local – Eat Wyoming

Our overall health is largely determined by our diet and the food we eat, and whether those foods are nutrient-dense or nutritionally depleted. In 2004, a landmark study compared the nutritional content of 43 different fruits and vegetables from 1950 and 1999. Using data from the United State Department of Agriculture, the research found that produce harvested in 1999 contained significantly less protein, calcium, potassium, iron, vitamin B12 and vitamin C, suggesting that “any real declines are generally most easily explained by changes in cultivated varieties.” In other words, nutritional content has deteriorated in exchange for higher volume.

It’s not hard to see why or how this happened. Today, industrial agriculture and big box retailers have managed to develop a supply chain that provides Wyoming with strawberries in January. As unnatural as this may be agriculturally, today’s consumer demands it. This, in conjunction with an exploding population, has forced farmers to change virtually every step of harvesting produce, from soil cultivation to transportation to distribution. And as beneficial as widely available fruits and vegetables may be, it comes with a trade-off; they’re not nearly as good for you as they should be.

Soil for higher yields is stripped of minerals and nutrients

Industrial agriculture is monocultural, meaning that the same soil produces massive quantities of a single crop year after year. It requires year-round harvesting, and the use of numerous harsh herbicides and pesticides. This forces the soil to work much harder under tougher conditions, ultimately stripping it of minerals and nutrients it would otherwise pass into plants. The point of monocultural farming isn’t to make nutritious, tasty food; it’s to harvest larger, pest-resistant crops with higher growth rates.

Transportation requires produce to be picked before its ripened

When a Wyoming grocery store buys tomatoes from either Florida or California, the nation’s leading producers of tomatoes, it can obviously take a long time to get there. And depending on by whom and how they’re transported, those tomatoes are exposed to varying levels of air, artificial lights and temperature fluctuations. Fruits and vegetables are most nutritious and taste best when they’re picked at the peak of freshness, and they start losing nutrients around 24 hours after being picked. It can take a week for these tomatoes just to arrive in Wyoming, then several days more before they’re purchased from the store. So those tomatoes have to be picked when they’re green and hard – well before they’re ready and well before they’re able to mature into their most nutritious state.

Grocery stores’ practices are designed to preserve produce as long as possible

Retailers have varying standards for maintaining and selling produce. Big box retailers are working with thousands of items of inventory and dozens of employees. The longer they’re able to keep fruits and vegetables from rotting, the longer they’re able to sell them. Preserving a plant in a form that would be attractive to customers is a much higher priority than maintaining nutritional integrity. It’s common practice for grocers to use wax that will make apples gleam and make cucumbers last days longer than their natural shelf life.

The care and storage of produce is a complicated process, so education is an important component, especially when you’re managing dozens of different fruits and vegetables in one store. Zucchini, for example, has a high respiration rate, so if it’s not given adequate ventilation in the right temperature, it will respirate and mold faster. But large numbers of employees and high turnover rates make it impossible for large retailers to adequately educate their staff on all the intricacies of giving that zucchini all the love and care it deserves.

There are more nutritious options available

Plants are a lot like people. To be at their best, they need adequate nutrition, rest and attention. Industrial agriculture provides massive amounts of food to massive amounts of people, which is critical for society. As essential as this is, it does come at the expense of nutritional value. Fortunately, there are alternatives.

Healthy soil results in healthy fruits and vegetables

At Lloyd Craft Farms in Worland, nutrition is the priority. It’s Terri and Lloyd Craft’s mission to provide the kind of food they want to serve their family. “People are amazed at how much better fresh produce tastes. It’s a combination of mineral-rich soil, the weather and how quickly we’re able to get it to people. We’ve been doing this for 11 years, so we’ve spent that time building the soil back up,” Terri said.

They spent their few first years in business harvesting their land. Robust, diverse crops, an off-season to replenish, and constant care have resulted in soil crawling with worms, which is the kind of soil healthy enough to naturally fight pests and disease without chemicals. It’s the kind of soil that isn’t possible to cultivate on a large scale.

The less distance produce travels, the better

Wyoming weather may not seem conducive to growing flavorful, nutrient-dense produce, but according to Terri, the dry conditions are actually ideal. Although the growing season is shorter here, the desert climate of the Big Horn Basin mean she doesn’t have to worry about mold or fungus. Mild summer temperatures afford her cool mornings to harvest her crops and immediately refrigerate them. They’re boxed that afternoon, returned to the cooler for overnight storage, then delivered across the state in a refrigeration truck, which Terri says is key for maintaining nutrients.

“Plants are living things. When vegetables and fruits are removed from the mother plant, they stop growing and they stop producing nutrients,” Terri said. Local farmers keep fruits and vegetables on the mother plant until they’re ready to be picked, because it doesn’t take a week to get it to the store. Additionally, Wyoming producers know the best ways to distribute across Wyoming, so they better control variants like air, light and temperature. So those tomatoes that were imported from California and Florida picked when they’re green and hard could come from a Wyoming grower, and picked when they were deliciously red and soft, and at their most nutritious.

Local farmers partner with smaller retailers

While delivery is technically the end of Terri’s portion of the supply chain, she won’t drop her produce off just anywhere. “Having people on the other end who are as passionate and knowledgeable as you are is so important. They need to baby the plants like you do,” she said. She works with retailers who are educated on nuances like the high respiration rates of zucchini, because she believes that her plants, and the people who eat them, deserve better.

How can I eat more nutritionally?

