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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