Envisioning a Local Food Economy in the Kansas River Valley (Lawrence, KS)

Envisioning a Local Food Economyin The Kansas River ValleyLawrence, Kansas2009Saturday, December 12, 2009What’s so special about food?Saturday, December 12, 2009“I begin with the proposition that eating is an agricultural act.”Wendell BerryWhatever else you do, if you eat, you are involved in agriculture.Saturday, December 12, 2009“The pleasure of good eating is not about fast, convenient, and cheap, but about memory, romance, and trust. To be successful in today’s food market requires offering products so good that customers will say ‘Wow, where did that come from? I want that again’ (memory). We also need to provide customers with a genuine food story so they can feel good about eating that good-tasting product. Increasingly, customers want to know who produced the food; what kind of environmental stewardship was practiced in growing, processing, and transporting it; how the animals were treated; and so on (romance). And customers want to be active participants in the food chain - to be able to access information and to have a relationship that reaches all the way back to the farmer (trust).”Rick Schnieders, president & CEO of SYSCO - one of the country’s largest food distributorsSaturday, December 12, 2009Converging reasons for increased demand for fresh, local, sustainably-produced food• Profitability & quality• Saving smal family farms & rural economic development• Health & nutrition• Food safety and accountability• Oil depletion & increasing fuel costs• Urban land use concerns• Cuisine & taste• Environmental stewardship• Cultural diversitySaturday, December 12, 20092009 Restaurant & Industry Forecast(survey of chefs and restaurants)Top 20 Food Trends1. Local y grown produce11. Nutrition/health2. Bite-size/mini desserts12. Gluten-free/food-al ergy 3. Organic produceconscious4. Nutritional y balanced 13. Non-traditional fishchildren’s dishes14. Artisanal cheeses5. New/fabricated cuts of meat15. Exotic fruit6. Fruit/vegetable children’s side 16. Custom culinary cocktailsitems17. Micro-vegetable/micro-greens7. Superfruits18. Organic wine8. Smal plates/tapas/mezze/dim 19. Dessert flight/combos/sumplatters9. Micro-distil ed/artisanal liquor20. Free-range poultry/pork10. Sustainable seafoodSaturday, December 12, 2009Can local food make money?Saturday, December 12, 2009 Wal-Mart thinks so.Wal-Mart spent more that $400 mil ion on local y grown food in 2008.• Reducing food waste• Cutting transportation costs• Customer demandThey intend to increase that amount aggressively year-over-year, starting with produce (fruit & vegetables) but including meats and dairy products as soon as possible.Saturday, December 12, 2009Idaho's Director of the Department of Agriculture Celia Gould says one farmer in that state saw a doubling of his asparagus sales and a 30 percent increase in organic grape sales over the past two years due to Wal Mart contracts. Gould says the revitalization in farming is great for the region's economy. "We haven't had that kind of demand until recently," she says. U.S. News and World Report - July 24th, 2008Saturday, December 12, 2009According to a study by Capgemini, a New York business consultancy, only 9 percent of shoppers buying perishable foods are satisfied with the stores at which they bought them. U.S. News and World Report - July 24th, 2008Saturday, December 12, 2009