Local Food is a Team Sport
How Cinnamon Bear Farm, the MendoLake Food Hub, and Ukiah Natural Foods Co-op Work Together to Bring You Fresh-from-the-Field Foods
by Lisa Ludwigsen
Farm to table is a popular concept right now. The phrase conjures the vision of a simple journey of the vibrant, delicious food sitting before you on the plate or on the shelves of the grocery store. It’s a simple concept: grow the food nearby and get it to the customer as quickly after harvest as possible.
In fact, there are many moving parts to growing and transporting food successfully. Those of us living in Mendocino County are the fortunate beneficiaries of a thriving local farming community that not only feeds us, but also contributes to a secure local supply of food. However, the logistics of getting food from one part of the county to another hold significant challenges.
Standing in front of the rainbow of colors jumping off the produce shelves of the grocery store, we rarely consider the journey each of those items has taken. It’s a safe bet to assume that the carrot or cauliflower grown locally is going to taste better and have a longer shelf life than the same carrot shipped hundreds or even thousands of miles from a large-scale farm far afield.
To minimize transport distance and maximize freshness, local grocers turn to area food producers like Ukiah Valley farmers Alex and Sarah Neilson of Cinnamon Bear Farm. The Neilsons farm 1-1/2 acres of Russian River riverfront owned by Jack and Mimi Booth in Calpella. The Booths have lived in the area since 1990, when Bob was a wildlife biologist and enthusiastic beekeeper. “We sold honey to neighbors and at the farmers market for many years,” says Jack. “Then we grew tomatoes.” Today, they lease a portion of their seven acres to Alex and Sarah, who grow mixed crops including tomatoes, carrots, garlic, kohlrabi, and greens of all types, to name a few.
“We’re very excited about our microgreens,” shares Sarah. “We grow sprouted sunflower, radish, and peas used in salads, smoothies, and sandwiches.” Micro greens also make great kid snacks. The Neilsons also grow wheatgrass, which is juiced and used in smoothies or consumed as a straight shot.
Not for the faint of heart, Alex and Sarah’s type of small-scale farming is extremely labor intensive, with low profit margins and relentless work. “Since we farm year round, my motto is, ‘Grow better, not bigger,’” states Alex. Their fields produce high yields in a relatively small area, thanks to their use of organic principles. “We are Mendocino Renegade certified, a local program that allows us to sell to local grocers like Ukiah Natural Foods Co-op, which sells exclusively organic produce.” Since 2003, Mendocino Renegade has provided county farmers a system to certify the organic quality of their products.
Once farmers like the Neilsons harvest their crop, they must get it to market. In a county an expansive as Mendocino, delivering produce to grocers and restaurants is a challenge. Temperature-controlled vehicles are required in order to deliver produce in top condition, and delivery can require long drives, adding extensive costs for the grower, which are then passed on to consumers.
Enter the MendoLake Food Hub. Caroline Radice, Food Hub manager, says, “The Food Hub is the centralized link between the local farmer and the customer.” The Hub is a local distributor, providing strategically placed refrigerated nodes throughout Mendocino and Lake counties to accept and store farmers’ products. Twice each week, farmers list crops ready for harvest on the Hub’s website. Grocers, restaurants, school districts, and other wholesale customers then order the produce, which is harvested to order and delivered to their closest refrigerated node. A delivery truck then picks up from the node and delivers the order to the customer. The MendoLake Food Hub also cross-transacts with other regional food hubs to make local produce available to customers from San Francisco to Sacramento. This neat and tidy process has taken over five years to develop, and refinements are still being made.
The average shopper doesn’t realize that a huge network of distribution companies delivers the vast majority of the food to their local grocery stores. Moving food is big business. After the devastating floods hit Houston as a result of hurricane Harvey, a friend there stated, “We don’t have to worry about getting food because we can walk to the grocery store from our house.” She didn’t consider that, if she couldn’t use the roads, then neither could the large delivery trucks moving food around the country—all the more reason to support folks working to create a robust local food system.
One of the Food Hub’s top customers is Ukiah Natural Foods Co-op, where produce manager Libee Uhuru streamlines her weekly ordering via the Food Hub. Libee places orders year round from Alex and Sarah at Cinnamon Bear Farm, including the micro-greens, which continue to grow in popularity. “Through my dealings with Alex, I’ve come to see that he is a dedicated and passionate farmer who cares about the quality of his product. He’s also an innovative businessperson, looking for his niche in our local food forest. He really cares about what he’s doing.”
Libee continues, “Placing orders via the Food Hub takes me about five minutes, compared to the hours spent returning phone calls and coordinating delivery schedules before the Hub. My department runs more efficiently, which makes me very happy.”
The Food Hub also serves as the facilitator of Libee’s forward contracts with farmers. “Each year I put together proposals based on the previous year’s sales and pricing. I determine the estimated quantity of an item then submit them to the Hub, which forwards them to farmers.” She continues, ”Forward contracts give me some assurance that I’ll have the produce item on my shelves, and it helps the farmer plan for the year. The Hub is a huge help with this.” It’s a win-win-win—for farmers, wholesale buyers, and consumers.
Farm to table is, indeed, a big deal, and creating a smooth process that allows carefully grown food to reach its intended destination is all the better when the community works together. Mendocino County is proving that a healthy local food system is possible, one carrot at a time.
Lisa Ludwigsen is marketing manager at Ukiah Natural Foods Co-op. For the last 25 years, she has worked with families, farms, and food through school garden programs, small scale farming, and the media.
Photos by Ree Slocum, courtesy of MendoLake Food Hub.
