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Local food campaign looks to Culpeper
Sometimes people prefer knowing where their food comes from.
Would you prefer food shipped from a farm 1,500 miles away? Or food from a local farmer within driving distance? One campaign has been helping consumers make the local choice.
For a year now, the Buy Fresh, Buy Local campaign has linked farmers in the Charlottesville and Albemarle region directly to the consumers who want their fresh foods – no supermarkets allowed.
No more processed foods from a farm on the other side of the country. No more monies to corporation that harm the American small farmer, and no more environment waste from the big business methods.
Now the people in charge want a presence in Culpeper.
If all goes through, Culpeper's entire five county region – including Fauquier, Madison, Orange and Rappahannock – would fall under a new Northern Piedmont chapter. That would make it the 49th regional chapter of the program in the United States.
"The community support is there," said Development Specialist Melissa Wiley with the Piedmont Environmental Council. "With all the coverage food security issues have gotten, people are very interested in local foods."
By now, it's not a question of if. It's a question of when.
Nationally, the program is administered by FoodRoutes Network, a Pennsylvania-based national networking campaign. So far, the program has more than 20 state chapters, with 48 regional chapters under them.
Locally, the program has been administered by the PEC, whose Charlottesville chapter covered Albemarle, Greene Fluvana and Louisa counties. There, the group published a food guide which promoted sources for local foods, including farmers markets, restaurants and retailers.
Organizers intend to bring the same approach to the Culpeper area.
In May, they expect to send out flyers to an estimated 85,000 homes in the five-county region. Already close to 200 locals have signed on board, including farmers, farmer's markets, restaurants and grocers. But even people who make food products with local ingredients have a place.
Proponents quickly point out that food purchased through the network isn't necessarily organic. But that's not what the program is about, they claim. It's about giving power to make decisions.
"The goal is really to help consumers connect to their local farmer," Wiley said. "By establishing that relation, they can make their own decisions about what is important to them."
Making the program work, however, would require some effort from local government, and some funds.
Organizers expect a $22,000 price tag, much of that amount stemming from printing costs, as well as ongoing costs from a newspaper the organization would print. In many counties, the localities have provided that support directly. Others form partnerships between agriculture agencies and cooperative extensions.
The price for the local food, however, varies.
"It can be cheaper," Wiley said. "Not always, but it has been shown consumers are willing to pay more for local foods."
Contact Mwiley@pecva.org for more information.
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