Local Orbit team members Becky Noffsinger and Patty Cantrell attended the Farm Routes to Prosperity Summit in Traverse City last month and I just had an opportunity to read Diane Connor’s report of the event. The region is well on its way to achieving its 10-year goal of increasing the resilience and doubling the value of the region’s local food and agricultural economy by 2019. With two recently-launched Local Orbit marketplaces in Benzie County, we’re please to provide the online infrastructure to help make this happen. We’re particularly excited by Rob Sirrine’s map of farm-to-school growth in the past six years. More please!
When Rob Sirrine, chairman of the Northwest Michigan Food & Farming Network, clicked on his favorite slide during his presentation to the third annual Farm Routes to Prosperity Summit, the audience responded with an appreciative “oooh!”
More than 100 people were there on Feb. 4, gathered in Traverse City to chart and plan for making more progress in the eat-local, buy-local food movement that is slowly but surely changing northwestern Lower Michigan’s farm and food economy.
The region is home to a unique, Lake Michigan-powered microclimate that supports a beautiful landscape of fruit orchards; tourism-related farm stands, wineries and breweries; and nearby fields of vegetables, livestock, and small dairies. Members of the Food & Farming Network—a diverse group of farm, nonprofit, health, community garden, land preservation, business, school, and economic development professionals—want to not just preserve it, but grow it.
Why did Dr. Sirrine’s slide show take their breath away? Because one of this MSU Extension educator’s slides showed a map with just one dot on it, marking the location of Central Grade School in the Traverse City Area Public Schools District. In 2004, that school launched the region’s first “farm to school” program, serving fresh, locally grown produce from area farmers in school lunches.
That may sound a bit dry to some but the phrase “investable proposition” was music to our ears. On January 31st on the stage of the Annual Collaboration for Entrepreneurship, Local Orbit founder and CEO Erika Block faced off against five seasoned entrepreneurs in a three-minute elevator pitch competition and took home top honors.
In case you ever have to do one, an elevator pitch is an “entrepreneur’s explanation of her business model, often heard in an elevator and directed at anyone who might want to provide funding for the entrepreneur’s start-up.”
Clear and Credible Presentation
More than 700 people in the auditorium heard Erika’s elevator pitch along with a panel of seasoned Venture Capital executives. Investor feedback and enthusiastic reception from the audience was encouraging. The judges used phrases to describe Local Orbit and the business model as “very clear, credible and understandable.” Erika was “passionate.”
But the line of the evening came from Meena Sooch of Apjohn Ventures, who stated that Local Orbit “is an investable proposition.” It was hard not to stand up and cheer.
Local Food Works for Everyone
Oprah is talking about local food. The White House is talking about local food. Chefs need easier ways to purchase it. State and local governments are promoting the economic benefits of local food. Michigan Governor Rick Snyder talked about supporting local agriculture in his recent State of the State address. Now with the support of communities and investors, Local Orbit can create the bridge between growers and buyers.
Local Orbit Takes Home Another Prize
In addition to winning the Elevator Pitch competition, Local Orbit took home the Great Lakes Entrepreneurs Quest’s second prize for best new business plan. Both awards come with a cash prize that will be used to expand the business, as well as office space and other support services.
To get to this point, Local Orbit has leveraged the support many of Southeast Michigan’s accelerator services and volunteers through New Enterprise Forum, SPARK and GLEQ to provide investment, coaching and mentoring. And for that support we are grateful.
A true local food system must provide access to nutritious, local food year-round if it is to be sustainable. (Lee LaVanway, Market Master of the Benton Harbor Fruit Market)
Last month our Brooklyn hub, St. Johns Bread and Life, provided locally sourced ingredients for holiday meals for 2000 families in Bed-Stuy, proving that local can be both accessible and affordable – even in December.
Chris Bedford tells the story of another institution serving local food throughout the year. The Mendel Center at Lake Michigan College worked with Lee LaVanway to purchase and preserve local produce to serve during the winter months. The chefs are happy, the guests are happy – and the college actually saved money, while keeping dollars in the Benton Harbor community. Yes We Can!
Many people still believe that locally-sourced and sustainably-produced food is only for the well-to-do. This winter 2,000 Bed-Stuy families in need received a holiday meal that any New York family – regardless of income – would be pleased to serve, including:
Humanely-raised, New York state turkeys. Hormone and antibiotic free. Vegetarian fed.
Butternut squash, potatoes, onions and carrots from John Glebocki, a fifth-generation farmer from Goshen who serves white tablecloth restaurants and food pantries alike
Organic cranberries from Plymouth, MA
Christmas cookies from Long Island
It’s all part of a partnership between Local Orbit and St John’s Bread and Life, an innovative food pantry in Bed Stuy. Local Orbit made it possible for Bread and Life to use its annual holiday meal budget to purchase high quality, local ingredients that were lovingly packed for each family by a crew of 400 volunteers!
