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Wit Meets Grit - Rolling up our sleeves and having fun.
Articles, Food & Farming

Returning to our roots: The evolution of buying local.

This series written for and published by Edible Magazine in SC explores how South Carolina’s food system is evolving to overcome the growing challenges in order to meet the state’s needs. Check out the first article in the series if you missed it.

The winter season is rich with traditions and in the South, food is the star of the show. Sweet potato and pecan pie, cornbread and oyster dressing, greens and hoppin’ john are all invited to dinner. Recipes are as cherished as they are debated but everyone agrees that it is the freshest ingredients that make the best dishes. Long before locavores and farm-to-table restaurants, dinner tables in the South have been a celebration of sustenance and seasonality. Before refrigerated transportation and grocery stores, communities ate what was grown on either their land or their neighbors. It is easy to see how so many of South Carolina’s traditional dishes came to be simply by looking at a farmer or fishermen’s harvest schedule and the incredibly diverse and abundant range of local foods available in our state. At the peak of every season when gardens and farms grew more than could be eaten or sold, kitchens became de facto processing facilities, canning or “putting up” until the shelves were full.

While many families have continued to produce, harvest, process, and catch these same beloved foods for generations, the number of these operations still in business is staggeringly low. Currently only 0.7% of the population in South Carolina is farming on 4.8 million acres with only 6% of those farmers (0.000042% of the population or 25,000 farmers) are selling directly to consumers. In 1920, 11% of the population was farming on 12.4 million acres, so how did a state with such strong cultural ties to food and farming lose so many farms?

Over the last several decades, the shift in American values, culture, policies, technology, and infrastructure have had a direct impact on the country’s systems, including those producing and distributing food. Designed by people in power, these systems were shaped around the priorities of society and for decades these included efficiency, convenience, and cost. While these systems were effective at centering these priorities it also gave rise to a culture of fast, easy, and cheap consumerism. The benefits have come at the expense of human lives, health and safety, equity, environmental degradation, the erosion of local economies, rural blight, etc. 

Within the food and farming sector, these systems pushed farmers to focus on cash crops over community, placed technology and output over ecology, and drove the “get big or get out” approach that led to small farms being bought out and consolidated into larger monoculture farms focused on export. From the 1930’s Dust Bowl and the 1980’s farming crisis to the 2000’s dairy industry collapse and the pandemic’s meat packing plant deaths, generation after generation of farming communities, food system workers, and farmland have suffered because of these priorities. Farming currently has the highest suicide rate of any other industry in the United States and food system workers are the most food insecure population in the country. These are symptoms of a broken system; although some would argue that it is working exactly as it is designed despite the repercussions. Across sectors, there is a collective awakening to the negative consequences of our globalized systems. 

As these realities become widely known, consumers are increasingly demanding transparency and accountability for where, how, and who produces their goods and products. For the food system, this is being achieved by rebuilding the connection between farmers and consumers. In a way, the industry is working to find its way back to the country’s historical roots of neighbors feeding neighbors. Known as a “values-based supply chain”, “local food supply chain”, “foodshed” or “community food web”, these systems focus on building a network of individuals, organizations, municipalities, and businesses committed to create strong markets that put farmers first. The benefits of “buying local” extend beyond the benefit of consumers knowing their farmer and also create opportunities to support farmers whose production practices align with their conservation values, increase system resiliency, support the local economy, reduce the carbon footprint or food miles of their meals, increase the nutrient density of their food, access heirloom and specialty products, build community, and reduce farmland loss. 

But how far can a product travel before these benefits begin to diminish and it is no longer considered “local”? The definition of what constitutes local is still debated but is generally understood to mean products that are grown and processed close to where they are sold, purchased and consumed. According to the US Department of Agriculture local includes foods grown, caught, and/or processed within 400 miles or within the state in which it was produced. Based on the Real Food Challenge, local is designated by a 250-mile radius and extended to 500 miles for meat. For the branding of local food to be effective at differentiating products (and demanding a premium price), it is important for consumers to clearly understand what they are buying into. Putting this into practice has proven to be more challenging than drawing radius circles on a map.

