An article in the Fall 2009 Boulderganic magazine.
link to story http://bit.ly/Ks8Pr


Produce guru

A chat with Mark Menagh about our local food chain

by Marissa Hermanson

Q: What is your involvement with the local food industry?

A: I’m president of KORU Fresh Innovations, a consultancy helping small- and medium-sized companies increase productivity. I’m on the Board of Directors of Naturally Boulder Products, which is a city-sponsored nonprofit organization dedicated to making Boulder the epicenter of the natural food industry. Naturally Boulder intentionally attracts new business to Boulder by connecting all of the participants in the sector through networking and educational events. I’m also on the Boulder County Food and Agricultural Policy Council, a recently formed council advising our county commissioners on the issues of food security, food sovereignty and the needs of the agricultural community. I was the executive director of the Boulder County Farmers’ Markets working with more than 100 farmers and 50 specialty food vendors. In this role I worked with CSU Agricultural Extension office to build a new farmer program and was one of the advisors for new farmers looking for channels to build their direct sales. Specialty food vendors in the natural food arena are a favorite area of mine, and I worked to find entrepreneurs who were ready to start marketing their products and hadn’t made it into the mainstream grocery store yet.

Q: How do you encourage Boulder residents to shop for food?

A: As wisely as possible, which means that we should know the companies or farmers that produce our food. So, let’s purchase food produced locally when we can. All of us have favorite brands that we trust, but I like to encourage consumers to evaluate their favorite brands and determine if they still deserve their loyalty. The food industry is changing rapidly to meet changing consumer demands and meet their profit targets by increasing the amount of highly processed substitute ingredients. Our food producers are in a competitive environment and very demand driven. We have seen the food industry change rapidly when consumers change buying habits. As consumers we make a political decision every time we choose to eat something. If a company is local, you can find out a lot more about them and can find ways to verify their green or ethical claims than you can any large international company. By choosing fresh food produced locally, when possible, our money goes into the local economy and uses the local sun, soil, water and labor to stimulate productivity in our community. Developing a productive local economy is both simple and powerful when we choose to buy local.

Q: What are the benefits of buying local over organic?

A: Comparing local to organic is an inequitable comparison. Both have positive factors, and I believe the best is both local and organic. Key factors for me are healthy food, fresh food, environmentally positive and local. Every individual must decide what issues are most important every time we choose an item to eat. I choose organic over local when I know the local conventional producer is not using healthy environmental processes. I always choose local when an item is in season and it’s produced with environmental consciousness. I know of many local farmers who are not certified organic but grow their food in a healthy way that is sustainable, and I would choose their products over some farmers that are local and certified organic. The Country of Origin Labeling that we are finally seeing in our stores makes choosing consciously even easier now, but we need more labeling to know we are truly purchasing local unless we purchase direct from the producer. Buying conventional produce grown outside of the U.S. is not wise unless you know that country is following standards better or similar to the U.S., and even then it doesn’t meet the environmentally conscious criteria of minimizing our carbon footprint.Organic certification gives us a standard, and there is no other label or certification that comes close to providing the consumer with real information about how a product is produced. If cost is a concern for the consumer, they can shop for items that have less risk of pesticide exposure or fruits and vegetables where pesticides can be safely removed. If people choose organic first for the benefit of our earth, they can choose those organic items when conventionally grown require much more pesticides and herbicides such as grapes, peaches, sweet bell peppers and potatoes. This way we will have the most positive environmental impact. In this context, let’s look at potatoes. Based upon my criteria, I always choose organic because conventionally grown potatoes are poisoned with pesticides, and this impacts my health and the health of our soil.

Q: Is local or organic better for our environment?

A: Organic is the best for our environment. Many local producers here in Boulder County use toxic herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers. You cannot choose local and automatically claim to be making the best decision.

Q: Both local and organic food is expensive. How do you suggest people buy it on a budget?

A: Visit our community local farms, farm stands and farmers markets. There is no more competitive environment that a farmers’ market with farmers lined up side by side selling the same items. Find a farmer you can trust and become loyal to them. That is the most rewarding thing you can do both for peace of mind of how you food was grown and your pocket book. Buy your food in season, you will save money and eat a much healthier diet. And most of all, to save money and to eat healthier, eliminate processed food from your diet.

Q: What should everyone know about Boulder County’s food chain?

A: We currently do not come anywhere near meeting the local demand for fresh food from our local agricultural producers. We continue to produce less food for human consumption in Boulder County even though we are increasing the number of small farms that are selling direct. Our land-use policies and the sub-rural homeowners’ reluctance to have agricultural land use close to their property is driving our farmers farther and farther away from us. As a community we need to find a way to support our local, small farms so they can continue to afford to farm and live here — and flourish! We make it very hard to start a farm by not allowing small greenhouses, not allowing seasonal farm labor to live on the farms and by not understanding the beauty and benefits of having organic small farms as neighbors. We have thousands of acres of zoned agricultural, publicly owned land in our open space in both our city and county programs. This land, with the right policies and economic incentives, could make our community economically stronger, more productive, healthier, and more food secure.

Q: Any other information?

A: “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants,” as Michael Pollan, a popular journalist said. And I will add that if you are going to eat any processed food or conventionally grown food other than organic fruits and vegetables you should question what is sold as food by the industrial food supply chain we have come to rely upon. Some ingredients used to grow and process food may not be what you would choose to eat. We have found ways to artificially create almost every major ingredient in our food. With modern chemistry we are able to create many synthetic materials, and some of these end up in our food for no other reason than to replace natural ingredients with less expensive alternatives. Why we would choose to eat these substances is beyond me. The adulteration of food for efficiency of production is not exclusive to processed foods, our fruits and vegetables, even our meats and diary items are often produced in ways that degrade their nutritional and healthy nature. It is up to each individual consumer to make educated choices that influence the food supply chain and help keep real food available for their families

Ann Cooper discussion

RT @FreshIdeasGroup: Today: Ann Cooper & WFM Walter Robb discussing school lunch with Dep Sec of Ag Kathleen Merrigan

http://tinyurl.com/mxnrmp

On The Washington Post

Quotes from Ann

"Let's not talk about where it comes from at this point. I never start with, "It has to be local." I start with, "It has to be food." If we could just feed children food, we would have made huge progress. Then we can talk about how it was produced and where it comes from.
We can't have better, designer, processed food. I know there are meetings all over Washington today and tomorrow. And the big companies are there talking about how with more money they can make better products. I'm not interested in better products! I'm interested in food. And we can get food to children if we work at it."

We only have a minimum calorie count, not a maximum, under the USDA standards. That came from World War II when we had malnourished children who couldn't serve in the military. So then they lowered the fat to 30 percent. But when you lowered the fat, the calorie count was not lowered.

AC: It wasn't that long ago. It was maybe 10 years ago. And, oh by the way, in this age of obesity, you can feed kids 2,000 calories at lunch. No problem. That's not an issue. But if I serve 600 instead of 650, I can get busted. And when you serve fresh fruits and vegetables, you're hard-pressed to hit those calorie counts at lunch. "

Yes another must see movie "Here we Grow" http://www.herewegrowmovie.com/

review in Daily Cam http://bit.ly/ZYILI

and even more information on "Here We Grow" http://bit.ly/NOlrc