Community-supported food suppliers on the rise
March 31, 2009
Million-dollar homes are a stone’s throw away from Meyer’s Farm in Woodbury, Long Island. More produce growers used to cultivate nearby lands in what has become a tony suburb, but the Meyer family kept a swath of acreage and plies the community with corn, pumpkins, house plants and other earthly products year-round.
Their special bond with customers is a win-win. They keep their profession alive, and customers buy from a trusted, local source they feel good about supporting. They know their food is local and has a low carbon footprint. Other farmers a few miles away draw repeat customers and passersby to their roadside tables and vans for fresh pies, ciders and vegetables.
Meyer’s is a private enterprise, not a community-funded cooperative where people pay a fee and share set amounts of harvests. However, its relationship with the community it serves symbolizes a dynamic that repeats itself in countless pockets across the nation, and creates a vast American food network outside of supermarkets and other retailers. The appeals are food freshness, quality, value, confidence in local resources, and a unifying togetherness.
Actual cooperatives are growing at a time when people feel unsettled by economic turmoil, and want to reconnect with some grounded elements in life.
To read the full article:
http://supermarketguru-com.advantex.net/index.cfm/go/sg.viewArticle/articleId/376
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