Farm-to-Hospital at Camden Clark Medical Center

PARKERSBURG, WV - Today the Rural Action Sustainable Agriculture (RASA) team took fresh, local produce from the farmers of the Chesterhill Produce Auction to Camden Clark Medical Center in Parkersburg, West Virginia to set up an in-hospital farmer's market. This was the inaugural event of RASA's Farm-to-Hospital program, the latest off-shoot of RASA's Country Fresh Stops produce branding work.

 

Fresh, juicy watermelons are carted in for the mini-farmer's market inside the hospital. 

 

Setting out fresh produce at the market table inside. 

The market open in the morning and quickly sold out as hospital employees and visitors gathered around the bustling lobby market. Nurses, doctors, and hospital personnel went home with fresh, local cabbage, peppers, squash, tomatoes, melons, and much more. RASA plans to continue encouraging fresh, local produce purchases and farm markets at hospitals in the Athens and Parkersburg areas in the future, as well as other local institutions.

 

The crowd gathers around the tables of farm fresh produce.

 

Tomatoes, peppers, melons, and much more line the table.

First conceived of and implemented by Dr. Preston Marling of Kaiser Permanente in California, farm-to hospital models bring fresh, local produce right to employees and patients of medical centers through collaborative work with farmers, distributors, and medical center staff. These models have moved conversations in the health care industry toward focusing on healthy food for patients, as well as employees. To date, 399 North American hospitals have signed the Healthy Food in Health Care Pledge from Health Care Without Harm, a commitment to "treat food and its production and distribution as preventive medicine." 

 

The hospital staff grabs some fresh produce amidst a growing crowd.

Sustainable Agriculture Coordinator at Rural Action Tom Redfern with the first customer at Camden Clark.

The RASA Farm-to-Hospital program is made possible by the Sister's of Saint Joseph Charitable Fund, the Ohio Farm Bureau Foundation, and Rural Action's many partners in the Parkersburg area food system. If your hospital would like to have fresh, local produce, please contact Rural Action Sustainable Agriculture at 740-767-4938 for more information.

Rural Action Leads Partnership to Bring Fresh, Local Produce to Rural Seniors

KILVERT, OH - In Kilvert, Ohio – a town too small to even call a village – locals are receiving fresh, local produce delivered right to their doorsteps thanks to the efforts of a dedicated group of regional partners in Athens County, Ohio.

Susie Parsons, the head volunteer at the Kilvert Community Center, lit up with a smile as Rural Action Sustainable Agriculture team members brought in local fruits and vegetables fresh from the Chesterhill Produce Auction last week. Tom Redfern, Sustainable Agriculture Coordinator, and Joe Barbaree, the Sustainable Agriculture AmeriCorps VISTA, hauled two car-loads full of produce over winding country roads to the small, historically significant Appalachian community for a delivery loaded with everything from sweet corn straight out of the field to tomatoes grown along the Ohio River.

While this certainly isn’t the first donation to make it to the Kilvert Community Center, it’s some of the best produce they’ve seen. “This produce is always in good condition because it comes from the Chesterhill Produce Auction,” mentioned Parsons. Upon arriving, all of the food was divided equally to be sent out to elderly citizens in the community and those in the surrounding areas. In all, 100 senior community members in food deserts – areas without easily accessible fresh foods – would soon have quality meals for the next week delivered to them by folks from the community center.

This recent round of fresh, local produce from the Chesterhill Produce Auction was only possible through the collaborative work of local businesses and organizations. Bob Fedyski, Local and Institutional Foods Specialist at Rural Action, partnered with Donkey Coffee and Espresso in Athens to make the donation a reality. As the small coffeehouse in the college town of Athens approached its ten-year anniversary, Fedyski worked with the business to set up a raffle with proceeds going to purchase food from the produce auction to be donated to local groups. Raffle participants could win free coffee for one month from Donkey, and citizens with limited access to fresh, healthy foods would see farm-fresh produce on their plates.

Participation in the raffle brought in $150 for the produce purchase and left the winner, Lisa Mieskowski of Athens fully satisfied helping the community. “When I saw that Donkey was taking donations for Rural Action during their anniversary week, I was more than happy to donate to help another movement working to bolster rural areas,” said Mieskowski. “Now that I’ve been named the raffle winner, I get a reminder with each free cup of coffee how businesses in Athens take an active role in giving back to the community.”

