The Emporia Gazette

July 29, 2010

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Consumers may not meet the hen that produced the egg, but they may know the farmer who sold it, if a group of producers and consumers is successful in bringing more locally grown foods to Emporia and the surrounding counties.

The local group will have its fourth meeting at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 14 at the Flint Hills Technical College conference room. The culinary arts program at the college will prepare a light meal made with ingredients or products from this area to serve to those who attend.

Reservations are needed, because of the meal, and can be made by calling organizer Bill Hanlon at his office at the technical college, 341-1335.

“The hope is that we start producing more food locally because there’s a lot of plusses to that,” Hanlon said.

Food that is grown or made in the area offers an assortment of benefits, he said:

• A stronger local economy.

• Higher-quality and fresher food.

• More income for local individuals.

• Diversity of products.

• Saving of genetic strains.

• Strengthening of existing markets, such as the Emporia Farmers’ Market.

“Those will all come out,” Hanlon said.

The group in this area is working with grocers, restaurants, meat lockers, and health-department officials, as well as producers and consumers to learn about the markets available and the legalities of producing food to sell to consumers.

In this area, he said, there already are operations that sell grass-fed beef, poultry, eggs, fruits, vegetables, baked goods, turkeys, and other food products, primarily on a small scale. The key will be in adding other producers and helping existing producers to expand, too.

“There’s a real big interest of people, not only to be consumers, but to be suppliers,” Hanlon said. “We just need a way to help each one of them get what they need, and we can get the ball rolling.”

Hanlon said the group is working with the Kansas Rural Center and the Sustainable Living Network in Lawrence, which has a high demand for locally grown food and is willing to help the local organization get started.

“They’ve just jumped right in and said, ‘You bet, we’ll help you,’” Hanlon said. “Because they can get rid of everything they produce up there. They could have 400 percent increase in growers and still not meet the demand of Kansas City, Lawrence ...

“There’s a big movement in Lawrence to buy local in restaurants. Free State Brewery pushes local. ... I keep going back to Lawrence because it’s just kind of the hub of this whole thing happening.”

There had been a time in Kansas, early in the 20th Century, when Kansas grew enough vegetables to feed everyone in the state, at the state’s current rate of consumption, he said.

“And today, we produce six percent of the vegetables that we need to feed everybody,” Hanlon said. “... What we’ve done is we’ve taken food production out for corn and soybeans, which is high-fructose sweeteners” for convenience foods.

Coupled with the plunge in local production were laws that restricted sales options for producers. Those laws are among the possible obstacles that may need to be overcome, if locally produced foods are to reach grocery shelves and restaurant tables. And Hanlon believes that the laws may not be as restrictive as word-of-mouth may have made them.

“I think there’s both some legalities and some perceived problems that may not really be there,” he said. “Again, that’s kind of part of what we’re trying to come up with.”

He and others in the group do not understand why, for example, U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors approve operations at meat lockers, but the lockers cannot offer retail sales like a butcher shop.

Hanlon suggests that perhaps inspectors can expand their existing routine calls to include other producers, in an effort to make locally grown foods more available at the retail-stores level.

Some producers, however, will continue to be able to sell their products at farmers’ markets or at on-site stands and stores.

Other farmers and ranchers have organized another option for providing locally grown foods — Community Support Agriculture, an operation that John Crisp already runs in north Lyon County, Hanlon said.

Some members of the group also are considering installing “high tunnels,” which already are popular in Europe and among the Amish people in Pennsylvania, he said.

High tunnels, unlike greenhouses, do not require expensive heating mechanisms.

“They don’t take any heat, so you just use the sun to heat ’em,” he said. “But people are able to grow in our area year-round now by learning how to do these things. It’s probably one of the futures of agriculture as we move back to more local-market agriculture.”

A high tunnel can double crop size by extending the growing season, and still will result in higher-quality, fresher food.

“We’re going to try to get a high tunnel put together out here (at the technical college) so the culinary arts students can kind of see what food we can grow for the program,” Hanlon said.

He also hopes to promote their use in vocational agriculture programs and individual workshops, as money for the tunnels becomes available.

If all of the options, or only some of them, come together, the result could be healthier eating for area consumers, a healthier overall economy because more food dollars would stay in this area, and a healthier income for producers.

“I don’t have any expectations other than let’s see if we can do it, and I’m pleased with the amount of people that are also wanting to see if we can do it,” Hanlon said. “That’s what’s going to make it worthwhile.”

Hanlon and several others plan to attend the Great Plains Vegetable Growers Conference on Jan. 8, 9, and 10 in St. Joseph, to get more ideas and information about operating a successful grassroots food system.

The technical college also is planning several classes this spring for people who are interested in organic gardening, designing a garden, and growing a Victory Garden as was done in the past.

Information about the classes may be had by calling the college, 343-4600.

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