Celebrating the Awakening Colorado Foodshed
Colorado
The Local Food Shift Mission Community Supported Publishing Reaching Our Readership Investing in Our Foodshed
H
ere in Colorado we have the great privilege of witnessing
and even participating in the awakening of a regional foodshed.
Over the last several years local food has become one of the fastest
growing and most promising sectors of Colorado’s economy.
We’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of Community
Supported Agriculture shares in the region, a proliferation of
Farmers’ Markets, farm stands popping up around the country-
side, scores of popular farm-to-table dinners every summer,
dozens of new farms and farmers, and considerable new addi-
tional acreage devoted to food production for local consumption.
Backyard and front yard gardening are firmly taking root, along
with community gardening and urban farming. Some of our
schools are actually leading the way, with a vigorous farm-to-
school movement.
Restaurants sourcing local food have multiplied. Retailers and
chefs alike have begun to realize that eaters overwhelmingly prefer
locally-produced food, even over organic. Accordingly, a new crop of food entrepreneurs has sprouted up to meet the rapidly grow-
ing demand for local food. Many young people are discovering
whole new careers in local food, and older producers are finding
new markets they scarcely dreamed were possible.
A whole new industry segment is beginning to emerge around the extraordinary opportunities of local food, an emerging segment
which is hungry for capital. And with the advent of Slow Money
thinking and awareness, some of our citizens are discovering the
joys of moving a portion of their financial resources into the local
food economy.
These are all very encouraging developments. And it’s no coinci-
dence that for the last eight years or so our organization has been deeply involved in nearly every aspect of this story. Early on we
had declared an optimistic (if naive) goal of 25 percent food localization for Colorado within a decade, noting the economic potential of 31,000 new jobs for the state. And we have helped mobilize
millions of dollars in local capital in this direction, utilizing the
principles and ethics of Slow Money.
Letter from the Publishers We have long been catalysts in the process of food localization, working to ignite, inspire, guide and empower those who are
awakening to these realities and are beginning to face the challenges and opportunities of localizing our food supply—forging a new and restorative way for humanity to feed itself.
With the launch of the Local Food Shift Magazine we are now
taking our work to a whole new level. More directly than any
other strategy, the magazine will feed both the local food move-
What is most profoundly needed in this situation is a systemic,
collaborative, cooperative, coordinated approach to localizing
our food supply to the greatest extent possible in the briefest
possible time. This requires, in Jack Kloppenburg’s famous
term, “thinking like a foodshed”—a new skillset in our society.
Much of the content in our pages will be designed to cultivate
this approach.
If we do this well together, we have an opportunity to build a
ment and its accompanying emerging industry segment, at the
localized regional foodshed that is economically robust, environ-
We wholeheartedly invite you to join us in this effort.
security, food sovereignty and food justice, that contributes
same time supporting the birth of a true local food culture. While Local Food Shift covers the entire state, the primary
circulation focus of the magazine is the Colorado Front Range, home to 4.5 million people clustered around six metropolitan
hubs, an area that also includes nine million acres of agricul-
mentally sustainable, resilient and self-reliant, that ensures food
to the health and well-being of our citizens, rediscovers and
cultivates a sense of place, and strengthens our local economy.
This is what Local Food Shift is all about.
tural land (mostly commodity production for export). This area
is theoretically capable of feeding its local population—especially when it is supplemented with the fruits of Colorado’s Western
Slope, an increasingly important source of local food for Front
Michael Brownlee
Range residents.
The process of localizing this regional foodshed began nearly a
decade ago, but has progressed to only approximately 1.5% - 3%.
It is an ironic fact that the state of Colorado—an agricultural
state—is currently forced to import at least 97% of its own
food supply. This is a profoundly unsustainable situation. And
with the global industrial food system already beginning to fail, we are now compelled to accelerate and scale localization efforts here.
Localizing our food supply is right at the heart of an effort to
bring healing, restoration and regeneration into our troubled world, to begin to reverse the widespread destruction caused by the industrial growth society. Since food is what catalyzed
human civilization in the first place, it’s appropriate that the
effort to reverse the damage of the industrial growth society
should also begin with food. There is no issue or human activity more fundamental than the way we feed ourselves. It is the very foundation of human society.
Lynette Marie Hanthorn
CELEBRATING THE FOODSHED
Finally, a Magazine for the Local Food Revolution! “If economics is reconceived in the service of community, it will begin with a concern for agriculture and specifically for the production of food. This is because a healthy community will be a relatively self-sufficient one. A community’s complete dependency on outsiders for its mere survival weakens it. The most fundamental requirement for survival is food. Hence, how and where food is grown is foundational to an economics for community.” —Herman Daly, American ecological economist Photography by Cynthia Torres, Nanna Meyer
Launching in Q1 2015 and published six times annually, Local Food Shift is a regional print and digital magazine providing a powerful platform weaving together the saga of the awakening Colorado foodshed and its shift from a globalized industrial food system to a localized regional food supply chain.
