Findings

About a month has passed from the initial inspiration for "How Does My Food Come From?" of investigating the interrelations between Localvores and local food systems to the completion of our project, and the way that we all think about local food systems has matured substantially. It has always seemed so easy to eat locally, just spend a bit more money and buy your food at the farmers' market, right? What really goes into eating truly local was eye-opening to say the least.

The benefits of eating locally produced foods are numerous and well established. Your money goes to members of the local community, farming is sustained in the Champlain Valley, The food is fresher and healthier for you, you save fossil fuels by avoiding both the mechanization of large-scale agriculture and the transportation of foods from farms to vendors, and you are using your purchasing power to support something that you truly value instead of the distant and disconnected farms of large-scale commercial agriculture.

Instead of investigating the tired topic of reasons to commit to buying local produce, we decided to investigate the numerous models of local agriculture and their advantages and drawbacks. Through interviewing farmers from many different types of local food systems and taking an introspective look at our own consumption, we found both bountiful hope and large hurdles that still must be surpassed.

The Intervale has developed into not only community agriculture, but a community of farmers who are all stakeholders in each others' success. The interrelations between the farms which all occupy the same Winooski River floodplain is a microcosm of the local agricultural movement. While Pitchfork Farms is only 6 acres, their impact is that of a much larger farm. Members of the community are encouraged to visit the intervale and the farm, volunteer, and engage in the production of the food that they so regularly purchase off the shelf at the supermarket. This engagement is vitally important in transcending the "cheap food" concept that we are so accustomed to. The opportunity afforded to volunteers to participate in daily farming activities allows them to experience the true amount of labor that goes into producing food, and fosters an understanding that rich food costs more than we are used to. This paradigm shift is one of the major road blocks to transitioning from conventional, subsidized food to a more local, logical food system.

Bread and Butter Farm takes connecting the consumers to the producers one step further with their summer Burger Nights. For one night a week community members come to the farm and participate in a truly special event. The food is local, the music is local, and the people all come together to spend one night together eating food from the very farm at which it grew. Bread and Butter farm transcends the idea that volunteering is the only way that the community connects with farm. The burgers, bread and salads are modest in price, but resplendent in flavor.

Common Ground Farm functions not as a commercial farm, but as a student-run organization. Five students work full time, many volunteer, and the food is distributed exclusively through a Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA model. Shares are sold at the beginning of the season, and delivered weekly throughout the summer. CSAs are a great educational tool, serving both to engage us in the farming of our food and to teach us to eat seasonally, cooking what you get when you get it and making dishes with vegetables you may or may not be familiar with.

Lewis Creek Farm also has a CSA system as well as an on-site farmstand, but most of its food is distributed through Black River Produce to restaurants and vendors throughout the Champlain Valley.  So even if restaurant patrons don't know exactly where their spinach salad came from, they can rest assured that they are supporting local agriculture through the Vermont Fresh Network.  And although the farm is not fully organic, its locality is perhaps more important than the fact that some pesticides and fertilizers are used, and best agricultural practices are still followed on Lewis Creek Farm, ensuring the availability of high quality foods in perpetuity without the need to add exorbitant amounts of synthetic fertilizers to the soils to maintain their productivity.  Hank Bissell, who runs the farm, is a steward of the local foods movement, having played a large role in the establishment of the Burlington Winter Farmers' Market, making healthy, local food available to community members year round.

The final aspect of our inquiry was to test the feasibility of actually eating local for a period of time. Scott attempted this and encountered hurdles that none of us had anticipated. Being early spring, the selection of locally produced food available in northern Vermont was limited, and he found that he was not familiar with all of the vegetables that he was able to purchase at the farmers' market. There was also the issue of products that are essential to the diet that we are used to just aren't always available from local sources. Not only is it complicated to eat seasonally, but even in Burlington it is difficult to avoid non-local goods for a period of two weeks. On a daily basis we are tempted by the availability of prepared foods on campus. Eating fully local would require menu planning, a practice common for restaurant chefs ordering their produce for the week, but a bit out of the ordinary for your average college student. Lastly there is the issue of the budget. When attempted on a conventional foods budget, purchasing enough local foods for a week is very strenuous.

