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Reflections on Local Sustainable Agriculture Efforts: Past and Present

by Stephen H. Buxbaum

Hope blossomed in our living room this past Sunday, March 7, where 11 neighbors gathered to share and learn about how to produce more home-grown food. As snow showers alternated with bright sunshine we shared information about best practices for producing our own healthy organic fruits and vegetables.

I'm hearing reports that a lot of this is happening around town. I like to think of it as gardening as a subversive activity. People becoming directly engaged in what they eat and where their food comes from. Imagine...

Perhaps it's no coincidence that in the early 1980s when we were going through one of our last big recessions (aka "energy crises") people were also becoming engaged in issues concerning where food comes from and what we eat. In between hard times it seems people shift back to old habits – but for now, as supported by a front page article in the Monday, March 8, Seattle Times, seed sales are up and garden supplies are flying off the shelves. I have newspaper clippings from the 1980s that say much the same thing, describing the Victory Gardens of World War II and reporting on efforts to "buy local."

Many past efforts have occurred in our region at building a more locally based and sustainable agriculture system. In 1980 Bulk Commodities Exchange (BCE) was in operation in a small Seattle warehouse on Western Avenue beneath the Pike Place Market. It was structured as a cooperative with both farmer and consumer members. Consumers would order bulk quantities of fruits and vegetables at wholesale prices that the farmers – first from King County and eventually from all over the state – would deliver to the warehouse for purchase and pick-up. BCE use to market locally produced food under the label of King County Fresh in an effort to build on the King County farm land preservation program. Later it marketed fruits and vegetables under a Washington Fresh label – still emphasizing the importance of small scale family farm produced food.

In 1981 some of the farmers from southwest Washington that use to sell to BCE started their own organization called Farmers' Wholesale Cooperative (FWC). At its peak FWC had about 60 grower members and owned its own warehouse and cold storage facility near Maytown. Some of the original grower/owners of our local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm operations were active in supporting FWC and helped it transition from a distribution co-op to a brand for organic growers called Farmers' Own.

BCE and FWC were both supported with public resources in an effort to promote the development of local businesses and keep money spent on food circulating in our local economy. One of the organizations that provided this kind of assistance locally was called the Farm and Community Council which helped FWC and other small organic growers in Washington, Oregon, and California to organize into marketing co-ops. With offices first at The Evergreen State College and later at the Port of Olympia, the FCC also helped organize and support community gardens, farmers' markets, and gleaning programs for the Food Bank. At that time, a small business plan was created for a community kitchen/small scale cannery to be incorporated into Olympia's Community Center.

In the mid-1980s, the Olympia area had 20 or more community gardens and an active network of organizations that were working together to help low-income people access healthy food. The group was called the Thurston County Food Resources Consortium. With the help of interns from TESC, the FCC and the Consortium published a community resource guide called "Our Right to Eat" that contained information about nutrition, gleaning, and food resources.

There may be something about the threat of hard times that gets people thinking more about core issues such as food security and locally sustainable economies. During this current downturn, our local community could build on the momentum and interest that exists here to realize a higher level of food self-reliance and a more resilient local agriculture system. In doing so, we can offer more support for non-profit organizations that are engaged in building our community. See additional articles throughout this edition of the Green Pages to learn more about how you can participate in these efforts.

Conversations about these kinds of issues can continue to blossom in our living rooms, encouraged by neighborhood associations willing to expand their agendas to include creating and sustaining permanent community gardens, food/seed resource networks, garden tool libraries and cooperative facilities for preserving our capacity to grow, process and distribute locally produced food by supporting our county's family farms. Many thanks to all of you out there who are engaged in this work.

Stephen Buxbaum has lived in the maritime northwest since 1977 where he has been engaged in community and economic development program management and policy work at the local, state and national level.


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