Reaching some 100,000 passionate readers every eight weeks (25,000 copies distributed throughout Colorado, with an average reach of nearly four people per copy), our pages are filled with compelling stories of vibrant “centers of aliveness” within this awakening foodshed, and the messages of businesses who are aligned with our mission and values. These stories will honor the farmers and ranchers, entrepreneurs, educators, innovative chefs, food and beverage artisans and other culinary professionals who are responding to the challenges and opportunities of local food.
Featuring a diverse array of inspiring and informative stories, first-class journalism, provocative thought, stunning photographs, evocative illustrations, and compelling advertising, each edition of Local Food Shift will become a prominent fixture in kitchens, on coffee tables and nightstands, in fine eateries and coffee houses, in microbreweries, and in tasting rooms of vintners and distillers. This is a magazine with shelf life—each issue designed as a treasured collectors item, with beautifully-designed pages printed on high-quality recycled matte stock and perfect bound.
Local Food Shift celebrates the joys of the awakening foodshed.
We honor all things local, but especially local food, local drink, and local agriculture. We are committed to illuminating the delights of local food, exploring the rich culinary heritages of Colorado, advocating for the importance of cultivating a vibrant and diverse local food economy, and supporting the development of a true local food culture.
Our readers are informed, engaged, and passionate about supporting our mission and our advertising partners who make it possible. These are eaters who are increasingly concerned with the social, economic, ethical, environmental, health and cultural implications of how they eat. They are learning the difference between cost and price, and are willing to pay more for products that are locally-produced, organic, humanely raised or sustainably made—especially if they have a good story.
Free copies of Local Food Shift can be found at convenient outlets throughout Colorado. Or readers can participate in our community supported publishing program, purchasing print and online subscriptions to help support our mission. We are also developing a robust online presence. Besides a dynamic flip-book edition of every issue, we feature a diversity of members-only premium content that cannot fit in our print magazine.
A SYSTEMIC APPROACH
The Local Food Shift Mission “Counterposed to the global food system are self-reliant, locally or regionally based food systems comprised of diversified farms using sustainable practices to supply fresher, more nutritious foodstuffs to small-scale processors and consumers to whom producers are linked by the bonds of community as well as economy. The landscape is understood as part of that community and, as such human activity is shaped to conform to knowledge and experience of what the natural characteristics of that place do or do not permit.” —Jack Kloppenburg, Jr., “Coming in to the Foodshed” Illustration by Carol Rufenich
Food is our most direct and enduring connection to the cultures, land, water and weather cycles of our bioregion. In our pages, Local Food Shift explores regional foodways as a lens into the social and environmental issues, the rich cultural heritages, and the future options and strategies for living here in Colorado—despite very real resource limitations. Our mandate is to:
❂ Provide high-quality reporting, writing, and photography that illuminate a wide range of food-related and food system topics specifically relevant to the Colorado foodshed. ❂ Promote people and organizations (primarily regionally, but also nationally and internationally) who are doing exemplary and passionate work in the areas of local food, sustainable agriculture, culinary and cultural heritages, and health and well-being.
❂ Advocate for the critical importance of rebuilding and localizing our foodshed, which means telling the stories of why local food makes sense as both an economic development strategy and as an environmental sustainability imperative—especially given the inescapable consequences of climate change. ❂ Support the emergence of a robust local food industry segment, which includes a broad range of farmers, ranchers and food entrepreneurs.
❂ Simply celebrate the joys of eating and cooking locally, seasonally and in ways that connect us with diverse food heritages and culinary heirlooms in this unique bioregion.
❂ Connect eaters with producers and purveyors of locally-produced foods, beverages and comestibles of all kinds.
❂ Empower area residents to participate in producing their own food through gardening, water harvesting and urban homesteading, and in ways that make sense in a semi-arid land.
Local Food Shift is inspired by the work of Edible Baja Arizona, published by Douglas Biggers, Coyote Talking LLC.
SUBSCRIBER–MEMBERSHIP
Community Supported Publishing “One way we could describe the task ahead of us is by saying that we need to enlarge the consciousness and the conscience of the economy. Our economy needs to know—and care— what it is doing. This is revolutionary, of course, if you have a taste for revolution, but it is also a matter of common sense.” —Wendell Berry, In Distrust of Movements Photography by Kirsten Boyer
We understand that the only way a high-value magazine like this can be financially sustainable is if it is directly supported by both its advertisers and its readers. While we will always strive to make available a certain number of copies to those who cannot afford to purchase it, we intend that the magazine will be increasingly accepted as valuable enough to be worthy of subscription-membership.