If all goes accordingly, deliveries will happen regularly as other businesses and groups partner with Rural Action and the Chesterhill Produce Auction to make donations to Kilvert and other areas in which fresh food is scarce and transportation to reach grocery stores or farmer’s markets just isn’t possible. For many of the residents in Kilvert and similar areas, food choices often amount to mainly processed foods. For an isolated community such as Kilvert, transportation miles away to Athens and other food hubs isn’t always an option.

The Kilvert community has a deep history of coal exploitation and exclusion from other towns and government attention due to extensive mixed race ancestries. All of this created and sustained deeply imbedded poverty that exists to this day, but alongside a strong sense of self-sufficiency and resilience. The Kilvert Community Center itself is a simple building that has seen a harsh, complex past. It has survived natural as well as man-made disaster. Fires and government cuts have made an already difficult undertaking every bit harder. And it’s a theme common for the majority of the Kilvert community and those surrounding.

So when Susie Parsons sees beautiful produce flood the floor of the community center, she’s grateful and proud of the fresh produce she knows is grown in the surrounding communities. What she sees isn’t free food – it’s food intentionally sourced from quality, local producers in order to build upon a complex chain of producers, buyers and community supporters. It isn’t charity she sees – it’s a beckoning for all to join and build a stronger community. It isn’t a bandage she sees – it’s a chance for the entire community of Kilvert to see lasting change as the result of a strengthened, proud local economy.

Produce in Parkersburg: A Regional Success Story

PARKERSBURG, WV - As the assets of Rural Action’s Sustainable Agriculture program continue to flourish – including sales to-date up 57% at the Chesterhill Produce Auction (CPA), and the continued expansion of Country Fresh Stops – one community in West Virginia is now beginning to see the signs of a blossoming local food economy.

Local and Institutional Foods Specialist Bob Fedyski is working to increase access to fresh, local foods in nearby Parkersburg, West Virginia through the creation of a local food distribution system. The Parkersburg market has been a target of Rural Action Sustainable Agriculture and we are now successfully developing partnerships, with the most visible being at the West Virginia University-Parkersburg (WVU-P) campus where a start-up farmer’s market is sparking a new wave of local foods in the area.

The first link in the West Virginia chain formed while Fedyski was connecting with others passionate about local food systems in the Parkersburg area. He met Megan Kahoa, the Health and Wellness Community Coordinator at the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department in December at an Athens Food Policy Council meeting. And it was Kahoa who connected Fedyski to Pamela Santer, Wellness Coordinator at WVU-P. Santer, “a dynamo in the community” according to Fedyski, approaches student wellness as “whole body health.” In her determination to increase healthy food access for the campus community, she knew there was a better way to get healthy, local foods to students: expose them to a farmer’s market right on campus. 

Kahoa knew that Rural Action was delivering food from the Chesterhill Produce Auction all over the region, and had also heard that Marietta schools began purchasing from the CPA, so she introduced Fedyski to Santer, who didn’t just want healthy food sold at the market – she wanted to support a local food economy. Purchasing produce from the global food system would be one thing, getting just-picked fruit and vegetables from 40 miles away would be another. Santer wanted students to have access to healthy eating and living options while positively impacting the regional food system.

The three talked over the course of several weeks, including a WVU-P field trip to the CPA, and opened the Tuesday afternoon market in front of the campus’s student center in late June. Using funds generated by the WVU-P Health and Wellness Club, Santer’s team, which includes students and staff, has purchased hundreds of dollars in local produce from the CPA since opening. It generally sells out, and what isn’t sold is sold at-cost to group homes for the disabled. Whether they’re selling potatoes, cabbage, or fresh melons, those on campus have been unable to resist stopping by the stand. “The food catches their attention really quickly,” said Fedyski about the customers who stop by.

The diverse student population at WVU-P has presented a challenge for healthy food access in the past. “It’s a wide variety – some fresh out of high school, some middle of the road and going back to school, lots of parents, and a lot of older people – those who have lost their jobs and even retirees,” said Kahoa. The farmers market in downtown Parkersburg is miles away from the campus, and many of the students either rely on others for rides or work full-time and can’t make the mid-week market. But lack of interest in healthy, local food isn’t to blame – it’s lack of access, which is the market’s most important function. “We’re not just selling things to sell them, but helping students realize cooking doesn’t have to be expensive or complex,” explained Santer. A major milestone at the market will be the upcoming acceptance of SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits. The non-traditional student body has many food assistance recipients; this is one of the consumer groups who Santer and Fedyski hope to reach.

