Table Talk with Grant Anderson

Table Talk

EACH 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.”

What changes need to occur to make that transition?

“The only way I feel like we could change our local food systems and get it to a point where people rely on it or seek it out, is if you can show them how much better it is - the improved nutritional value - and the ability to sustain a local economy, create jobs. It’s all really positive, if you can just get people aware of it.”

“There’s billions of dollars spent on foreign food, and it’s not food that we can’t grow here, it’s just food that we don’t grow here.”

“I don’t know how exactly you make that switch. I don’t know if it’s local municipalities or state or federal governments to try to find a way to implement local food systems.. Without them saying we appreciate what you do and we understand the value of local food to our communities, here’s a way we’re going to receive it… here’s an avenue for you to move your produce. I don’t know what farmer is going to be able to develop that method of distribution for themselves.”

How do we make a sustainable, local food system that is profitable for producers while keeping it accessible to consumers?

Anderson suggests that by sourcing food locally, restaurants and grocery stores can save considerably in transportation costs which could then be used to offset the higher cost of production.

That alone would not, of course, create an equal playing field between local growers and commercial producers from around the world, so other measures would also need to be taken.

He contends that communities need to develop the proper infrastructure or pathways for product to move from grower to buyer without requiring each individual farmer to create his or her own. And though, he acknowledges the many benefits and good work being done by local farmers markets throughout the State, there are flaws when that is the only outlet available.

Growing lettuce at Better Fresh Farms

“There’s a limited segment of the population who has access to the farmers market, or who’s interested in it enough to find it. There’s a lot of people who are aware of the farmers market and know how good it is but need to be motivated to go. … it really has to be a priority. And it is for a lot of us conceptually, we want better food, but it’s got to be easier for us to get.”

“Right now, we’ve got to figure out a way to use current technology to get people food, to make it easier for the farmer. We’re not focused on improving the food system right now as much as I think we should be. And if we just applied a little bit of the current technology to our food system, we could make food available. It just doesn’t seem to be a priority in the public light. There’s just so much more that’s talked about day to day. About the only thing you hear about food on the news is when there’s some sort of food safety outbreak.”

How do we grow the sustainable food movement here in our communities?

“It sounds simple, but if you can find a local farmer that you can support and appreciate their product. And if you can approach an establishment that you frequent, whether it’s a restaurant or grocery store and request a local product that’s not on their shelf, and press them to the point where they’re forced to question the value of putting that on their shelf - it helps us out.”

“Farmers want that, but it’s difficult when you don’t have a market to receive it. So, until people ask for it, they don’t know that there’s a desire for it. It’s difficult for a chef or a grocery chain to decide they’re going to pick up a higher priced product on the hope of a better sale.”

“Whether it’s a restaurant deciding that they’ve had enough requests for an item that they’ll feature it once a week, that’s a tremendous step forward for farmers. We need people out there advocating for better food choices and to change retailers’ minds and requesting specific products from specific farms, so when they’re meeting and deciding on what product to carry, they can identify specific demands from their consumers.”

“In the same respect, we have food certification processes we have to go through to get to a point where a chain might want to pick us up and there’s expense associated with that. If there was some way that State or local government could help subsidize the expense of trying to operate a local farm for local food consumption, it would save everyone money and provide a better food product for the community.”