Similar to the CSA farms that many of us have come to know and love, we want our readers to consider Local Food Shift as their magazine. A growing community of subscriber-members is what will make it possible for us to better serve our intended audience with the very best regional local food magazine. We want Local Food Shift to be a regular part of their reading “diet.”
We know that people are willing to pay for content that has a direct impact on their lives. Such content must be effective, efficient, poignant, timely and unique. That’s what Local Food Shift is committed to delivering to our readers. This partnership allows us to deliver ever higher quality content. This is what Woody Tasch calls “next generation civic engagement.”
Subscriber-Member Benefits ❂ Access to exclusive premium content on our website, which will include articles, videos, author interviews, and content curated from other websites, plus a quarterly subscriber-only newsletter.
❂ Discounts on registrations for events sponsored by Local Food Shift.
❂ Discounts on memberships in participating CSA farms.
❂ Discounts on products from participating advertisers. In addition, Local Food Shift subscriber-members will soon be eligible to participate in crowdsourced investment opportunities.
“We need to reconnect to one another and to the places where we live. We need to reaffirm the primacy
of relationships over transactions. To do this, we are going to need to develop new, imaginative capital flows and new imaginative approaches to agriculture. And we are going to have to slow down.” —Woody Tasch, founder of Slow Money
Readers can subscribe to the print version of the magazine or just the online version. All subscribers will have exclusive access to a members-only premium content area on the website.
ADVERTISING PARTNERS
Reaching Our Readership “The diner and the shopper willing to pay prices considered fair to the farmer justifiably expect to connect dollar value with appropriate farm practices. Such consumers are all the more intrigued when they feel the entire supply chain that got the food to their plate or their grocery basket is well grounded in its ethics and its commitment to the local and regional community.” —Philip Ackerman-Leist, Rebuilding the Foodshed Photography by Cynthia Torres, Kirsten Boyer
Strategically placed in key communities throughout Colorado, Local Food Shift Ambassadors are our boots on the ground, our eyes and ears exploring the developing stories of our awakening foodshed, making connections between the centers of aliveness we’re discovering together. They weave networks of relationship, and make sure that our magazine finds its way to those who need it and want it.
Local Food Shift does not “sell advertising.” Instead, our Ambassadors work closely with our business partners to craft messages and images that meaningfully connect them with our readers, understanding that in our pages we are committed to curating the highest quality advertising—in the same way we consistently present superior journalism, photography and illustration. In fact, we consider our ads to be as important to our mission and message as our editorial content.
By advertising with us, you are aligning yourself with the magazine and our mission, and are making a direct connection with more than 100,000 like-minded readers. We offer free ad design and marketing consultation, and constantly work to ensure your ads are as effective as possible through placement and design.
A high-quality editorial product and effective statewide distribution delivers targeted, direct access to a desirable and coveted demographic, informed readers who care passionately about local food and drink—and who value other quality products and experiences. While the Denver metro area is the predominant focus of our circulation, you also reach residents and tourists in select outlets in Boulder, Ft. Collins, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Cheyenne, Durango, Grand Junction, Telluride and Aspen. Your partnership demonstrates your support of a local food economy, enabling Local Food Shift to pursue its mission of promoting businesses, organizations and individuals who are helping to forge a sustainable and prosperous local food economy in our region—a powerful economic development strategy that benefits all businesses.
A sophisticated editorial environment showcases your ad. Our advertising-to-editorial ratio is designed to create a perfect balance. Our editorial content is top notch, but readers are also enthusiastically engaged with tasteful and well-designed advertising as a valuable source of consumer information. Your ad includes a free 40-word listing in our Source Guide, an annotated directory of advertisers. Your display ad is complemented with a listing in what will fast become the definitive reference for quality local food-related businesses in the region.
CATALYTIC CAPITAL
Investing in Our Foodshed “Increasing the flow of capital to small food enterprises, to local food systems, to the production, processing, distribution and marketing of local, fresh, organic food is one of the most fundamental things we can do to begin fixing our economy, our country, our culture, from the ground up.” —Woody Tasch, Slow Money Founder Photography by Cynthia Torres
In early 2012, for the first time we began seeing industry data pointing to the stunning news that more people preferred local food than those who preferred organic. This was a milestone, a marker of a significant shift in our society. The organic food segment has been built by the very same kinds of marketing and advertising that has been used to build the industrial food industry—but the local food segment is being driven by “consumer demand.”