Food and farming systems are as diverse and dynamic as the regions they serve; making a rigid one-size-fits all approach impractical. Variability is created by geography, planting zones, length of growing season, transportation, markets, arable soil, access to water, and regulatory agencies. What works in California might be impossible in Minnesota. While some areas can reasonably define that local products are sourced within 75 miles, others may need 500 miles to secure enough product to meet customer demand. In either case, those selling local products either have the trust of consumers or are able to document their supply chain. For direct to consumer sales such as farmers markets and community supported agriculture shares, the farmers typically set the distance based on time and transportation limits and consumers are able to buy directly from the farmer. But at some point, the time and cost to transport the product exceeds the potential benefit of the sale, naturally creating a smaller radius. 

Eventually the demand outgrew the limitations of individual farmers and 1:1 transactions. As restaurants, grocery stores and institutions joined the movement, the need arose for a third party able to source higher volumes of local food with more consistency. Enter the concept of local food hubs. Based on combinations of cooperative principles, mission driven intentions, and wholesale distribution practices, food hubs have emerged to help the local food movement scale up. These organizations and businesses have been a tool for social change rooted in a desire to support small to mid-sized farmers, ranchers, and fishermen in accessing larger markets. 

By working with farmers to standardize their products and collectively crop plan around market demands, hubs can combine items or “aggregate” from a variety of local farms in order to meet the volume, quality, and selection expectations of larger buyers. They can also guarantee “source identification” so that the final customer knows what farm their products are from. On the production side, farmers can shift back to a focus on growing, harvesting, and grading products and hand over the marketing, logistics, and payment services to the hub. 

In South Carolina, the movement started with Gullah Farmers Cooperative and GrowFood Carolina and has since grown to nine food hubs, trading partnerships with three traditional wholesales, and the creation of the SC Food Hub Network. As a small state, these organizations and businesses must invest significant time on the logistics of matching buyers with sellers, trading between hubs to move this product across the state efficiently, and coordinating crop plans to meet demand. Food hubs have also embraced the need to, when appropriate, broaden “local” to include “regional” foods depending on the product and season. In South Carolina, three of the hubs serving the state are either on or adjacent to the border, buying and selling product from and to North Carolina and Georgia in addition to South Carolina. It has also led to the growth in partnerships that extend even further beyond our borders through the Eastern Food Hub Collaborative which spans from South Carolina to Maine. 

As the local foods movement continues to grapple with defining its boundaries and refining the logistics, there is still a long journey ahead for the system to build a system that is equitable and accessible to the community. During the inaugural statewide Growing Local SC Food Summit held in October of this year, food system leaders across sectors gathered to talk about and prioritize the challenges and opportunities for the state. The top four issues were the cost of food, policy reform, land access, and systemic racism. These challenges mirror those experienced across the country and while many need to be addressed at a federal level, the state and its leaders will play a crucial role in how these issues are addressed locally.

In the coming months and years, billions of dollars will be poured specifically into local food systems at the national level and millions of these dollars are already earmarked for South Carolina. For example, the SC Department of Agriculture requested $20,000,000 to support local food supply chain infrastructure from the state ARPA funds in September 2021 and continues to wait for legislative approval at the state house. This funding will be crucial in supporting the state as it prepares to utilize its recently awarded $6.1 million in funds through the USDA Local Foods Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement to purchase locally sourced food from socially disadvantaged farmers for distribution into underserved communities. Not only are these funds urgently needed but our state’s ability to equitably, efficiently and effectively utilize the funding received has a direct impact on how much future federal funding makes it to South Carolina. The South Carolina Food Policy Council and its members will be leading the conversation on issues like these and creating opportunities for individuals and organizations to engage and advocate through their committees, initiatives, and resources. Membership to the SCFPC is free and provides an opportunity to participate in conversations around the following topics: food access and insecurity, planning and transportation, racial equity within the food system, food is medicine, urban and rural local food, and branding and communication. I hope to see many of you at the next meeting as we continue to grow South Carolina’s local food system from farm and garden to table.  

December 2, 2022by Nikki Seibert Kelley
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Food & Farming, Health & Wellness, Life & Love

A daring adventure.

Remember your first love? Jumping in with both feet, opening your heart completely, and floating in a sea of possibilities? It is an incredible feeling and often a time of discovery and growth in our lives that teaches us about our selves in a way that living alone never could. Although in the beginning we adamantly believe it will last forever, it is more common that eventually we will out grow the relationship and move on, leaving a part of our heart behind and always looking back with at the fond memories.

When I first heard about Lowcountry Local First, I definitely had a crush. My introduction was in 2008 at a Sustainability Institute awards ceremony in which Jamee Haley was accepting the Sustainable Communities Award and I had the honor of receiving their Leadership Award. Hearing about the incredible things Jamee had already accomplished with a small but mighty group of volunteers and board members in such a short amount of time, I knew the organization was one to watch. And did I ever watch.