We started with a simple inquiry: "how does my food come from?". What we uncovered was far more complex than we had anticipated. The multifaceted answer to the simple question has economic, social, and climatic contributing factors. To establish truly local food systems will require a shift in our Americanized point of view about how much of our income we spend on our food, which is relatively small compared to what individuals in other cultures spend.  It will also require more engagement and education about local food systems. Finally, we found a false sense of seasonality engrained in the way we think about what to cook and eat. If we want to eat local, we will have to eat apples in the fall, root vegetables in the winter, and tomatoes in the summer; all foods are not available all of the time. However, our case studies were all very promising. There are many people across the Chittenden Valley participating in the localvore movement, we are very lucky to live in a community where eating truly local is a very tangible concept. It would require the aforementioned augmentations to change the way that we live and eat, but as the aptly named band Rage Against the Machine's front man Zach De La Rocha says, "What better place than here, what better time than now?"

Real Estate Markets Reflect Local Food Movement

An article on VTDigger from last summer says that prices for rural land are rising steadily in Vermont, driven not simply by an increase in the number of people interested in starting a farm, but also by consumer demand for local food and Vermont-made products.

The article quotes former state Agriculture Secretary Roger Allbee as saying, "This is real, and it’s explosive.  Today’s consumers are more concerned about where their food came from; they are concerned about food safety and the environment; and they like to connect with the person who grew their food."

Despite support from localvores and Vermont's current-use program, which limits property taxes on conserved land like farms and forests, new farmers find it difficult to break into the real estate market, especially in dairy, because they don't have the capital to buy land.

That's where the Vermont Land Trust and the State Housing and Conservation Trust Board come in, easing the financial burden on farmers by purchasing development rights to ensure that land remains conserved beyond the current owners.

Another popular option for new farmers is leasing land, which gives them the means to get started without putting themselves in huge debt.  This is especially important given continued interest of real estate buyers who simply want rural land to enjoy as it is, but who need a little extra income from leasing to support the purchase.

The long of the short of it is that the local food movement in Vermont has become a tangible force in the state's real estate and agricultural industries, which make up a huge portion of the state's economy.  With any hope, the momentum will continue into the uncertain future of the American food system, ensuring that Vermonters will continue to have access to plenty of healthy, wholesome food.

'Working Toward a Just, Equitable, and Local Food Sytem'

This research paper, published in the Social Science Quarterly journal, examines who in the Vermont community is eating local foods. The researcher, Thomas Macias, looked through three different lenses to understand local food systems. The first one, food equity, helped Macias see which part of the population is eating local food; this lens helps refer to the differences in social class, race, and gender. The next lens was social integration, which helped quantify the importance of human connection and how that can relate to food systems. Lastly, natural human capital was used as a lens, which helps look at what kind of jobs are in the community.

These three lenses were used to look at three different models of the local food system: community-supported agriculture (CSA), community gardens and organic market farms. Through looking at these models with the social lenses, Macias found which model was best for each section of the local society.  In solving the problem of food equity, none of the models of local agriculture were best for getting food to people of lower income. The best model of local farming over all lenses was community gardening, which proved to be a good way to keep the lots of the community involved, interacting at a low price. The only negative of community gardening is that it is a huge time commitment, so individuals working 2 jobs or long days cannot participate as much.

Bread and Butter Farm

Bread and Butter Farm is located in Shelburne, VT.  The farm was sold to Adam Wilson and Corie Pierce 3 years ago through the Vermont Land Trust.  They were able to save the land from development and instead kept it for farming purposes  It is only a few miles from the center of Burlington, and allows for an easy opportunity to experience Vermont farm life.

I took Dorset Road to get to the farm; which was found right after all of the housing developments eased into a more typical Vermont landscape.  After pulling into the farm I immediately saw Maurice Leduc, who was the previous owner of the farm.   He waved to us as we pulled into the farm store, only to meet another member of the team, Erik (the resident baker of the delicious bread!).

Bread and Butter Farm produces milk products from 100% grass fed cows.  These cows are milked once a day, which lowers production rates, but allows for the highest quality of milk.  They are also rotated from their pastures 2 times daily, which allows for increased productivity and health of the soils.  Lastly, the manure from the cows is composted and used once again in the hay fields.

Beef and pork products are also sold at the farm.  These animals are all allowed to graze and rotate among the pastures as well. They raise the pork on leftovers from the bakery and dairy production which allows for complete recycling of the nutrients.