Local food—which hit an estimated $10 billion last year and will likely grow to eclipse the organic food segment in the next few years—is being driven by eaters. This is happening not because of powerful and well-financed marketing campaigns, but because growing numbers of people have decided that we want our food to be produced as locally as possible, that we want to know who grew our food and how they grew it, that we want to make sure that our food is as fresh and as healthy and as nutritious as possible, and that we will do whatever it takes and pay whatever necessary to have such food, because we know that it is essential to the health and well-being of our bodies, our families, our communities, our environment, and our economies. This is perhaps unprecedented, a “consumer-driven industry”! Eaters today increasingly want to know the story of their food and those who produced it. And they expect distributors and retailers and chefs to carry that story all the way through the supply chain, from the field to the fork.
We are publishing Local Food Shift magazine because we know it is needed in our foodshed. We also understand well that for the publication to be viable, it must be financially sustainable. Accordingly, we are engaging a small number of capital partners who together are willing to risk a total of $150,000 to capitalize this venture. We project that this will make it possible for the magazine to become profitable by the end of the second year, and to repay initial investments in year three.
Of course, launching a print publication is challenging in an era when many magazines are dying and traditional business models are collapsing. We understand that reliance on advertising will be insufficient in the long run, that we must supplement revenues with subscriptions/membership. As you will see from our financial projections, by increasingly relying on a community supported publishing model (CSP), we are convinced we can build a sustainable catalytic force in Colorado and beyond.
SERVING THE FOODSHED
About the Publishers In 2005, Michael Brownlee and Lynette Marie Hanthorn cofounded an organization to catalyze relocalization, which has operated under various structures and names as its focus and scope has evolved (Boulder Valley Relocalization, Boulder County Going Local, Transition Boulder County, Transition Colorado, and finally Local Food Shift Group—a 501(c)(3) with for-profit subsidiaries, e.g., Localization Partners LLC, an investment firm, and Local Food Shift LLC, a communication and publishing venture).
For the last seven years, the mission of this organization has been to catalyze the localization of our food supply, initially beginning with Boulder County, and in recent years moving to a regional/systemic focus that includes the entire Colorado Front Range. The term “the Local Food Shift” has become a catalytic meme that has outgrown the organization, now naming both a grassroots eater-driven movement and the emergence of a local food industry.
Our role in this dual development has afforded us ample opportunity for intensive learning and experimentation, and we now find ourselves with a “front-row seat” to a rare event in human history, the awakening of a regional foodshed. But we are not passive observers, for all along we have been consciously developing our capacities as catalysts in this extraordinary situation.
We have, however, come to a crossroads where we see clearly what is most critically needed in this process of localizing our Colorado food supply, but realize that what is needed far exceeds our capacity or the capacity of any existing organization, company, or coalition. Through this publication, we are convinced we can best serve and support everyone involved in the collective effort to localize our food supply.
Towards a Living Foodshed
Our interest with Local Food Shift is in how we can cultivate Colorado’s regional foodshed
and the centers of aliveness emerging within it. We’re beginning to see that we’re actually
catalyzing the awakening of a foodshed as a living being, by supporting living generative centers within this emerging foodshed.
We cannot measure the value of a living foodshed—neither its present or future value—any more than we can measure the value of a child. It is priceless, far beyond economics. This is
very difficult to express, but it’s not hard to feel.
There are very good reasons why connecting with our local foodshed kindles very deep feelings that often bring about a fundamental shift in our orientation towards life. Our industrial
food system has radically disconnected us from the living earth, from life itself, and many are now becoming aware of this. A living foodshed is literally life-giving in a way that nothing else can be. It is truly regenerative, and is as subversive and radical an unfolding as anything we can discover happening in the world today.
The local food revolution represents the re-awakening of our biophilia, our innate love for
and connection with life itself. In this context, food is not to be trivialized or commoditized— otherwise we demean its provenance, its origins, and we lose the relatedness.
We are touching into the realm of the sacred here, and we do not yet know the ways to speak
about this. Words fail. But we do know that this is sacred work we’re doing together, and
through this work the sacred moves in us and through us. The relationships that are thereby created are nothing less than sacred. Food is sacred—and mysteriously sacramental.
We need to learn to love our foodshed and what’s emerging within it, to nurture it, to give to it, to allow it to give to us—and this is what Local Food Shift will do.
It’s really about loving our foodshed into existence.
Editors and Publishers Michael Brownlee Lynette Marie Hanthorn Associate Publisher Nanna Meyer Business Development Eryn Taylor Design Director Eugene Malowany Photographers/Illustrators Kirsten Boyer Nanna Meyer Cynthia Torres Shutterstock Carol Rufenich
We’d love to hear from you. Michael@LocalFoodShift.com 303-335-6589 LM@LocalFoodShift.com 303-335-5475