issue-the need for communication between farmers and marketers like NLM. With better communication, crops that need to be grown can be identified and standards can be established. This discussion opened the channels of communication between the extension agency and NLM. Together, they are exploring the role NLM can play in helping local farmers.

Dr. Jennifer Taylor, director of the Small Farms Initiative at Florida A&M University (jennifer.taylor@famu.edu), is a one-woman supporter of all small regional farmers. She is working hard to establish and maintain markets in several parts of town. Jennifer presented to NLM on January 29.

We have tremendous resources, food and people in our region. As energy costs rise, local (and organic) farming and marketing is the future. New Leaf Market is committed to being a part of that future and ensuring that local and organic produce is readily available to our community.