Building a Statewide Network of Small Organic Farmers to Meet the Demand of Institutional Markets. American Friends Service Committee NM

Transcription

1 Building a Statewide Network of Small Organic Farmers to Meet the Demand of Institutional Markets American Friends Service Committee NM

2 Presentation by Sayrah Namasté, American Friends Service Committee NM Noberto Armijo, AFSC farm trainer from Chamisal

3 American Friends Service Committee New Mexico Founded in 1976 in northern New Mexico, AFSC works to protect land and water rights and promote economic viability of sustainable agriculture through farmer to farmer training, technical assistance, and policy work.

4 Institutional Markets 777 licensed childcare centers in New Mexico which must serve vegetables and fruit USDA is urging daycares to buy local produce 846 public and charter schools in New Mexico which must serve vegetables and fruits

5 Local Food Schools Commonly Purchase Schools prefer to purchase products that are easy to clean and take minimal processing, as well as produce the students will recognize and eat, not throw in the trash. Most common products that schools will purchase: Vegetables Baby Mixed Salad Spinach Carrots Cherry Tomatoes Red Slicing Tomatoes Zucchini Cucumbers Sweet Peppers Fruits Apples Pears Peaches Plums Sweet Melons Berries

6 Meeting with the Food Service Director Vendor requirements? Have you purchased local produce before? What fruits and vegetables would you be interested in purchasing? If the farmer were unable to fill an order, would the Food Service Director accept substitutions? Packing and Labeling Requirements: Ordering Procedures? Payment Procedures: Delivery Procedures:

7 AFSC, ACN, and APS current AFSC worked with the Albuquerque Public Schools in 2010 to purchase from local farmers We met with the food service director around crop selection and price point We trained farmers in the South Valley to grow for APS and created the Agri-Cultura Network to aggregate produce for the schools We bought & built 6 passive solar coldframes so they could grow during the school year. We helped 2 more South Valley farmers get coldframes through NRCS and then built them Sales began in 2010 and continue until today

8 2015: Legislative Victory! We hosted Harvest Meals from in which state legislators ate local food and sat with local farmers, and talked about Sen. Dede Feldman s successful legislative work to get funds for APS to buy local and AFSC s work to connect farmers With the help of Sen Feldman and retired Rep Paul Taylor, we got a bill passed with bi-partisan support that replicated Feldman s original bill. Many AFSC trained farmers, acequia activists and local Quakers testified in support. $30,000 is set aside RECURRING from the state legislature to targeted school districts that want to buy local, with a priority given to farmers in training

9 School Sales The funding from the state legislature went through the NMDA, who asked AFSC to help distribute funds to schools who want to buy local AFSC staff supported farmers in school sales with help brokering, quality control, food safety skills, product liability insurance, seeds, packaging and infrastructure including passive solar cold frames for winter production

10 AFSC has linked farmers to 6 NM school districts We identified Española, Taos, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Wagonmound public school districts as having 2 important criteria: school food service directors were willing to buy local produce; farmers in in their area willing to grow food for the schools AFSC created agreements with each school about how they can use the funds.

11 Feedback from Schools Loved the quality of the food Wanted to be able to get funds sooner in the school year Quantity was not enough Much more work for food service directors to buy local Very dedicated food service staff They would all do it again!

12 Feedback from Farmers Some of our biggest sales of the year were to the schools! Sometimes price point was low but the quantity was high Struggled to get quantity and had to aggregated with other farmers in AFSC s network Need to figure out more transportation when aggregating Definitely would do it again but now know more of which crops Need to evenly spread out sales among farmers

13 Selling to Daycares Smaller number of children Smaller quantities of produce Required to serve vegetables and fruits for meals and snacks with USDA serving sizes

14 Lessons learned Quality of produce is key to school market success. Evaluate the market of selling fresh food to local schools (what produce can they process and serve to children easily.) Plan your production based on the demand of local school markets. Importance of aggregating produce for small farmers to meet the demand of local schools

15 Good News! Despite the MASSIVE budget shortfall in New Mexico, AFSC was able to preserve the $30,000 for local schools to buy from local farms again!