They also harvest greens in passive solar greenhouses.  These greenhouses keep the ground thawed to allow the harvest of greens, such as kale and spinach, throughout the winter months.

Although Bread and Butter Farm offers a great array of food products, they also find it very important to connect with local communities.  Their method of growing community is through hosting weekly "Burger Nights" throughout the summer.  Their motto for these events is, "good food, good music, good people."  When I spoke with Erik he said that "Burger Nights" began last summer.  In the early months there were around 100 attendees, but by the end of the summer at least 400 locals would arrive, ready for a great night.

These nights are 100% local as they offer burgers from cows raised right on the farm that you can actually go meet! (well sort of!)  The bread is made the day of the event and all of the salad greens are produced in the farm's greenhouses.  If you are not in the mood for a juicy burger you can certainty go down the route of a delicious veggie burger from the farm down the road.  These nights are great opportunities for the community to not only have a great time but to really see where their food comes from.  I would encourage anyone and everyone to attend one of these "Burger Nights," as I plan to as soon as they start up again in the warmer months!

Bread and Butter Farm is a great example of a local farm that is run almost entirely by community support.  All of the production is local, and they treat their animals with the highest level of care.  They recycle nutrients when possible and don't wear out any of their valuable resources.  Most importantly they are able to connect back to the community by allowing open access to their farm at all times and offering community events.  Bread and Butter Farm should be used as an example for other farms to encourage the best possible farming techniques.    

The Farm to Plate Initiative

Farm to Plate initiatives looks to double local consumption of Vermont raised food

In 2009, Vermont state legislature created the Farm to Plate initiative with the goal of designing a state food and agriculture strategy. The initiative is seeking to "Increase economic development in Vermont's food and farm sector", "Create jobs in the food and farm economy", and "Improve access to healthy local foods". Specifically, as the article's title alludes to, the initiative is looking to double the amount of local food consumption in the state over the next decade. According to a report, if this goal were reached, 1,500 jobs would be created in Vermont, and the state's economy would be boosted by as much as $135 million. Obviously, both job creation and an income boost would benefit Vermont, but having greater access to sustainably and locally produced food would be of equal value to Vermont's citizens. In October of 2011, the Farm to Plate initiative held a conference in Fairlee, Vermont which was attended by about 150 Vermonters, all seeking to work together to make this initiative a reality. At the conference, the attendees gathered in small groups to discuss issues such as the prevalence of local food in Vermont cafeterias, the potential of in-state butcher training programs, and creating a network to link farmers and potential landowners throughout the state. To retain the initiative's momentum, the event organizers proposed that groups should meet again later in 2011, and follow up with another meeting in the first quarter of 2012. While this initiative is a good step in the right direction to helping Vermonters become more conscious of where their food is grown or produced, the proposed followups need to materialize, and more similar initiatives should be created.

Hanna's Foodshed Map

Check out a map of where Hanna's food came from for a day, meal-by-meal:

What is farmed in your home town?

Great interactive agricultural land use GIS map!
 This agricultural land use map really puts in prospective what we farm and where we farm it. You can change the data by year and get a (recent) historical perspective as well as what crops are farmed in each region.Franklin, Chittenden and Addison counties are quite heavily farmed when compared to the rest of the country!

CropScape

Blog 2

This link will take you to a second blog that I completed. It is my own experience trying to eat only local food. I decided to make a separate blog for continuity and clarity.

http://nr104.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

NPR's "The Salt" Investigates the Changing Face of Community Supported Agriculture

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/03/28/149564453/what-is-community-supported-agriculture-the-answer-keeps-changing?sc=tw

NPR's food blog "The Salt" investigated the changing face of CSAs and folks' changing attitudes as a result. CSA's have become so popular that everyone is jumping on the bandwagon. This has led to perversion of the traditional CSA ideal with many offering services that don't entail the member ever visiting the farm and connecting with their food or their farmers.

Pitchfork Farm and the Intervale

The Intervale is a very interesting place to look at in terms of local food systems because it is a non-profit company which has a main goal to jump-start Burlington local agriculture. The Intervale’s original set up was to rent spaces to community members who would like to start a farm. During the five years, the renter would also be able to rent equipment and green house space. After the five years were over, the renters were assumed to move off the Intervale, with regular customers (whether individuals or restaurants) that they now had connections to. Now the farmers whose land is on the Intervale are more permanent and are even looking in to buying the equipment from the Intervale.