On a larger scale, the market is also a gateway – a starting point – for producers in the Parkersburg area to reach new markets. Once it’s evident that there is a demand for healthy, local food, farmers and producers in the area will be able to expand accordingly and further strengthen a growing system. Food from Ohio is only part of the plan – getting local demand to increase local production is the other part of this undertaking.


Santer already sees possibilities with expanding the offerings at the market just from Ohio-based producers. Baked goods from Crumb’s Bakery in Athens and fresh artisan cheeses from Laurel Valley Creamery in Gallipolis are making their way to the students and faculty at the campus market. With Rural Action Sustainable Agriculture’s new refrigerated delivery truck up and running, even larger quantities can be brought to the campus, and additional customers can be served. And it’s just in time. Faculty will return to the campus the week of August 12 and Fedyski expects purchases for the market from the produce auction to double. When students return soon after, demand will likely continue to skyrocket, according to Santer.

In the end, money isn’t the only goal for Santer, Fedyski, or any of the partners in Rural Action’s local food economy work. What they care about is the triple bottom line: creating a system – a value chain – that sustains itself and benefits the economy, the community and the environment equally. It’s this value-based approach that drives Rural Action’s Sustainable Agriculture program and its ultimate goal: to support local food systems so that they can grow and continue to benefit our economy. Soon fruits and vegetables from the Chesterhill Produce Auction won’t be the only ones at the WVU-P campus market. The aim is for producers in the Parkersburg area to be able to fill the needs of consumers and increase the portion of the market held by local foods. With Rural Action’s help, Parkersburg is one step closer to meeting that end.

Athens food activists "Feeding the Planet" in Italy

ATHENS, OH - International food conferences weren’t on the minds of Michelle Ajamian and Brandon Jaeger when they established the Appalachian Staple Foods Collaborative in 2008: they just wanted to build a regional system for food staples in Appalachian Ohio.

Now four years later, the two will travel as United States delegates to the bi-annual Terra Madre international conference in Torino, Italy from October 25 to 29.

Terra Madre has been coordinated by Slow Food International since 2004 with the goal of fostering discussions and introducing innovative concepts in the field of regional, sustainable food. The theme for Terra Madre 2012 is “Feeding the Planet,” referring to the right for all to access quality, regional food that is produced in a fair and just manner.

Ajamian and Jaeger – leaders in building regional prototypes for growing, processing and marketing high nutrition staple foods with a focus on healthy food access and sustainable growing methods – will be surrounded by an international community of food innovators at the conference. There they will share their experiences in Appalachian Ohio with those from other countries working toward creating a network of food communities that are committed to producing quality food in a responsible, sustainable way.

Their work and determination in the local community led to the launch of Shagbark Seed & Mill in 2012, just two years after forming the ASFC. Shagbark Seed & Mill began by growing small crops of high nutrition grains such as amaranth and now processes a variety of staple dry beans, grains, seeds and flour for distribution across the region. Ajamian even hopes to swap some of her pre-industrial beans for ancient grain seed while at the conference, if she’s allowed.

But the soon-to-be delegates need help raising funds to make the trip a reality. They are currently asking for donations to help them make the trip to Italy in order to represent our community. A strong regional support network has already helped them meet part of their goal, but they’re still not at the total trip cost.

To help them reach their goal, contact Michelle Ajamian and Brandon Jaeger at 740-590-1501 for more details on how to donate.

Getting It Done Wright!

This past week the Chesterhill Produce Auction was honored to have several collegiate volunteers from Wright State University help prepare for the May 10th Opening Auction.

Led by WSU faculty, Hunt Brown, Sarah Twill, and Maureen Barry, the group of student volunteers have been studying sustainable resource-based development with a focus on Appalachia. Along with their three leaders, 16 students split into groups and rotated around the greater Athens area serving at CPA, Monday Creek Restoration Project, Athens County Public Library, Green Edge Gardens, Good Works, Snowville Creamery and the Village of Glouster.

At the Chesterhill Produce Auction, the Wright State Raiders worked hard:

• tilling the new garden
• planting red skin potatoes, peach trees, and daffodils
• cleaning, sweeping, staining, painting, and organizing the Auction space
• constructing and erecting beautiful new CPA signs

The students also learned about history of Appalachian Ohio, food access, gardening, community-financed development & "slow money," AmeriCorps, Rural Action, and Chesterhill's significance in the Underground Railroad.

It was a fun week filled with great work. If you would like to volunteer or intern with Chesterhill Produce Auction or other local food/sustainable development projects, contact Matt Moore at Rural Action Sustainable Agriculture.

