AgWired

Is big or small farming the future? Tough question, but the conversation was had and Lori Renzi, Vice President of Brand Strategy & Development at Charlie Baggs Culinary Innovations (CBCI) was one of the lucky panelists who got the chance to express her opinion and expertise during USFRA’s Boston Food Dialogues.

CBCI is a consulting practice for the global food industry that assists with flavor and menu development, nutritional assessments, brand strategy and more. Lori works with the direction of all strategic and marketing activities, as well as the development and the re-launch of the CBCI brand.

“I am here today because I am a marketing person, I am not a chef. I represent more what the consumer is thinking, how they get their information, how they receive it and what they do with it. From a farm size perspective right now people are so cynical and skeptical of anything big so you can’t really blame them for thinking big farm is bad. There just needs to be a lot of information to clarify what we are talking about in that area. I don’t think anyone would think that a farmer as a large farm is a bad thing. I think what they think is there is a farm being run by big business, big corporations, big government. They are going to perceive that as bad, because of their experiences. It is up to us to bridge those entities and get the right information to them.”

Lori said that many things said today were very interesting to her. The complexity of this conversation is huge. She believes her take away from the event was that we all need to understand more about the thought process in the farming system. The consumer wants to understand how the food is grown, made and processed in simple terms.

Listen to the complete interview with Lori here: Interview with Lori Renzi

Boston Food Dialogues Photo Album

USFRA’s Boston Food Dialogues panelists came from the east and the west, represented the big and the small, work in agribusinesses and in small farming communities.

Michael Swanson, Agricultural Economist for Wells Fargo Bank NA, Minneapolis, Minnesota and Bruce Rominger, Rominger Brothers Farm, Winters, California were two panelists Chuck had the chance to speak with after the recent Boston Food Dialogues.

At Wells Fargo, Michael analyzes the impact of energy on agriculture, forecasting for key agricultural commodities, such as wheat, soybeans, corn and cotton, as well as livestock sectors such as cattle, dairy and hogs. Michael stated that he feels there is a strong demand for smaller farms and coming from the Midwest he said, “maybe we don’t appreciate it enough.”

“We go where the best technology takes us. We want the best solutions for the dollar. The consumers chooses and shouldn’t criticizes them one way or the other.”

Bruce is a 5th generation farmer working along side his brother in a progressive, diversified family farm and ranch. They specialize in crops using organic and conventional techniques, including winegrapes, processing tomatoes, rice, wheat, corn, safflower, sunflower, onions, alfalfa and oat hay. Bruce agrees that small farms are a good thing, but feels the conversation led to a desire for diversity. He continued, “Small farms aren’t going to be viable in Nebraska. And where I am and the crops I grow and with the technology I use they aren’t very viable in our area either.”

“My brother and I own our farm and statistically we are a big farm, but we are a family farm. We are incorporated, does that make us a corporate farm? Technically yes, but we are 100% owned and managed by our family. To us this growth has been an evolution in every process over generations. This is something we have to do to stay successful it the markets we are in.”

You can listen to Chuck’s complete interview with Michael and Bruce here: Interview with Bruce Rominger and Michael Swanson

Boston Food Dialogues Photo Album

U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance once again brought up a hot topic in the agriculture and food industry for experts and industry leaders to discuss. Farm size was the topic for last week’s Boston Food Dialogues. And the man with maybe the toughest job for the day was Alan Bjerga, who’s role was moderator.

Alan is the author of “Endless Appetites: How the Commodities Casino Creates Hunger and Unrest” and agriculture policy reporter for Bloomberg News. After the dialogues concluded, Chuck picked his brain and asked for his insights into the farm size conversation.

“What’s striking is to take a look at how people with different perspectives on agriculture are all grasping towards solutions for the same problems. Where you see agriculture often depends on where you sit on both the value chain and nationwide. There are a lot of different structures to agriculture and agricultural operations within this country and as you see this evolution in consumer takes and marketplace demands everybody is coming at these problems from a different direction. Having a chance to get these different people on a platform to discuss these areas doesn’t necessarily lead to a solution, but it lets people exchange ideas and learn different options and thoughts that are out there. And that’s a key step.”

Alan emphasized how food matters to people and is very personal. What American farmers do is going to continue to be important because we are the leading food producer and exporter. Alan stated that unless you talk with the parties that are affected, than how are we suppose to understand there their concerns.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Alan here: Interview with Alan Bjerga

Boston Food Dialogues Photo Album

A fourth generation fruit and vegetable farmer, Jamie Cruz, is the owner/grower of Springdell Farm in Littleton, Massachusetts. Jamie served as a panelist for the Boston Food Dialogues.

The family farm also raises hogs, cattle, poultry, sheep and goats. They proudly sell 99% of their products through their farm stand, various CSA programs, local restaurants and farmers markets.

“The increase demand for local food has really helped us. Here where we are it is a make it or break it for some of the local farmers in the area. So we are very fortunate that the family farms in the area are thriving and we are lucky to have that consumer base.”

Farm size was the topic for the days conversation and Chuck asked Jamie what her thoughts were on the issue.

“Our average farm is about 60 acres here. We have some farms farming as small as an acre and producing food off of it. Is the size of farms an issue? I don’t see so myself personally, but I do see how some of the consumers have some confusing information in front of them about farm size outside of Massachusetts.”

Jamie goes on to share that farm size doesn’t matter when talking about food safety, stewardship, animal welfare and the care of employees. She believes that small farms serve their purpose in niche markets and large farms are able to supply the grocery stores.

Listen to Chuck’s complete interview with Jamie here: Interview with Jamie Cruz

Boston Food Dialogues Photo Album

She’s a mother running on empty. She’s Leah Beyer. Let the Beyer Beware. That all becomes clear when you click on through to the other side.

Leah was a panelist at the Boston Food Dialogues and the first one I interviewed. She’s a farm mom who grows corn and soybean with her husband in Indiana. They are “retired” dairy farmers. I asked her about her thoughts on the subject of farm size. She says, “I think a lot of times people in the media or people in the general public who aren’t connected with agriculture try to put up vs. as in big vs small. From my experience it’s big and small together.” She’s got some great examples you might not think of when it comes to this subject.

You can listen to my interview with Leah here: Interview with Leah Beyer

Follow Leah on Twitter @BeyerBeware

Boston Food Dialogues Photo Album