As they developed a Sustainable Agriculture program, I stood eagerly on the sidelines, looking for an opportunity to get engaged. When I spotted a poster in Kudu coffee for their Growing New Farmers program, I immediately applied and before I knew it I was one of the first apprentices in the program. It was a wild ride and true adventure as we all blindly navigated uncharted territory.

Nikki FarmingFrom early mornings harvesting squash blossoms at Joseph Fields Farm to late nights texting chefs about produce, it was a crash course in food systems. Farmers, chefs, apprentices, and staff were all learning side by side to understand what it takes for farm to table to succeed on a larger scale. Although I had really liked previous jobs, this experience was my first career love. For those of you that know me well, I am not one to settle for a job. I grew up watching both of my parents pour their hearts into their careers and I have always sought nothing less than a profession I can be passionate about. When approached with the opportunity to come on-board as the Director of Sustainable Agriculture in 2011, I jumped in with two feet.

12891500_10154046662257389_897871014529749141_oOver the course of the last five years, I have had the honor of working alongside some amazing individuals to serve the hardest working people in the South. No one can appreciate hard work, long hours, and risk like a small business owner and even more so if that business happens to be a farm. When you see ways to make it easier for them to succeed, it is hard not to bend over backwards to do whatever you can to help.

581672_10150728888293288_1002618534_nJust like the businesses that LLF serves, the staff of the organization also must have an all-hands-on-deck attitude and be prepared to put in the sweat equity to build something great. Anyone that works in a small to mid-sized non-profit will tell you that the industry is more competitive and demanding that any corporate position they have ever had. It also an industry that provides you the opportunity to serve the community, build meaningful relationships, and be a part of something greater than yourself. And if you are up for the challenge, you can also build a career, as I have had the awesome opportunity to do.

Reflecting on 5 years, 142 new farmers, 40 farmer workshops, 18 interns, 15 conference presentations, 10 different states, 8 incubator farmers, hundreds of farm tours, thousands of emails, and over a million dollars of funds raised, I am proud to say that I am now a food system leader.

13173100_10154143614617389_3316062361144290121_oThrough all of this, I have had the pleasure of working alongside some the most intelligent, fun, passionate people that I am proud to have not only as colleagues but also as friends. The most incredible part has been watching the organization and staff grow alongside the businesses, farmers, and community members it supports. It is this success that has given me the courage to take the same leap I have watched so many others bravely take before me.

While my love for Lowcountry Local First is still strong, I know that there is value in knowing when it is time to leave. The decision to move on has not been an easy one, as should be apparent by the fact that few of you probably even realized it was happening. It has been a slow process of first letting those most impacted by my decision know, one conversation at a time. Through these conversations, I gained confidence that there were enough opportunities out there for me to launch my own business.

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With that in mind, let me introduce you to Wit Meets Grit, a business that provides me the opportunity to share my knowledge, experience, and support to others working in the industry. At this point, my goal is to keep my mind and heart open to the possibilities. My passions are as diverse as they are deep; to know the best path forward I need to welcome all kinds of opportunities. I hope to continue to work with so many of the incredible people I have met over the years and utilize my skills to rebuild the food system throughout the Southeast. Why Wit Meets Grit? Well, you can read about that here. What kinds of things will I be doing? To start the net will be cast wide with evaluation, farming and food system projects, freelance writing, public speaking, and photography. Through out the journey I will be sharing stories through my website.

I have such deep gratitude to Jamee Haley, Lowcountry Local First, my colleagues, all of our supporters (especially the farmers and my mentors Joseph and Helen Fields), and of course my family and friends for giving me the wings to take this leap. I am one of the lucky few that has had the chance to truly love their job and while a piece of my heart is being left behind, I look forward to this next chapter in my life spending even more time embracing my passion for the outdoors. Thank you all so much and wish me luck!

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July 2, 2016by Nikki Seibert Kelley
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Articles, charleston, farming

Weaving the fabric of a community

 
For those of you that may have missed it, the following is an article I wrote for the Charleston City Paper’s DIRT Magazine this spring. I have added some personal pictures to enhance the experience! 