Shepherds Needed in Ohio

America is demanding more domestic lamb, sheep, and wool; will Ohio farmers answer the call? Experts say the sheep-herding business is becoming more profitable and lucrative as the industry shifts in Ohioans’ favor.

The drying up of pastures and government subsidies in Australia and New Zealand have caused a supply shortage in the industry. At the same time, American consumers and corporations are looking closer to home where they are paying record premiums. More than 30% of American lamb is now selling through fast-growing marketing channels like farmers markets, direct farm-to-consumer sales and smaller processors serving niche markets. This year Wal-mart announced a commitment to buy only American lamb for the next 2 years, and Kroger, which boasts 60% of all retail lamb in the U.S., launched a branded campaign committed to American lamb with further category growth.

To satisfy this growing demand, the American Sheep Industry Association is calling for currentand new shepherds to increase the national inventory through the “Grow our Flock” campaign and “Let’s Grow with twoPlus” initiative. Many experts are saying that Ohio farmers are in prime position to start a herding business or add a new profit-stream to their farm.

Ohio Sheep Improvement Association (OSIA) President Jim Percival said there is already demand, infrastructure and knowledge in place to support more sheep and new farmers.

“We’ve been able to put together programs (from Sheep Days to educational symposiums) thatwill take people from step one all the way through to the end of the production cycle,” he said.“This all makes it easy for somebody to get in (to the industry) and move forward with us.”

Daryl Clark, OSIA Vice President, said there is room to grow in the hills of eastern Ohio, where he raises sheep in Muskingum County.“We have land where you cannot grow crops, but we can grow grass and do a good job of it,” he said. “There is no other livestock that I think has adapted as well to this area than sheep have.”

Curt Cline of Albany, Ohio says that his herd is a low-cost, low-labor business that works well with his off-farm job as a fireman. He sees his operation as the definition of “sustainable;” taking unprofitable forage and turning it into dollars. He the farm has been in his family for 8 generations and he expects many more. Read more about his grass-fed herd at GrowOurFlock or watch this video.

For more details, stories, and toolkits for Ohio shepherding…

2011 Buckeye Shepherd’s Symposium

• Saturday, December 10, 2011

Weaving a Successful Business - Kirkwood Farm

• Article on retired Ohio couple with growing sheep business

Grow Our Flock, Let’s Grow with twoPlus

• Direction for new producers
• Tools and information for successful Management Practices
• Forum for shepherds and sheep industry

Ohio’s Call for Shepherds

• Article on growing demand and Ohio’s potential

Raising Ohio Sheep

• Eric. L. Bruns, Powell, Ohio
• Video of Riverwood Farms and protecting your herd

Ohio leads national drive to build sheep numbers

• Article from Farm and Dairy

USDA – Record Lamb Prices and Positive Industry Outlook

OSU Sheep Team

• Information on breeding, events, grazing, footrot, health, management, marketing, nutrition, parasites, predators, wool, and more

Ohio Sheep Improvement Association OSIA

Mid-States Wool Growers

• Wool Cooperative in Canal Winchester, Ohio
• News, marketing, and management info

Below is the official release from The Associated Press

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With higher demand, Ohio needs more shepherds

TRACY TURNER
The Associated Press

(11/06/11 07:15:23)

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Ohio is looking for a few good shepherds. A growing demand for domestic lamb, sheep and wool is fueling an urgent call by the American Sheep Industry Association and the Ohio Sheep Improvement Association for more Ohioans to get into the sheep-herding business, and for existing producers to expand their flocks.

The cause is the confluence of the decline in sheep imports from Australia and New Zealand caused by drought and the increase in the number of Americans, particularly immigrants, who consume lamb as a primary protein.

Contributing factors include requirements by the U.S. military to purchase only domestic wool for military uniforms, and a move by The Kroger Co. and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. to sell more domestic lamb in their stores, said Peter Orwick, executive director of the American Sheep Industry Association.

Lamb and wool prices are at record highs, and the market for ewes is strong. But there is concern among growers nationwide that the U.S. sheep flock is not large enough to keep up with the demand, he said.

Orwick was among a group of sheep producers and industry officials who held a recruiting event in late October at Riverwood Farms in Powell aimed at encouraging current Ohio sheep producers to increase their flocks by two ewes per 100, and to get more people interested in entering the business. The group is looking to create programs to encourage new producers to get into the business as well as trying to identify ways to help new producers find financing to buy land and sheep.

"The demand for lamb is huge right now, and Ohio is at the epicenter," he said. "Kroger is now selling U.S. lamb on its private label, which is huge for the industry.

