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Clout Growing, Small-Scale Natural
Farmers are Being Courted by Big Food
Third annual National Workshop on
State and Local Food Policy:
Creating Opportunity Through
Joint Producer Initiatives
September 8-9, Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa
A farm-raised law school professor who grows organic vegetables that
he sells to local restaurants is hosting a national conference to help
small-scale farmers like himself work with each other to break into
a food system that is increasingly interested in healthy food products
that aren't produced by massive companies. "Many people attending
the conference have been involved in selling at farmers markets,"
says Neil Hamilton, who grew up on a 200-acre family farm in Adams County,
Iowa, where
his family has farmed since 1872. "This will give them access to
producers, distributors and capitalization. It's a significant step
for a producer looking for an opportunity to break into the food system."
Hamilton is on a mission to spread the notion of what he calls "Food
Democracy" - getting more information about food and agriculture
into the hands of consumers. He believes that "producer marketing
associations" are the next big thing in the Food Democracy movement,
because they allow groups of small farmers producing everything from
organic milk to free range pigs to join together to sell their products.
This year's conference, the third annual National Workshop on State
and Local Food Policy is titled "Creating Opportunity Through Joint
Producer Initiatives."
It is co-organized by center staff Christine Pardee, co-director of
the State and Local Food Policy Project, and Doug O'Brien, senior staff
attorney. The conference is supported with funding from the USDA Risk
Management Agency, Community Outreach & Assistance Partnership Program.
The conference, which will be held at Drake's Olmsted Center on Sept.
8 and 9, will convene a diverse group of farmers, agriculture leaders,
lenders and advisers involved with producer marketing initiatives. Topics
discussed will include financing, ownership and control, and risk management
techniques.
Workshop participants will come from about 20 states and two countries,
and include officials from Sysco, the world's largest institutional
food supplier. Craig Watson, vice president for quality assurance and
agricultural sustainability at Sysco Corp., will give a keynote address
at noon on Thursday, Sept. 8. "His presence is significant,"
Hamilton says, "because it shows Sysco's interest in acquiring
foods that have stories and are unique."
For more information about the conference, visit the Web site at
http://www.statefoodpolicy.org/natwkshp05prog.htm
or call (515) 271-4956.
Other presenters at the conference include Melissa Hughes, general
counsel for Cooperative Regions of Organic Producer Pools Inc. CROPP
is a national cooperative, with approximately 700 members, and its "Organic
Valley" brand is the nation's largest farmer-owned certified organic
brand. The cooperative produces an extensive line of refrigerated dairy
products, eggs, juices, produce and meat, all of which are certified
organic.
Paul Willis, manager of Niman Ranch Pork Company in Thornton, Iowa,
who also raises pigs at Willis Free Range Pig Farm near Thornton, will
be on hand to tell his story, which in a nutshell goes like this. Bill
Niman, owner of Niman Ranch, met Willis in 1994. He soon started buying
all the pork for his meat company from Willis. When demand grew and
Willis couldn't supply all the pigs himself, he got neighboring farmers
involved. Today Niman Ranch pork is raised by nearly 150 certified farm
families throughout the Midwest, and is featured on menus of upscale
restaurants throughout the Midwest and the East and West coasts. The
company also offers a line of processed products sold to several national
natural foods grocery chains.
A session called "Financing and Accessing Capital: Where groups
can get operating capital and what lenders look for," will feature
Jim Knuth, senior vice president of Farm Credit Services of America
and Paul McGarvey of Cybus Capital Markets LLC. Hamilton and other conference
organizers also are releasing a book at the conference.
Insight about real-world opportunities and challenges will be shared
by established, highly capitalized groups as well as some of the newest
informally networked cooperatives. Other highlights of the workshop
include reports from Food Policy Councils throughout the United States
and the premiere of the center's newest legal risk management book,
"The Farmer's Legal Guide to Producer Marketing Associations,"
co-authored by
Hamilton, O'Brien and Robert Luedeman. They developed this book specifically
for producers who are considering establishing a producer marketing
venture.
For more information about the conference, visit the Web site at
http://www.statefoodpolicy.org/natwkshp05prog.htm
or call (515) 271-4956.
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