In order to find out more about the Intervale and the individual farms on the property, I got in touch with Rob Rock, one of the farmers at Pitchfork Farm. Pitchfork farm is a relatively small patch of land in the Intervale, covering six acres. The farm produces mostly staple foods, including root vegetables, greens and tomatoes although they do have some ‘fancy’ veggies, like micro-greens, when a restaurant requests it. (To find out more about Pitchfork Farm: http://pitchforkfarmvt.com/)

Rob and Eric at Pitchfork Farm

Originally, Rob and his co-farmer Eric started getting into agriculture when they were in their early 20s. He initially wanted to start because of his involvement in the environmental movement. Rob felt a sense of guilt for the amount of impact that we as humans had on the environment, and wanted to help lower the carbon footprint. Since then his ideals have changed. Although he still cares for the environment, his main reason for working on the farm is to help people understand what kind of work agriculture is. From having and working on Pitchfork farms for 5 years, he has realized that we have an epidemic of a falsely low cost of food. When shopping for food, most people expect their produce to be extremely cheap and are outraged when it is more expensive. This is because we have under-valued food and the work involved in agriculture. By having people come work on the farm, with fresh vegetables as compensation, Rob can share the experience of farming with the normal consumers in the community.

The only way Pitchfork farms brings community members into a real relationship with their food is there food shares in which people work a day and get some food in return. Because farmer's markets have so many farms that grow the same food, it is hard to make money there. Another problem with the farmer's market is that the farmers are expected to be personable, when in reality farmers (or at least as Rob has experienced)  have worked so hard all week and then are forced to stand all day and talk to strangers. And because the Intervale has a CSA set up with a combination of farms on the property, Pitchfork farms does not have their own CSA, but just participates with the larger one.

But even though Pitchfork farm does not have too much direct contact with the individuals of Burlington, they have defiantly felt connected to the community. During the summer the Intervale has parties called Summervale, which have lots of the farm produce on sale. Along with being fun, these parties are hosted to get more community members in the Intervale and to have an understanding of what the farms are like. The farm also felt a strong relationship with the community after hurricane Irene. Like the rest of the Intervale, Pitchfork farm was hit pretty hard by the storm and lost a lot of their crops. With the help of fundraising through the Intervale, City Market, and individuals, Pitchfork could make up for about half of the money they lost from Irene.

From going down to the Intervale and talking to Rob Rock, I have realized the relationship between the Intervale and the individual farmer. For example, Pitchfork Farm has a very specific goal of changing the food system in America, and the Intervale as advocates for local farmers, have created a connection between the farmers and the consumers in order to really make a difference. The Intervale helps the farms better connect with the community members, which is why the farms in the intervale are so successful.

Photos:

pitchforkfarmvt.com/sites/default/files/farmers_in_sun.JPG

Meet a Farmer!

           Nestled in the valley through which Lewis Creek and highway 116 run from the foothills of the Green Mountains, Lewis Creek Farm looks as much a part of the landscape as the mixed forests and weathered rocks that surround it and the tiny, close-knit town of Starksboro, about 21 miles south of Burlington.  Purchased in 1981 by Hank Bissell, a New York City native and graduate of the Putney School, at the time this 145-acre property consisted of wooded swamp and floodplain adjacent to rich upland forests.  

Hank sneaks a delicious strawberry behind the barn(1).

Hank believes that this particular geology is responsible for the success of Lewis Creek Farm (recently incorporated into an LLC) in providing a variety of fresh vegetables and rather large chicken eggs to residents of the Champlain Valley.  Although the farm is not strictly organic, it is certainly a shining example of sustainable agriculture and ecologically-grown food, because as a good farmer, Hank cares deeply about the quality of the food and the health of the land, and uses sustainable farming techniques such as cover crop rotation, integrated pest management, green manure fertilization, and minimal tilling.  So even without organic certification, Hank says that "Lewis Creek Farm markets to people with a conscience, but perhaps not enough money to buy fully organic."

Most of those customers live in the Burlington and Middlebury areas, purchasing food from the farm in one (or more) of three ways.   A vast majority of the farm's business comes from wholesale to local restaurants and stores, such as American Flatbread, Fire and Ice, and City Market, distributed through Black River Produce (check out Lewis Creek Farm's member info on the Vermont Fresh Network website).

