Food for Thought on Farms and Food: USA
By Bradley Googins＆Philip Mirvis
A monthly installment from two of The Lewis Institute’sSocial Innovation Fellows:Bradley Googinsand菲利普米维斯.
从电视真人秀的流行厨师competitions on Hell’s Kitchen, infotainment shows about food production (The Chew), preparation (Kitchen Nightmares) and consumption (Anthony Bourdain), and cooking tips from America’s Test Kitchen or Rachel Ray, fascination with food is at an all-time high. This used to be the territory of gourmands and epicures. Now, with everybody tuning in, the populist term is “Foodies.”
Those looking for hardy food-for-thought on this trend have been digesting Michael Pollan’somnivore的困境—on the “politics and pleasure of eating”—and Joel Salatin’sFolks, This ain’t Normalwhich proffers “a farmer’s advice for happier hens, healthier people, and a better world.” As frequent travelers, foodies, and advocates for sustainability and social innovation, we have spent the last several months as culinary tourists in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.
We found plenty that “ain’t normal” but also lots of innovation underway in the journey from farm to food to you. Let’s start with the USA.
Corporate Farming ain’t Normal
Our travelogue starts with the凝胶(Good Experience Live) conference April 17-19, 2013, in New York City. The gathering featured talks about urban development through the High-Line public park built on an historic freight rail line elevated above the streets on Manhattan’s West Side and the resurrection of Governor’s Island as a lively public space. On rural matters, Joel Salatin (The High Priest of the Pasture) spoke about how religious faith informs sustainable agriculture at his Swoops, Virginia Polyface Farm. He really got the crowd going, however, with a fire-and-brimstone damnation of the “Church of Industrial Foods.”
粮食生产在美国怎么了?亚柯rding to Salatin, just about everything: chemical fertilizers, transgenic modified seeds, toxic pesticides, concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), and countless other practices of corporate farms, all aided and abetted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). His point: farmers for years relied on pasturing, manure, crop rotation, animal husbandry, and common sense to turn out safe and healthy foods. The food production system today “just ain’t normal.”
嗯,很多美食家同意。越来越多的他们(aka locovores) are turning to organic produce and to “local” food sources and eateries. But surveys also find that many more mainstream food consumers are asking questions about and making purchasing decisions based on not only price, but also perceptions of food safety, product ingredients, animal treatment, and the reputation of the companies behind the brands that they buy.
Greener Dairies and Urban Farming
How is industry responding? Let’s head to Detroit, Michigan where the management team of theInnovation Center of U.S. Dairy在Erin Fitzgerald的领导下，聚集在一起审查年度目标并退房“城市耕作”。她的创新团队与成千上万的乳制品农民在生命周期评估中，旨在将温室气体（GHG）排放量减少25％的牛奶收集，生产，运输，包装和分布。另一个项目将在2020年将1,300名甲烷消化器置于奶牛场。在本次会议上，该团队审查了新的动物护理指南和促进农民的第三方核查人文动物护理措施的进展。
好的，所以乳制品行业正在唤醒可持续性，但都有城市农业怎么样？底特律拥有超过60,000多个空置的土地，更多（90,000）被振动箱占据。经过广泛的社区领导和城市委员会的投票进行了广泛的磋商，投资者约翰汉兹购买了140亩的废弃城市土地，清除了场地，开始种植树木和观赏作物。立即瞄准，据Hantz Farm总统迈克分数，是为了减少城市枯萎，在冬天和夏天的阴凉处为邻居添加颜色，而且，超过长期，出售硬木支付投资。虽然这一领域的食品生产不太可能很快，但底特律的其他行为在靠近湖泊附近的一栋老工业建筑的多层次温室的发展和室内罗非鱼鱼类农业的推出。为了更多地洞察蓬勃发展的当地农场到食物场景，查看底特律的东部市场和该地区的其他人（安娜堡，伯明翰，皇家橡树）。
可持续食品实验室oratory
Next up was some virtual tourism where we reviewed results from the annual summit of the可持续食品实验室. The mission of the Sustainable Food Laboratory, led by co-directors Hal Hamilton and Don Seville, is to “accelerate the shift of sustainable food from niche to mainstream.” The lab’s interests encompass the fertility of soil, water and biodiversity protection, the livelihoods and practices of farmers and farm workers, energy use and waste discharge, and the quality and affordability of food.