 On a cold day in March, I stand bundled up outside the birthing pen at Jeremiah Farm and Goat Dairy on Johns Island while goats of all sizes nuzzle and play in fresh shavings. Farmer Casey Price has invited me to take part in the kidding process that marks the beginning of milking season on her farm. As a mentor farmer in the Lowcountry Local First Growing New Farmers Program, she is passionate about sharing her knowledge of goats, chickens, and homesteading with people of all ages.

As is often the case with Price, our conversation is woven together with the details of our personal lives, questions and answers about farming, and updates on her current apprentices. We fall easily into our long-established role of mentor and apprentice as I stand by to assist two goats being brought into the world by Price’s gentle hands.

Four years ago, I started my journey in farming through the Growing New Farmers apprenticeship program as one of the first participants during the pilot year. The experience was a life changer, introducing me to a farming community made up of some of the most hardworking, passionate, innovative, and generous people. Every day brought something new, whether it was riding on the tractor with Joseph Fields or product tasting with chefs in the kitchen during deliveries. As the program came to an end, I knew that I wanted to dedicate my career to working in agriculture. In 2011, I realized this dream when I became the director of sustainable agriculture for Lowcountry Local First.

Since that time the program has experienced incredible growth. The Growing New Farmers Program has expanded to include the Dirt Works Incubator Farm and the first phases of a land-matching service. To date, 95 people have graduated from the program while working with more than 14 mentor farmers. For participants in the current program, a nationally recognized and locally adapted curriculum guides their 10-month experience, which combines classroom training, work-days at Dirt Works, and field trips with on-farm mentorship.

As the first formal farm apprenticeship program and farm incubator in South Carolina, Growing New Farmers has created both opportunities and networks for small farmers and food system leaders to learn, grow, and succeed. Every year the program introduces a thread of new individuals to the fabric of the local agricultural community, strengthening the capacity of the local food system. Past and current program participants often become mentors, advocates, and leaders; each has a unique story and these are just a few.

The educational farmer
“It’s in my blood,” says Drew Harrison, also a first-round apprentice in the Growing New Farmers program. Like many in the Southeast, Harrison’s family has a long history in farming. Raised in Asheville, N.C., he spent a lot of his childhood on his grandfather’s cattle farm in Georgia and grew up hearing stories about his mother’s family growing tomatoes on Johns Island. But Harrison first sought career opportunities elsewhere before coming back to his roots. He spent time stock trading before his disenchantment led him to Costa Rica where his passion for farming was ignited. Harrison returned to Charleston and found both the Green Heart Project and the LLF Growing New Farmers program.

As a farming apprentice, Harrison learned the climate, market, and community in Charleston while receiving the tools to grow both food and a business. Through his experience, he gained the skills and the support network to help him take the helm as the director of the Green Heart Project, which under his leadership, has grown to two urban farm school sites at Mitchell Elementary and Zucker Middle School with almost 15,000 square feet of garden serving more than 400 K-6 grade students.

With such great experience and knowledge to share, Harrison now serves as a mentor in the program and helps the community continue to grow. He has worked with four apprentices, 36 College of Charleston interns, and more than 850 volunteers since 2011. Working on the Green Heart farms often provides an opportunity for individuals to grow vegetables for the first time, as was the case for Amy Robinette.
The food and beverage farmer

Amy Robinette was raised in Spartanburg and graduated from the University of South Carolina. She initially came to Charleston seven years ago to train as a pastry chef, but, like so many others, found herself stuck in the kitchen. While working at Closed for Business, a partner restaurant of the Green Heart Project, Robinette connected with the urban farm at Mitchell Elementary. Although Robinette’s aunt and uncle own a large horse and produce operation in Kentucky, volunteering with the Green Heart Project was her first experience growing food. Before long, she had started her own vegetable garden and adopted her own small flock of chickens.

