Multiplying the connections
The annual Farmer-Chef Connection expands its reach
In an increasingly globalized food economy, local efforts to restore the vital connection between those who grow our food and those who prepare or present it continue to gain steam.
Nowhere is the trend more evident in the Northwest than at the Farmer-Chef Connection conference, where Portland-area growers, retailers and chefs converge each year to form relationships that support a thriving local, seasonal and sustainable food economy.
Attendance at the March 14 gathering, hosted by the Portland Chapter of the Chefs Collaborative and Ecotrust at the Clackamas County Fairgrounds, swelled to 225 people, up 15 percent over last year. An ebullient optimism pervaded the standing-room-only crowd, which included influential institutional purchasers and indications of the attention Portland's maturing efforts are drawing from other parts of the country.
Restaurant owner Greg Higgins kicked off the daylong event by noting the growth of farmers markets and community-supported agriculture (CSAs), and the increase in diners inquiring about the source of their food. To him, these trends point to a renaissance of "real food," food whose origins the consumer knows and trusts.
The real challenge, he said, is to broaden the customer base for "real food" to institutional buyers.
In Portland, several companies are already answering the call. Regional fast-food chain Burgerville sponsored this year's conference, and local natural-foods grocer New Seasons Market and food-service managers Bon Appetit and Aramark attended the event.
Institutional buying power
Bon Appetit, whose Food to Fork program encourages chefs to purchase seasonal produce from farms within a 150-mile radius, recently made life easier for local farmers. The company, which operates dining services at 15 Oregon colleges and corporations, centralized purchasing at five Intel campuses that serve 7,000 people each weekday. Executive Chef Joseph McGarry expects to stock those kitchens with the help of 20 to 25 area farmers.
Kay Weckerling, owner of Lilly's Blooming Acres of Forest Grove, is one of them. Last July, she found McGarry's name in the Guide to Local & Seasonal Products, a directory of farmers and chefs published by Ecotrust and the Portland Chapter of the Chefs Collaborative. She followed up with a phone call that resulted in $1,000 in sales of romaine lettuce, summer squash and other vegetables.
New Seasons Market also aided Weckerling after heavy August rains caused splits in many of her heirloom tomatoes. After disappointing sales at one Orenco Station farmers market, New Seasons' Orenco Station store chef, Renaud Desland, bought $2,200 worth of her tomatoes and other vegetables the rest of the summer.
This year, Weckerling is tripling the size of her crop fields, to six acres, and planting celery and baby spinach at Bon Appetit's request. "I think we'll do at least 50 percent of our business with Bon Appetit and New Seasons," she said.
Last year Aramark, too, stepped up its buy-local commitment, purchasing $370,000 worth of produce from 16 local farms for the 20,000 daily meals it provides to Oregon correctional-facility inmates. Aramark's Larry Sterba says the company may soon negotiate directly with farmers -- it currently shops through a Portland-based distributor, Rinella Produce -- and requisition specific crops.
A replicable model
Portland's success at bringing together environmentally conscious growers and food buyers is spawning similar efforts both far and near.
One is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where organizer Jack Kaestner said the 100 farmers and chefs who attended a March 1 networking event was double last year's turnout. That inaugural get-together resulted in local growers selling an extra $30,000 worth of meats and produce to Milwaukee-area restaurants.
"The interest is there," says Kaestner, executive chef at Milwaukee's Oconomowoc Lake Club. "We're trying to keep up the enthusiasm and make it part of people's everyday business practice."
The Rogue Initiative for a Vital Economy, or THRIVE, a nonprofit promoting sustainable economic development in Southern Oregon, also hosted its second "Food Connection" conference this winter. THRIVE plans to publish a second, larger edition of its farmer-chef directory and a first-ever consumer's guide to local food featuring everything from U-pick farms to restaurants that use homegrown ingredients, says THRIVE's Wendy Siporen.
Both groups sought advice from Ecotrust and modeled their programs on the Farmer-Chef Connection.
Culling ideas at Monday's conference in Clackamas were two employees of Washington State's Small Farm and Direct Marking Program, Leslie Zenz and Kelli Sanger. They plan to hold at least one famer-chef networking event this fall, probably in the Seattle area. In Washington State, Zenz said, "There are a lot of farmers producing for conventional markets who are looking for alternatives."
Promoting mutual benefits
Collaboration was the conference's main thrust. Workshops on growing and cooking winter crops and marketing local foods drew rapt audiences. Keynoters Michael Ableman, founder of the Center for Urban Agriculture at Fairview Gardens, a 12-acre organic farming oasis amidst Southern California sprawl, and Michael Dimock, chairman of Slow Foods USA, lauded the group for its commitment to ecologically sound food production.
Lunch demonstrated just how delicious these partnerships can be, as local chefs turned just-picked provisions donated by growers into a mouth-watering buffet of Oregon flavors. During the meal, informal conversations at long, communal tables illustrated what David Yudkin, owner of Hot Lips Pizza, aptly described as "the opportunity to make serendiptious contacts."
As the conference wound down, Higgins felt that his optimistic opening remarks were confirmed by his observations throughout the day: local growers seemed less worried about surviving and more interested in improving farm-direct sales.
"The progress may be incremental," he said, but the increments are starting to add up. Five years ago, the inaugural event consisted of a few dozen farmers and chefs mingling at a local winery. Today it's not difficult to envision the Farmer-Chef Connection sparking a thriving regional food economy. Stay tuned.