Valley residents seem to pride themselves on the success of the local food system and many even hope to expand the overall network of producers, processors, distributors, retailers and restaurants in this region.
The traditional way of thinking about such an expansion, this paper has observed over the past 10 months or so, is the idea that The Valley could create more food-related events and novel products – perhaps mainly of interest to tourists.
At a meeting for individuals tied to The Valley’s food system that took place several months ago, this comment put forth by American Flatbread owner George Schenk stuck out. He said, “It’s painful that we don’t produce as much food as we could,” and that the need to sustain and nourish ourselves is “transcendent of the economy.”
The relevance of Schenk’s comment re-emerged during an interview with Joe Bossen, owner of local company Vermont Bean Crafters, for this week’s issue.
Bossen said that growing beans, grains and nuts in Vermont – a region dominated by meat, dairy and maple industries – is a challenging project when it comes to earning profit. But he pointed out that food systems are about much more than costs: our bodies, our environments and even our psyches are affected by how such systems operate.
He pointed out that much of the crops produced all over the world are fed to animals that are raised for meat and dairy, a process that not only wastes energy locked up in those crops, but misuses land that that could yield far more plant-based foods.
And growing staple crops in The Valley would mean less reliance on national food conglomerates – especially with Bossen’s method of employing many farms to grow smaller lots of crops, thereby, reducing the consolidation of power for any one farm.
These ideas led me to wonder, how can we balance the desire for wealth or at least financial stability, with the impending need for healthier food systems? How can the land of this valley be used even more wisely to the benefit of those individuals who live within in? What will we prioritize when it comes to broadening our edible outputs?
--TLB