Some customers pick up food directly at the farm stand through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), a system in which consumers support the farm directly in exchange for a portion of the produce grown throughout the season.  Originally, CSA shares were earned by working on the farm, as is still done on Aresthusa Farm at the Intervale, but these days, all of LCF's 60 summer and 40 winter CSA customers simply pay a flat rate at the beginning of the year.  This accounts for about 10% of the farm's income and about 5% of its food volume, and for consumers it's 10-15% cheaper to buy a CSA share than retail.  Moreover, some of Hank's customers believe that having a CSA share forces them to eat healthier instead of buying on impulse.  Hank thinks that for others, it's simply a matter of convenience.  Having a CSA share means that "you get what's available, and for some that's easier than deciding what to buy when you go grocery shopping."

But for many, a CSA represents something much deeper.  At this point, Hank's wife Margot chimed in, saying, "I had a community garden plot at the Intervale when I lived and worked in Burlington, but I was so tired after working in the garden that I ended up eating out more.  How ironic!"  In other words, CSA allows people to connect with the place their food comes from while still having time for everything else in the day.  Even though the Lewis Creek Farm CSA program is only five or six years old, it is really the continuation of a much older local connection.  For a long time, Rockville Market Farm supplied all the CSA customers in the Starksboro area, but when it closed down, its consumers felt that they had lost a connection to the local landscape, giving Hank an opportunity to fill the gap.

The crew harvesting carrots missed by the machinery(2).

This also shows how small farmers find their niche in a big, competitive local food market like Vermont's.  For instance, Hank doesn't grow mesculin greens because Digger's Mirth at the Intervale already has the Burlington mesculin market cornered.  Instead, Lewis Creek Farm features lots of root crops like carrots and potatoes, which allows Hank to sell food straight through the winter.  In fact, Hank was one of the co-founders of the Burlington Winter Farmer's Market, which was really a spontaneous, grass-roots development spurred by the city's demand for local food year-round.  In essence, Hank said, "I'm going to be there selling my vegetables, come join me if you like," and like a seed that colonizes new land, the market has blossomed into a bi-weekly gathering of about 30 local food and craft vendors (there's a neat time-lapse video of the market set-up on its website).

 Another aspect of Hank's leadership in the local community is his role as treasurer of the Starksboro Water Co-op, an alternative to both private and public utility models.  Although Starksboro's residents have always owned the town's water system, it was formerly operated by a private company controlled by the Vermont Public Service Board, which had "too many hoops to jump through" due to obscure and specific regulations designed for larger towns.  Now, the system is operated by a co-op into which residents pay as they would for utilities in a city like Burlington, but delivery is no longer controlled by the PSB, making life a lot simpler, if not for Hank, at least for his neighbors.

Of course, being a farmer isn't easy.  Hank rarely gets vacations during the growing season, and some days in early spring, he gets up at three in the morning to check the wood stove in the greenhouse so his seedlings don't freeze.  And there are always unpredictables, such as losing most of a potato field to flooding from hurricane Irene over the summer.  With that kind of pressure and commitment, I have to wonder why it is people freely choose a career in farming.

For Hank, a large part of it was an emotional connection to a farm in Vermont that he and his sister visited frequently in the summer when he was about 6 years old.  Hank remembers being asked to help out a bit and enjoying the feeling of being a part of things, and was well-liked on the farm because he got things done and "didn't ask so damn many questions."  Hank thinks that part of the reason he started farming was that he got good recognition for his manual labor skills, giving him confidence to take on bigger challenges.  And it's not just the manual labor, says Hank, "but looking at the big picture.  I've got so many ideas about how to run things, and I've just gotta do them."  Though he admits he sometimes has trouble with all the details, he has a certain subtlety and finesse in his work, and he's a natural salesman.  His advertising sound byte of "Kohlrabi: the Delicious Vegetable" has convinced scores of customers to bite into a vegetable they'd never heard of before (for the curious, it's a cabbage cultivar that looks like a pale green beet, and is crispy with a hint of radish or turnip).