"And one out of every three lambs that are sold now is sold directly from the farm, in farmers markets and by small producers."

Kroger also obtains some of its lamb directly from state and county fair sales, and 100 percent of its Private Selection lamb is from American producers, said spokeswoman Amy McCormick.

"We recently purchased 25 lambs at the Fairfield County Fair and sold them at our two Lancaster Kroger locations," she said. "All Kroger lamb is domestic."

This is significant for Ohio, which has about 3,400 sheep producers, making it the sixth-largest producing state, Orwick said.

Ohio lamb and sheep producers earned $12.5 million last year, with the state's production totaling 129,000, the 12th-largest of any state, said Charles Mayzlick, of the Ohio field office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service.

That's an increase from the $11 million Ohio growers earned in 2009, with 128,000 head of sheep, he said.

Lamb and wool prices are at a 20-year high, said David Rowe, manager of Mid States Wool, a textile warehouse in Canal Winchester.

Wool prices, for example, range now anywhere from 30 cents a pound to $2 a pound depending on the grade of the wool. That compares with 5 cents to $1 a pound this time last year, Rowe said.

"There is more demand out here for the product than the supply that is available," he said. "We just can't supply enough products to those large stores to cover every day of the year.

"That's why we're trying to bring some exposure to the issue and shine the spotlight on our industry. Raising sheep is a profitable thing - there's money to be made in sheep."

But the problem is that Ohio's sheep producers as a group are aging, said Roger High, executive director of the Ohio Sheep Improvement Association.

There is a significant need to get more young people into the sheep production business, said High, who is also an Ohio State University Extension specialist.

"We're not very many years from those people leaving the business because they're too old," he said. "And if someone doesn't come in to take over those numbers, we're going to lose a lot of jobs in the industry and a lot of sheep."

The key is to educate more young growers and offer mentoring programs to get them into the business, High said. It can be a difficult industry to break into because land and sheep are expensive and the work is hard, he said.

But that hasn't been a deterrent for Eric Bruns, 35, who raises sheep at Riverwood Farms. Bruns, who grew up on a poultry farm and earned a degree in animal science from Ohio State, said tending sheep is "in his blood."

"You've got to have a passion for this business," he said, as he hand-fed milk to a flock of lambs. "It's hard work, and not a lot of people my age are interested in doing it.

"But we hope to get more people educated and interested in the industry. Any time you can put a positive spin on agriculture in any form is good."

Statewide Food System Assessment proclaims “Athens Sets the Tone”

Written by Tom Redfern

Ken Meter, agricultural economist and food system analyst with the Crossroads Resource Center in Minnesota has just finished a timely look at Ohio Agriculture, which traces Ohio’s historic dependence on exports to a currently emerging system of local food business clusters that the author states “ create mutually supportive economic opportunities, builds financial resilience, and strengthens the state’s social fabric”. Commissioned by the University of Toledo Urban Affairs Center with funds from the Ohio Department of Agriculture, this work underscores the potential as well as current economic and social impacts of local food systems in Ohio.

The study highlights ten key findings as well as a summary of recommendations in response to these findings. The Author features local food “business clusters” that those in the Athens area will be pleasantly familiar with, including the Appalachian Center for Economic Networks, (ACEnet), Shagbark Seed and Mill, the Athens Farmers Market, and the ground breaking work of local foods pioneer Leslie Schaller. Our own “Dairy Evangelist” Warren Taylor is featured. Meter describes Snowville Creamery, the business Taylor started with his Wife Victoria as “ …a complex web of business connections that fosters healthy farming practices, provides exceptional quality milk and ice cream, buys fruits and vegetables from Ohio farmers, and nurtures a network of support industries”.

The section titled “Amish Farms Grow a Produce Industry” sheds an interesting light on the culture and business model that has given rise to the Chesterhill Produce Auction, another one of our regions “local food business clusters”. Meter describes the rise of Produce Auctions in Ohio and the current $10 million plus yearly economic impact they have, and the leading role Amish producers have in the local food system as “almost unwitting”. Meter relates how the Amish farmers, most of whom prefer animal based agriculture, came to sell produce as dairy prices and demand plummeted in the mid 1990’s.

Success stories notwithstanding, one key finding in this study gets my attention the most; that is that $30 billion flows away from Ohio each year due to the current prevailing structure of the farm and food economy. Scaling up our successes to capture this outflow in this time of economic hardship seems to be challenge that hopefully works like this will help us to focus on, and invest in at both the private and public level.

Check out this thought provoking and inspiring work at http://www.crcworks.org/ohfood.pdf.