Southern SOIL
Table Talk E 12
ACH ISSUE OF SOUTHERN SOIL FEATURES A CONVERSATION WITH AN INDIVIDUAL REPRESENTING A PERSPECTIVE ALONG THE FOOD SUPPLY LINE. FOR THIS ISSUE, I MET UP WITH GRANT ANDERSON OF BETTER FRESH FARMS. AT 34, HE IS OUR YOUNGEST PARTICIPANT IN TABLE TALK TO DATE AND HE IS EMBRACING 21ST CENTURY FARMING INNOVATION.
Anderson farms without tractors or diesel, no worries about weather, pests or soil. He works in a clean, climate-controlled environment that can be monitored via his smartphone. Anderson is definitely part of a new generation of farmers and he’s hoping to lead the way for other young farmers to follow. Better Fresh Farms currently fits nicely in two retrofitted shipping containers. Anderson grows lettuces, radishes, herbs and other produce for Savannah area restaurants who appreciate his fresh, chemical-free product. He can go from seed to harvest in approximately 8 weeks and can consistently meet the restaurant demand. Anderson is passionate about producing local food in a way that is healthy and accessible for consumers. His background is in banking, but he left that career in order to provide good, healthy
food for his family like he was able to experience during his childhood. The following is Anderson’s perspective on a series of questions regarding the local food system in Southeast Georgia. What does the current food system look like here in Southeast Georgia? “I would describe our food system as commercially-centric … For a local farmer, the local food system is broken … There’s nobody out there who’s really fighting for the local farmer, so to speak. What farm representation there is, is for commodities, not for food. I would say broken is the best word for it.” “Right now, I feel like really good quality food is almost reserved for the upper tier, higher salaried folks. If you’re in the food deserts of metropolitan areas or out in the country like this even, with less row croppers - you can’t eat commodity crops like cotton and soybeans. And that’s what most farmland is devoted to. There’s got to be a way to produce enough food for people locally to get. It has to become a priority.” What do you think a locally sourced, sustainable food system should look like here in Southeast Georgia? When it comes to the possibilities for a local food system, Anderson would like to see local school systems purchasing from local growers, local grocery stores carrying local food and more support for food-growing local farmers from the federal, state and municipal legislatures. “We really and truly need a market that says we all want better and we won’t stand for otherwise. We need everyone buying in. You need chefs that will buy in and adjust menus for what’s locally available. Without local buy in from chefs and restaurants and grocery stores, until they are willing to pay an extra little bit or figure out some way to collectively support local farmers, it’s all still a lot of local individual farmers trying to figure out how to get product somewhere.” (con tinued on page 20)
