In the beginning, there was Essex Farm.
A couple of days ago, Hamilton College received an (at
times) eccentric but inspired couple, Mark and Kristin Kimball, the owners and
managers of Essex Farm in the Champlain Valley in the Adirondacks. When the lecture begins with a farmer
juggling eggs on top of a ladder and then throwing them into the crowd (to the
chagrin of those unlucky enough to get splattered), you know that this is no
ordinary farm. Essex Farm began about a
decade ago when Mark and Kristin “trial” rented just over 500 acres with only
$18,000 dollars to their collective name.
They wanted to create a sustainable farm that met the “triple-bottom
line” as they call it: economic sustainability, social sustainability, and environmental
sustainability… all while growing a wide enough variety of food that they could
provide for the entire human diet. The
community embraced the hard-working couple who, while plowing their fields with
draft horses, developed a CSA program that now feeds close to 250 people each
year.
Much of their success was due to the fact that they were
essentially the only farm in the area.
As we discussed earlier in the semester, farming hit a bust in the
Adirondacks as the rough terrain and poor weather could not support large-scale
industrial farming. But the small,
sustainable, organic farm found a niche at the base of the High Peaks, supplying
good quality, local food to a region largely forgotten about by the rest of the
United States. As Essex Farm grew, they
hired interns from all walks of life who were truly inspired by the operation
they encountered in the Adirondacks.
Consequently, when they left Essex Farm, they sought to continue their
work and opened farms of their own, using similar sustainable practices learned
from the Essex Farmers. Now the
Champlain Valley boasts a whole community of sustainable farms that are even
spreading into other areas of the Adirondacks.
Unfortunately, because the local Adirondackers are not traditionally
economically robust, the main problem confronting these new farms is finding
niches within the local food system and between each other*. In an effort to expand the “economic pie” and
lessen competition between these neighborhood farmers, Essex Farm has begun to
sell CSA shares to NYC. Granted, this
practice defies their local food initiative, but in the end, food that hails
from 5 hours upstate is still better than avocadoes from Mexico.
In the end, farming is back in the Adirondacks! And not just
any farming—the movement now focuses on low carbon emissions, healthy
communities, and local agriculture. Largely
thanks to Essex Farm, the Adirondacks themselves are becoming more sustainable.
*If you are interested in starting a farm in the
Adirondacks, niches that have yet to be established that might be profitable
are those specializing in mushrooms, berries, or specialty game birds!
Source: http://www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/new-crop-farmers
I at first thought that the driving the food to New York City was against the philosophy of Essex farms. But, I think it was a really great point that most of our produce comes from much farther away than 5 hours. As you mentioned the triple bottom line really drives decisions. I also found it interesting when Kristen discussed how the way to increase sustainability, in her opinion, is not deprivation. I too agree that the best way to a better future will be reduction and replacement not elimination.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of a CSA program, which was full diet and free choice before learning about Essex Farm. Smaller scale CSAs are great in the summertime if you are looking for some local vegetables but I always worry about the lack of choice, what happens if you get a ton of one vegetable you don’t know what to do with? I love the idea of Essex Farm’s free choice policy because it allows you to pick the foods you know you will eat and enjoy.
ReplyDeleteI too was quite intrigued by this model of a community supported agriculture (CSA) program as presented by Essex Farm. As Claire discussed in her comment (see above), Essex Farm's program offers more choice in exactly what the customer want to take. I view a free choice CSA program as an excellent "bridge" for people to get involved in sustainable agriculture, who might be otherwise skeptical about the concept. As someone who grew up relying on a few local markets, with seemingly infinite food options, I could not imagine designing my meals based on a CSA shipment, which could contain extremely limited ingredients. However, I could certainly see adapting to the layout presented by Essex Farm, and I am interested to see if this model will become increasingly popular.
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