I think this is the true measure of Hank's success--not simply that he sells lots of produce, but that he has a dedicated base of customers eager to support the farm, whether because they want to reduce their ecological footprint, or eat high-quality food, or support local business and agriculture.  Who can say whether small, privately-run farms are the best model of local agriculture, but I can tell you this: I'll be enjoying a full year of veggies through a CSA share from Lewis Creek Farm. 

Photo Credits

(1) Margot Schips.  <http://users.gmavt.net/lcfarm/hankstraw4.jpg>.

(2) Margot Schips.  <https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/302995_281945321819554_125338594146895_1330464_275650_n.jpg>.

Serving Good Food For the Greater Good

SAME Restaurant in Denver, Colorado is changing ways businesses are typically run.  It is a non-profit restaurant that distributes its food solely on donations.  All the work at the restaurant is done by volunteers who offer their time in replace of a meal.  Donations can be made to pay for the meal as well depending on what price the consumer finds suitable.  


They offer organic and mostly local foods; one of their farms can be found less than a mile down the road.  The goal of the restaurant is to make healthy food more available to everyone.  There is a diverse group of people who eat at SAME that are hoping to ease the burden of their everyday lives.  This business is a prime example of connecting the community with their food.  The community in Denver helps run SAME by donating their time while SAME offers them local, organic, healthy options.    

Warren Wilson's Innovative Campus Farm

This is a link to the "about" section of Warren Wilson's farm webpage:
 http://www.warren-wilson.edu/~farm/Aboutour_farm.php

Common Ground CSA

The UVM Common Ground Farm is a student run CSA farm located in South Burlington at the UVM Horticulture Research Farm.

Common Ground is recognized as a club by the UVM Student Government Association. As such, they receive a club budget which supplements the costs of running the farm. The club also sells CSA shares to students to help finance their endeavors. Common Ground now offers a new $100 work share where students volunteer at the farm in exchange for a discount off of the regular $200 half share or $370 full share. The shares are available weekly for farm pickup or on campus pick up.

Common Ground has five full time student employees for the summer, and CSA shareholders volunteer as well. The club's president is Brittany Dooling, a sophomore who has plans to farm her own land after graduating from UVM. "I love CSAs," said Brittany, "its important that people want to support and see what the farmer is doing. They get to see the farm and the farmer. Transparency is important, especially when it comes to your food."

One of the most important aspects of the CSA model is getting young people on the farm. You really don't understand where your food is coming from until you've gotten your own hands dirty in the growing process. To help spread first hand knowledge about farming, Common Ground offers several organic farming courses to UVM students. Food comes from farms, not grocery store stock rooms. Hopefully anyone who gets their food directly from the farmer through a CSA share can see and taste the difference in the freshness of their food, and will come to expect the quality that only local foods can deliver.

In addition to operating the CSA, Common Ground collaborates with Campus Kitchen on Colchester Avenue to provide them with locally grown fruits and vegetables. Their seeds are sourced locally, coming from High Mowing Seeds (Walcott, VT), Johnny's Seeds (Winslow, ME) and FedCO Seeds (Waterville, ME). Common Ground Farm operates organically, but hasn't yet achieved organic certification, though they plan to. The main hurdle to achieving organic certification is records of the farms transactions and activities, and they have started the record keeping process. Passing down records and best practices is very hard due to the nature of Common Ground being a student-run club whose members rotate every few years.


Running Common Ground is a "Huge time commitment" says Brittany. When asked if the CSA model is the best solution for local food production, Brittany was very pragmatic in admitting that the CSA model is a viable piece of the puzzle, but is simply a supplement. We have a disproportionate amount of organic farming and CSA engagement in Vermont, but go to the agricultural heartlands and it's the last thing on the farmers' minds. CSA engagement may be a fad, but hopefully it is here to stay. Feeding an increasingly hungry world is going to take an effort from everyone. Regional food systems are evolving, and Common Ground is on the cutting edge, giving community members an opportunity to support and become involved in their local food systems.

Objectives

We seek to answer the question of not simply where does our food come from, but how does our food come from?  In other words, once people commit to eating locally, how do they connect to their local food systems? We will use case studies of local farms, including Lewis Creek Farm, Bread and Butter Farm, The Intervale and UVM's own Common Ground Farm to examine different models of local agriculture and different ways that food gets from the farm to the consumer, from direct wholesale to Farmer's Markets to CSA shares to community gardens.