North Country Local Food Initiative

Editor's Note: The North Country Local Food Initiative, and the North Country Farm Fresh Co-op which is a part of it, is supported by the North Country Resource Conservation & Development Council. 

From Your Commissioner…

By: Lorraine Merrill, Commissioner

Originally published in the Weekly Market Bulletin, Vol. 86, No. 51 - February 20, 2008

Since moving to Colebrook a year and a half ago, Julie Moran, a physical therapist by training, and her physician husband saw a need to promote the health of area residents by improving access to fresh, healthy, locally produced foods. Julie, who also has some marketing experience, says the pair of health professionals also saw a need to increase opportunities for new and established farmers in the area above the notches.

“We have all these farmers with all these goods, trying to find a market,” Moran says, “Instead of identifying and growing what the market demands.” In six months of grassroots research, she found eager markets for local produce, including the tourism sector. But growers lack the coordination and distribution capacity to fill the demand.

Personifying the new trend of consumer-driven and passionate local food organizers, Moran is working with a network of farmers and buyers to develop a growers’ cooperative to provide the coordination, marketing, and transportation needed to get local produce to people who want it. The Balsams Chef Steve Learned is a key supporter and advisor, and will be one of the first four buyers to be supplied by the North Country Farm Fresh Co-op this summer. Others include the Rainbow Grill in Pittsburg, Sutton Place in Colebrook, and employee food service at KHEOPS International in Colebrook.

Moran has developed a 176-mile pick-up and delivery route, encompassing the area from Jefferson to Pittsburg. Twelve farmers are committed to the effort, and Moran says many more are interested, including several teenagers. The cooperative has been holding a series of informational and organizational meetings, and welcomes full-time and “serious part-time” growers.

Moran has been doing her homework. She completed UNH Cooperative Extension’s Natural Resource Business Institute, and is working with the USDA North Country Resource Conservation & Development Council and the Cooperative Development Institute.

Moran and her cohorts have ambitious goals for reinvigorating North Country agriculture. She thinks the co-op could grow to 20-25 farms and create four to five new jobs. Her goals include reviving 15-20 farms, establishing an internship program to connect “wannabe farmers” with established farms, and strengthening agricultural youth programs through 4-H and FFA. While the strong restaurant and food service demand makes it the easiest place for the co-op to start, Moran says area farmers are most keen to provide food to local people.
 

From Your Commissioner…

By: Lorraine Merrill, Commissioner

Originally published in the Weekly Market Bulletin, Vol. 86, No. 51 - February 20, 2008

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