Spring Growing Trends

The sun is shining, the ground is thawing and Addison County farmers are revving up for a new growing season. What’s going on this spring in the local agricultural community? More than you might imagine. The Middlebury Campus investigates three of the hottest trends in farming this spring.

CSAs
— cool farmer lingo for Community Supported Agriculture

Here’s how it works: you pay for a share of a farm’s produce for a growing season. The farm grows and harvests the crops. Every week, you pick up a crate full of delicious produce from the farm or a pickup location.

Jeremy Gildrien is the co-owner of Gildrien Farm in Middlebury which, together with Four Family Farm in Salisbury, Vt., supplies produce for the Neighborly CSA in Middlebury. Gildrien defined CSAs as “providing front-end customers with as wide a variety of food products as we can.”

Will Stevens, co-owner of Golden Russet Farm in Shoreham, Vt., which also runs a CSA, described it as the new entry point for crops moving into the consumer’s realm, as opposed to the farmers’ market.

Go organic
— everybody’s doing it

According to Dave Dolginow ’09.5, a current employee at Golden Russet Farm, one of the biggest annual events in the local farming community is the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT) winter conference. When NOFA-VT first started about 40 years ago, said Dolginow, less than 100 people attended, and they were all “back-to-the-land hippies.” But over time, things have changed. This year’s conference in February was attended by all the Vermont legislators, as well as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.

“Organic has really developed to the point that it demonstrates that it is economically feasible, that there is a big market for it, that people want fresh produce, fresh food, that’s grown responsibly,” said Dolginow.

Richard Wiswall ’79, co-owner of Cate Farm in East Montpelier, Vt., agrees. Wiswall has recently published a book called “The Organic Farmer’s Business Handbook: A Complete Guide to Managing Finances, Crops, and Staff — and Making a Profit.” Wiswall believes in the economic feasibility of organic farming.

“That’s what I’m trying to do in the book,” explained Wiswall. “To help people farm smarter, and not harder.”

One way to farm smarter, said Wiswall, is to dissect your farming system and track exactly how much money is made off each crop, so you can drop the crops that aren’t profitable. “It’s more paying attention,” said Wiswall. “That’s what’s important.”

Gleaning
— the act of harvesting surplus and unwanted crops from a farm;
the newest hunger-fighting strategy in Addison County

Jeanne Montross, executive director of Helping Overcome Poverty’s Effects (HOPE), asks the question, “What can we do in Addison County to provide this food for everybody in a way that works for everybody?”

The answer? Gleaning.

In the fall of 2009, HOPE launched a large-scale gleaning project in Addison County. Volunteers harvested 8,478 pounds of produce from farms across the county, which were distributed to food shelves, community suppers and day cares for low-income families.
Gleaning originated in ancient times, explained Montross, when farmers would leave part of their crop in the field so that travelers could find food on their journeys. Montross is working to revive that concept in a modern context for Addison County.

Although most gleaning happens in the fall, HOPE will be processing and distributing food through the spring and summer, as well as working on ways to expand and develop the program for next gleaning season.

Besides the latest fads, Addison County farmers will be enjoying the usual signs of spring.

“It’s the air, the smell, the soil,” mused Stevens. “There’s something about the smell — it’s great. Spring’s here. That’s new and exciting.”

How can you get in on this spring’s hottest trends? Buy a CSA share with some friends for the summer, check out Wiswall’s new book or help out at HOPE’s food shelf in town.