The over 80 lab members and partners include early innovators like Ben & Jerry’s, Stonyfield Farms, and Green Mountain Coffee, corporate giants like Cargill, Aramark, H.J. Heintz, Sodexho, Starbucks, and Sysco from the U.S., food producers and purveyors such as Unilever and Marks & Spencer from abroad, and the likes of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Catholic Relief Services, Fair Trade USA, and the Food Marketing Institute. This mix of competitors and competing interests often find common ground in joint projects. At the 2013 summit where attention focused on the “nuts-and-bolts” of sustainable sourcing, Dirk Jan de With, VP of Procurement Ingredients & Sustainability at Unilever remarked, “We need to make more progress in the top ten commodities. We can’t do this alone or just with suppliers. Opportunities to accelerate are all about collaboration.”
What are members collaborating on? In various combinations they are involved in connecting small scale producers to modern markets, green farmer training projects, reducing GHG and water emissions in farm operations, food safety and sustainability certification schemes, and consumer education and engagement. The Sustainable Food Laboratory exemplifies the kinds of multi-business and cross-sector partnering we have been writing about in recent months. What distinguishes the sustainable food lab is the open sharing and emphasis on “action-learning” among the members. They also get coaching on becoming more effective change agents in their organizations and industries.
Kevin Rabinovitch of Mars explained the impact in this way: “After I go to these meetings I unabashedly use your ideas and progress as a prod for people in our organization and if you aren’t doing that too, get on it. I do this unapologetically to accelerate inspiration and energy.”
Other Innovations for Foodies
In our next blog, we will follow the trends toward sustainable farming and food production to Europe and onward to Asia. Consider these closing thoughts for foodies on the USA scene. We two recently attended a conference on Responsible Leadership at Northeastern University where Stu Larson, VP of Organizational Effectiveness for Panera Bread described his company’s “pay what you can” program at fivePanera cares.美国咖啡馆
在这些咖啡馆，三明治，汤等没有设定的价格。相反，客户可以为他们的膳食制作“建议的捐赠”，但是可以自由地支付更多，少，或根本没有任何东西。当然有免费的骑手，但是咖啡馆占营利机收入的约70％，并为贫困和无家可归提供了一个众所周知的免费午餐。有趣的是，该公司在圣路易斯的所有网点中开始提供一份工资 - 您可以提供（5.98美元的土耳其辣椒），但已将此程序拉动此计划重新工具。失败的实验？Ganera的共同行政长官Ron Shaich说，这一情况并非如此，使Panera从实验中学到的案例，将来会更好地市场上市，并鼓励消费者对饥饿，食品价格和更健康的饮食互相交流。
Finally, do you want to talk more about these matters and others pertaining to food safety and security, government subsidies, the future of family farms, and facts about over-and-under-consumption? The Lewis Institute has a place where “food is everybody’s business.” Its食物溶胶ution Institute(Food Sol), run by Rachel Greenberger, involves companies in small local experiments and provides a forum where erstwhile food entrepreneurs can pitch their ideas and get reactions (and maybe some funding) from food companies and venture capitalists.
Every week Food Sol hosts a community table where Babson students and faculty, as well as farmers, and business people, can share ideas, questions, and challenges. On October 24, 2013, Babson hosts its annual Food Day where celebrated foodies and Entrepreneurs-in-Residence Andrew Zimmern and Gail Simmons will lead sessions on innovation and entrepreneurship in food production, cooking, and eating.
See you there. Come hungry.