It was during this time that Robinette discovered Growing New Farmers. Robinette says being in the program changed her life. She currently works on the Dirt Works Incubator Farm alongside John Warren of Spade & Clover Gardens as well as Harleston Towles and Rita Bachmann of Rooting Down Farm. Robinette has been working alongside her mentors (two of whom are former apprentices) to understand how to grow and sell traditional and niche products. “There is so much pride to be had working with my hands,” says Robinette. “I haven’t gone a single day that I haven’t been happy.” Robinette hopes to use the knowledge, resources, and network from the program to someday operate her own small farm and bakery. (She just launched her business, The Cake Farmer which is currently operating a pie CSA aka weekly sweet and savory pies full of local ingredients!)
The second career farmer
Similar to Robinette, Kathee Dowis stumbled into farming unexpectedly. Dowis initially participated in the Master Gardener program in 2007 while still working as a full-time mother. By 2012, she was volunteering at the Hampton Park Greenhouse and looking for the next step when she saw a poster for the apprentice program and “went ballistic.” Dowis joined the program in 2013 as an apprentice with Meg Moore at Dirthugger Farm and continued in 2014 to experience the new curriculum and additional mentorship of Casey Price. For her, the most unexpected part of the program was how much emotion is involved in farming: “The excitement of the planting, bloom, harvest, and first taste; the heartache of a flooded field or lost animal; and the return of the joy.”
At 53, Dowis is one of four participants in the 2014 class over the age of 40, a demographic that is common in new and beginning farmer training programs across the United States. These second-career farmers are utilizing their personal and professional experience to approach farming strategically. Growing up on her grandfather’s expansive tobacco and soybean farm in Darlington, S.C., Dowis watched firsthand as a farmer had a bank note called in. The community met at the Dead End Grocery to “pass the hat” and save the farm. She was looking for an opportunity to learn best practices in farming without the risk of losing a farm. “It gives you a true opportunity to learn what you like and you don’t like and what you are good at,” she says. “If you decide to cut out, you’ve had such a lovely experience but you wouldn’t have lost tons of money or land.”
A food desert farmer

Another over-40 apprentice, John Lloyd is also a second-career farmer. The history of John’s family goes back several generations in Cordesville, S.C., one of the oldest Gullah communities in the state. His family-farming legacy was passed from his sharecropping great-grandparents, to his independent farming grandparents, to his aunts and uncles in farming, and now to him. Born, raised, and currently living on the family farm, John grew up in a community built around the growing, harvesting, and cooking of organic local food. In his youth, he spent long days doing farm chores, but the pull of life off the farm led him to a career in athletics.

His lean build, trainers, and track pants echo a lifetime spent as a distance runner, fitness trainer, physical education teacher, and coach. During the last few years of teaching and coaching, Lloyd became increasingly disturbed by the high rates of obesity and health related illnesses. He watched student’s diet choices become limited to unhealthy processed foods with little or no access to fresh fruits or vegetables.

In 2013, Lloyd applied to the Growing New Farmers Program, he says, “to learn the business aspect of agriculture to give me the balance between the growing and the business.” During his first year he spent time apprenticing at Joseph Fields Farm, visiting Casey Price, and trying to get things started on his own property. At the end of 2013, he signed up for the S.C. Loan Fund’s Feeding Innovation business competition to further assist him in the development of his agricultural venture. Lloyd hopes to create an affordable CSA program for families in food deserts interested in fresh vegetables; the business plans include SNAP compatibility and a focus on varieties of produce customers are familiar with. “The only way our health is going to change is if our food source changes,” he says.
He is currently participating in the 2014 apprentice program to learn about CSAs with expert Kenneth Melton of Lowland Farms and is working with Harrison of the Green Heart Project to better understand taste preferences and recipes in the garden.
The farmer supporting farmers
As with my own experience, there are a number of graduates who discover their passion lies in helping farmers. For these food system leaders, the Growing New Farmers program provides the perspective, experience, and deeper appreciation of the challenges facing the agricultural community. Frasier Block is one such graduate. “It gave me the opportunity to work hands-on from the ground up with a smaller farm … and understand what goes into [farming],” he says. Frasier participated in the 2012 and 2013 year with Dirthugger Farm and Black Bird Market. Through her experience working at Dirthugger with Meg Moore and seeing her launch the successful Sunday Brunch Farmers Market, Frasier began to understand both the supply and demand sides of local food.
Earlier this year, she launched the Homegrown Farmers Market on Johns Island. The first farmers market to operate through the winter, it was very well received by the community. Since opening, the market has experienced incredible growth and includes 17 local farmers, 30 local food artisans, 30 local product and craft vendors, educational vendors, and musicians. Frasier aims to create a market that is a one-stop-shop for local products and a place that helps people take that first step in living a sustainable lifestyle.
The multiplier effect
A strong element of the Growing New Farmers program is that it supports a culture built on personal relationships to create a resilient interconnected community. Mentors and apprentices are incredibly supportive of one another and their bonds last far beyond their program year. Each of these graduates touches the lives of dozens of people in the community, providing guidance, inspiration, and support. The Growing New Farmers program is weaving together an incredible farming community, and I am honored to be a part of such a beautiful fabric.
June 24, 2014by Nikki
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