So if accessing the freshest, most nutritious produce is a priority in your family, there are a few things you can do:

Eat produce in seas on
Buy food that was grown close to you
Purchase from smaller farmers

In other words, eat locally. #EatWyoming

Food producers and retailers across Wyoming want locally grown food year-round, but it’s a cyclical challenge. Producers don’t want to make the investment of greenhouses and season extenders without guaranteed demand for product, and retailers can’t rely on locally grown food if they’re not sure of supply. But the good news for producers, retailers and consumers is that the proof of concept, both in terms of quality of food and in consumer demand, is already there. Everyone just needs to get on the same page to figure out how to make year-round food happen. And this is happening. A group of committed partners including the Wyoming Food Coalition, Eat Wyoming, producers and retailers are finally all working together to solve this chicken and egg problem – even if Wyoming isn’t necessarily known as a poultry state.

Wyoming’s interest in locally grown foods is growing

Joe Wesnitzer, the namesake of Papa Joe’s Produce in Sheridan, has seen interest in locally grown food explode over the last six years. When Wesnizter first began farming, it was a passion project supplemented by his full-time job. He loved growing, and he wanted to give his community the option of healthier and tastier locally grown foods. He started selling his lettuce and herbs at local farmers market throughout the summer months, but he quickly realized demand was much bigger than a part-time hobby. Local retailers were interested in carrying his product, and restaurants wanted to use Papa Joe’s Produce in their dishes. But to fulfill these contracts, he couldn’t just grow by himself June through September. Three greenhouses, two high tunnels, two employees and tens of thousands of pounds of lettuce later, Wesnitzer is just getting started.

“As each community gets to know their local producers, demand only grows. The local food movement has been dramatic here in Sheridan, and I’m confident that if there were something like this in every town, we could keep trucks off the road, healthier foods in our communities and our economy would grow,” Wesnitzer said. Though his greenhouses were initially a steep out-of-pocket investment, they’ve become financially sustainable. A “retired” farmer, Wesnitzer doesn’t prioritize sales, but due to the increase in demand for locally grown products, he continues to organically acquire new customers and contracts.

Contract and other large-scale opportunities for bulk sales exist and are expanding

Wyoming Food Coalition President Adam Bunker believes this trend will continue upward, so his organization, along with a network of producers, restauranteurs, wholesalers, retailers and other agencies, are working to guarantee it. All of these groups need each other, but up until now, they’ve largely been siloed, which has been at the detriment of everyone on the supply chain: producers, retailers down to your Wyoming neighbor consumers.

“What we need to do is approach these topics from positions of collaborations,” Bunker said. This December, the Vibrant Farmers and Infrastructure working group of the Wyoming Food Coalition is organizing a first-of-its-kind Wyoming food buyers and sellers conference, which will bring farmers together with major wholesalers like restauranteurs, retail grocers and even school districts. This conference has been in the works for years, but by finally bringing everyone to the same (well-stocked) table, producers can learn what kind of demand exists and retailers can learn how robust the supply is.

Demand for locally grown food has always existed, but quantity has always been the major challenge, Bunker says. School districts want to serve healthier produce to their students, but that contract requires massive volume. Similarly, restaurants and retail grocers want to be part of the locally grown foods craze, but they’ve been hesitant about reliability in the same ways that growers have been hesitant about investing in off-season growing equipment. “The opportunities are there, and one of our main initiatives is empowering everyone to be able to work together,” he said.

In addition to the upcoming conference, the Wyoming Food Coalition, Eat Wyoming and other agencies are educating stakeholders on the benefits of locally grown foods for Wyoming’s health – both nutritionally and our bottom line. For restaurants, simply comparing the price of local and national retailers is only a small part of the story, because freshness pays dividends. Locally grown produce may appear to have a higher price tag, but it’s typically harvested within just 24 hours of delivery, as opposed to days or even weeks prior like national suppliers, so restaurants are forced to throw out produce that has gone bad. Eliminating waste and serving better food pays for itself. On the retail end, smaller grocers are excited to make shelf space for locally grown foods, and even national retailers are becoming more of a possibility with Fresh Foods Wyoming currently in talks with Whole Foods in Jackson.

Opportunities for locally grown food doesn’t stop at restaurant menus or on grocery store shelves. Legislators are seeing economic potential for farming as our state finds new ways to supplement revenue. Food will be a valuable way to keep money in Wyoming, and we don’t even need to diversify our portfolio to achieve this; legislators are learning they just need to support existing growers who are already here and working.

Resources are available to prepare your business

Of course, for restaurants, grocers and legislators to rely on locally grown foods, it has to be available year-round, so greenhouses and season extenders will be critical, which can put producers under pressure. The best way to know if your business is ready to make that kind of investment is to understand the minutiae of your finances, he says. “Producers, take time to know your numbers. I know that can be scary. But when you take time to learn that, it takes all of the uncertainty out of doing business, so you can adjust your wholesale and retail prices. Knowing those numbers is critical to making the business side of growing work,” he said.

For help understanding these numbers, Bunker recommends reaching out to the Wyoming Small Business Development Center. It’s a free resource to anyone in Wyoming, and their financial models will help growers understand their fixed costs, sales volume and pricing structure, all of which are crucial information to become a profitable business. It can also help put a big investment like a greenhouse into context, including feasibility and the time it would take for that investment to pay off. Additionally, the SBDC helps with other business requirements, like registering as an LLC, tax planning, marketing and other resources that can make a business as viable as Wyoming-grown produce.

Big things are coming for Wyoming-grown food

Northern Wyoming has a 100-day growing season, Papa Joe Wesnitzer estimates, but the most basic a season extender gives him 40-60 extra days on both sides. It can double his season. Most extenders require little to no maintenance, and some covers last up to ten years. Wesnitzer encourages growers to begin with high tops and other season extenders to see how these additional days can turn into more dollars for your bottom line. The demand is already there, and it’s becoming even bigger with contracts soon to follow. Wyoming needs our best producers, like you, to be part of it. Think of how it can all grow.

Tag: local

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