Shopping with your local farmer is just one way of strengthening our local food system. But we can’t eat our way to sustainability. Only by providing a voice to the food movement will we collectively facilitate change. We can do this by educating ourselves, sharing that knowledge with others, and advocating for change by voting with our forks and our ballots. You can get started today, simply by taking the NY Locavore Challenge.
“The NY Locavore Challenge started as a tool to recognize National Organic Harvest Month,” notes Tanya Smolinsky, Communications & Development Director at the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York (NOFA-NY). “Every September, we launch a month-long campaign to inspire awareness and action in eating locally and organically through events and activities held around the state. If you’re beginner locavore, the Challenge is the first place to start. For more experienced locavores, you can deepen your commitment by following the path to community involvement.”
Connect with farmers.
Locavores can find organic farmers statewide through websites like nofany.org or regionally focused buy local sites like purecatskills.com. With the help of key sponsors like Edible New York, Once Again and Pure Catskills, the NY Locavore Challenge reaches out to locavores across the state with ways to make a difference in our food system at the local, state and federal levels. To ensure no one is left out in 2014, the NY Locavore Challenge relies heavily on its website, blog and social media. “Tools like Facebook and Twitter allow people to share their goals around eating locally and organically with others and compare those actions with those of their peers. Hopefully, that collective engagement will inspire everyone to do a little more,” says Smolinsky. “Last year, over 700 people registered for the NY Locavore Challenge. This year, we think that number will grow because people can participate in new ways, even without registering online.”
Learn and grow.
“The NY Locavore Challenge posted over a dozen personal reflections at newyorklocavorechallenge.wordpress.com. Writers share what it means to be a locavore and how they are personally facilitating change through their food choices and practices,” adds Smolinsky. ”While the winning essay appears in our news magazines, New York Organic News this month, the other essays are posted at newyorklocavorechallenge.wordpress.com. We hope these essays will inspire readers to do something above-and-beyond the fork and expand their commitment to local food.”
Locavores can also “choose their Challenge” through an online poll. Select one (or all) of the 32 suggestions on how to make a difference and see how your choices, commitment and actions compare with others. This simple tool serves as a reminder that changing our food system is not an individual effort. NOFA-NY is also promoting over 30 events, like FarmAid, regional farm tours and field days to show locavores exactly what is involved with farming.
Celebrate the movement.
The Challenge also encourages locavores to eat their way to change. Host a harvest dinner the last week in September, tell your locavore’s story to friends and family, and raise money for the cause. “Debra Mattison, best-selling cookbook author of Vegetable Literacy and Local Flavors, will judge dinner host submissions the three categories: Best menu, Most money raised, and Most people attending,” adds Smolinsky. “Hosts should strive to make half their menu locally sourced and organic. Money raised benefits NOFA-NY’s general operating funds. Much of our budget comes from the Farm Bill, so we’re on hold at the moment until that passes Congress. We’re really are counting on raising money through this Challenge to safely continue programming at its currently level.”
NOFA-NY is a statewide organization promoting local organic food and farming. “We accomplish our work three ways,” explains Smolinsky. “First, we provide programs and services that help sustainable farmers flourish. Second, we connect consumers with these farmers. And lastly, we advocate policies at the state and federal levels that support local organic food and farming.” For more on their programs and policy work, visit nofany.org.
While New York ranks third in organic farms behind California and Wisconsin, there are less than 1,000 sustainable farms in New York State feeding over 19 million eaters. “Roughly 5.4 million New Yorkers buy organic products on a weekly basis,” explains Smolinsky. If a growing number of eaters want to buy local and organic foods, we need more farmers! That’s why we have to support agriculture and help it thrive. Not enough people are getting into farming. The average age of today’s farmer is 55. If we don’t bring in the next generation of farmers, we won’t have the farmers and organic produce to choose from. As eaters, we have a role to play in supporting and nurturing our next generation of organic farmers. By banding together and getting behind that “agriculture first” movement, we move that agenda forward. Serving dinner is just one way to connect people to the farming need, the movement and the action.”
For those who don’t like to cook but do like to eat out, 14 restaurants around state will donate the proceeds from select dinners to NOFA-NY during the last week in September. From New York City to Buffalo, chefs are stocking their menus with farm-fresh products in an effort to raise awareness and money for the local food movement. Among those serving NY Locavore Challenge meals are One Caroline Street Bistro in Saratoga Springs, Matthews on Main in Callicoon, and The Heron in Narrowsburg. “Find a complete list of restaurants on the website,” adds Smolinsky. “If you can’t eat there that week, thank the restaurant at a later date for participating.”
Take action.
Moving food forward takes a community and unified voice. “On the individual level, you’re connecting with your local farmer. Find the organic farmers in your area and choose to buy from them. That’s the easiest approach to supporting the farming community,” says Smolinsky. “To expand the locavore community, you have to take action. Unfortunately, you can’t simply shop your way to a sustainable food system. Being a locavore is about community, connecting with others, and making change at the societal level.” For more information, visit newyorklocavorechallenge.com.
As seen in the September 2013 issue of the Catskill Mountain Region Guide.