The New York Times has a terrific piece about the work our partner, St John’s Bread and Life, is doing to bring good food to Bed-Stuy.
Tony Butler, Bread and Life’s executive director, talks about the Local Orbit partnership: “You don’t create community around problems,” said Mr. Butler, who hopes that clients on food stamps will eventually be able to shop from Local Orbit farmers at St. John’s. “You create community around shared projects.”
John Glebocki, Tony Butler and New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn
The new way of connecting farmers with communities is gaining a lot of attention. Last week, fifth-generation farmer John Glebocki joined New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Tony Butler to discuss food distribution issues in the region. John knows a thing or two about fresh produce with 70 acres of fertile land in the black dirt region of Orange County, NY. His Goshen farm supplies the same high quality vegetables to Goldman Sachs, white table cloth restaurants and food pantries across New York.Since October he has been offering his produce for sale to residents of the Bed-Stuy community.
This month Glebocki’s vegetables — known for exceptional flavor — became part of a great holiday meal – sourced entirely through Local Orbit and enjoyed by 2,000 Bed-Stuy families, including a humanly raised turkey, a half pound of organic fresh cranberries and a vegetable bag that includes three carrots, four potatoes, one butternut squash and two to three onions.
The Senate passed the Food Safety Modernization Act on Monday. Jon Tester, the farmer-senator from Montana, authored an amendment that allayed concerns it would have a negative impact on small farms.
Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser call it “the most important food safety legislation in a generation.” Just Means has a summary of the amendment. And Senator Tester’s floor speech makes a simple, compelling case for the benefits of buying food direct from farmers in your community.
Technology can only help our ideas bloom. Bits and bytes…connecting growers to eaters.
I just ran across this lovely animation promoting the Eat Well Guide’s, Cultivating the Web. Since its 2008 publication, digital tools have been central to the growth of the good food movement, conveying the stories and building online networks that support offline relationships and transactions.
And generating an increasingly broad-based awareness of the value and impact of local, sustainable food on nutrition, on the quality of our eating experiences and on the economic development of communities.
Food systems 101 in five minutes – from a smart, home-schooled kid at TedXNextGenerationAsheville. Here’s hoping the Future Farmers of America share his perspective.
St. John’s Bread and Life, Brooklyn’s largest emergency food service provider, revolutionizes the way those in need “shop” for food, by creating a Digital Choice Food Pantry that guests access using an electronic card and point system. Designed to offer the dignity of choice, something overlooked at most food pantries, guests use touch-screen technology to fill their basket, using more points for non-healthy food than for healthy items, to encourage nutritious selections. Bread and Life’s use of computer terminals is at the forefront of providing dignified options for the poor and recently took the model one step further by allowing users to key in special health needs, (diabetes, hypertension, obesity, or HIV) that restricts certain choices and presents food that adheres to their diets.
This commitment to improve overall client health by presenting the best food choices based on nutritious needs is a trail blazing idea that even high-end restaurants have yet to tap. All this in addition to providing over 1300 daily hot meals and services, impacts over 25,000 guests annually.
In talking to people about why they buy or would consider buying locally-grown product, I consistently hear four main reasons:
I cook. Locally grown food simply tastes better.
I support my community, including farmers.
I want to eat healthier and locally grown food has more nutrients.
I’m scared about the overuse of pesticides on conventionally grown produce. I feel more comfortable buying from a farmer I know.
The interesting thing is that I used to think of the buyers profiled above as distinct groups: health conscious buyers distinct from foodies distinct from people advocating food justice.
Give Me a Reason to Buy Locally
But the reality is that you can start at any one point above, and within a short period of time—sometimes days, sometimes months—slide right into another. Care about taste most? Great! But then it’s harder to spray pesticides on the berries you grow in your garden or spray that toxic cleanser you use on your kitchen counter.
Like to support local farmers? Hurray! And you know what? It turns out their food tastes amazing. Funny how food tastes so much better when it was dug out of the ground that morning. With something like a tomato it’s not even a fair fight when you try local vs. a tomato that is picked “dead green” and shipped 1,500 miles.
Big CPG (that’s consumer packaged goods to you and me) companies didn’t focus on green for the longest time. Not big enough they said. Not enough scale. A niche market. Now everyone is jumping on the green bandwagon.
But before that word “ green” gets completely mangled beyond recognition, there is real cause for hope. Imagine that Hellman’s is coming out with a mayonnaise using cage-free eggs. Okay, that’s not local, but it will have an impact on growing practices. Next McDonalds will be featuring organic beef. Actually there was a rumor that was going to happen last year.
in need received a holiday meal that any New York family – regardless of income – would be pleased to serve, including:
