At the Appalachia Grows Conference last weekend, I sensed a resolve to make the local food system work. Garrett County already has a food hub – the Garrett Growers Cooperative, Inc. It has been primarily selling to restaurants,but Extension Agent Willie Lantz...
By the middle of the 20th century, we had lost the capacity to feed ourselves. As the century progressed, we had become increasingly enamored with everything shiny and new. By the 1960s, people were even walking on the moon! Innovation seemed limitless. Everything new...
The new and beginning farmers of today do not pursue the career to get rich. Most are drawn by the chance to work outside, to be their own bosses and to grow food to sell. A recent New York Times Letter to the Editor by Bren Smith entitled “Don’t Let Your...
As reported earlier in this blog, direct sales of food for human consumption grew 32% in Maryland between 2007 and 2012. However, sales of local food to grocery stores and institutions in Maryland has not been as robust because the channels for local food aggregation...
As mentioned previously in this blog, both the National Restaurant Association and the National Grocers Association have identified the desire for local food as one of the strongest consumer trends. How is Maryland doing? The short answer is that we are making...
Vacationing here near Lake Michigan, it is easy to eat local. Grocery stores sell milk from local farms (grass fed and antibiotic free). Bread is locally sourced, some of it from organic grain farms. There are lots of greens in the local stores and farmers markets....
