Ecotrust in the News

eCo Times
May 5, 2008
By Lizbeth M. Brown

Farm To School: Ecotrust Keeps It Local

The coastal Pacific Northwest is referred to as the Salmon Nation. As a self-proclaimed "Citizen Of Salmon Nation," Portland-based non-profit Ecotrust is committed to improving the economic, ecological, and social conditions of this region. They actively coordinate a number of extremely progressive initiatives, including their Food & Farms program.

Michelle Markesteyn, Ph.D. is a major force at Food & Farms, as the Farm To School and School Garden Program Coordinator. Farm To School programs enable schools to provide students with healthy, locally-sourced meals, incorporate nutrition-based curriculum, and provide experiential learning through farm visits, gardening, and recycling. eCo Times caught up with Michelle to get the inside scoop on her mission.

How would you describe the main impacts your organization is attempting to have on the world?
"I work in the Food & Farms Program within the larger organization Ecotrust. Within my program, we are working to make sustainable regional agriculture the norm rather than the exception. To do that we work through bottom up and top-down approaches — changing behaviors of individuals as well as the policies and the environmental and political contexts in which individuals live, work and play."

How far have you come along the path of success in your mission?
"Because there is a lot of momentum among educators, health advocates, agriculturalists and environmentalists for farm to school programs, we’ve been able to come a long way in a short amount of time. For example, in Oregon, in the last 14 months, we’ve gone from one school district with an integrative farm to school and garden program to 40 school districts that have at least shown serious interest in starting a program of their own. These 40 districts have listed themselves as potential purchasers in our regional Guide to Local Seasonal Products.

"Talk about changing social norms! Just this past February, the Oregon State Legislature signed into law the creation of a farm to school and school garden program within the Oregon Department of Education, the agency that oversees school food. In that moment, Oregon became the first state in the nation to create such a position, demonstrating our serious commitment to local agriculture and our awareness of its clear relationship to our children’s health."

What "hot" trends do you see in your field?
"Trends include a focus on the role of policy at the local, state and federal levels to make longer-lasting changes, which reflects our new insight within the farm-to-school field on how policy plays into guiding our behaviors as individuals and communities. The field is also professionalizing and increasingly rigorous research is being conducted."

Redefining philanthropy is one of the continuing themes of eCo Times. How would you define "Modern Philanthropy?"
"I’ve observed that funding for farm-to-school and school garden programs is largely coming from the public health community. I’d guess that it’s because people see the importance of these strategies in addressing the childhood obesity epidemic. Given the public health community’s attention to the role of policy in influencing our behaviors, there has been a lot of attention on policy development. It also seems like fewer people are funding on-the-ground work, perhaps because small-scale local programs are often hard to run and hard to sustain. I would encourage philanthropists to fund not only policy work, but also the implementation of school garden and farm-to-table programs. That way, as policies evolve towards institutionalizing these programs, we have experienced folks on the ground to implement them."

How did you get into this line of work?
"My parents divorced when I was 3 years old, and as I grew up the one lesson my mother consistently imparted was the need to ‘have a way to support myself and a family, because you never know what will happen in life.’ I took that literally and set out after high school to learn how to farm. Fast forward 15 years, and it turns out I found a passion, calling, and profession at the intersection of agriculture, food and the environment."

What is the most effective way for an individual to support your work?
"Ecotrust has been working in close partnership with Portland Public School Nutrition Services to integrate more locally grown and processed foods into school lunches. Although the school district has a very constrained, tight budget, with the support of community partners it is making significant changes, such as sourcing local, sustainable wheat for pizza dough and burger buns.

"In general, the best way for folks to support our work is to encourage, learn from, and work with those under fire rather than joining the firing squad. And the best way for parents to support our work is to send their kids with school lunch money — especially on days when lunches include local harvests."

What scares you most?
"Societal collapse. Our basic systems are stressed and with climate change they are only going to become more stressed. In our home orchard we had crop failure last year of apples, cherries and plums. It makes me think, what is food security in the face of climate change?"

What makes you the happiest?
"My son. My husband. Playing in the garden. Watering arugula for the 49th time that day."

Interested in supporting the local food movement?
* Encourage the schools in your area to go local with the National Farm to School Network
* To organize a "local food network," purchase the Ecotrust’s Building Local Food Networks: A Toolkit for Organizers
* If you are a farmer, rancher, or fishermen, buy the Guide to Local and Seasonal Products to find chefs, retailers, institutions, caterers, and other food buyers with an interest in purchasing local products
* In need of any clothing or housewares? Shop eConsciousMarket.com and donate 50% of the profits to Ecotrust
* Make a donation directly to Ecotrust
* Take the Eat Local Challenge

Ecotrust in the News

Farm To School: Ecotrust Keeps It Local

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