Posted by Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin on December 11, 2010
I mean farming the landscape of opportunity and the possibility of “redefining the role of Latino families in the food and agriculture system”. Our vision is that through a different arrangement of assets, resources, support infrastructure, the processes that define the current ecology (both the natural and artificial components) of food and agriculture, and by strategically overcoming a handful of critical barriers (access to land, financing, technical assistance and training) we can transform the role of Latino families and their participation in our agriculture and food system. Currently, although there are many Latino-led businesses in this sector, for the most part the vast majority of Latino families’ role in this sector is limited to providing unskilled cheap labor in the fields and factories. We are in the business of seeing this changed to a new role at the core of a new system that is socially responsible, economically viable and ecologically sustainable in the larger context of our market place and society.
We measure success as we structurally and systematically affect the role of Latinos from one of laborers who go home poor after generating millions of dollars for our regional and national economies, to one as players in partnership with the millions of farmers, consumers, farm organizations, government programs, and businesses who want to have a more secure country where our food does not depend on non-renewable resources and unsustainable practices. The Latino population in this country together with the millions of established farmers who they can partner with are positioned to make one of the greatest contributions to this nation from this point of view. We just need to realize it at a large scale, and to engage at the right levels, building capacity, re-directing resources and changing the systems and infrastructure that make our current systems un-sustainable in the long run.
Winter is the best time for farmers to plan and re-sharpen their saws, this is also true for our organization as we revisit and evaluate our plans and strategies and make the changes necessary to be more effective and aggressive about achieving our institutional mission and goals. This process goes a lot faster and a long way farther when there are partners, allies and supporters as well as whole communities willing to do their part to bring about the resources and support infrastructure to make things happen. The United States Department of Agriculture’s is a key supporter of our work. A recent Small Socially Disadvantaged Producers Grant is allowing us to build the foundation for a regional network of farmers organized under the Hillside Farmers Cooperative. Read more about this at the USDA Know Your Farmer Know your Food Program blog.
Posted by Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin on November 30, 2010
It is one thing if I say so, but a very different deal if a nationally renowned expert and economist points out the economic development potential of the work that we do developing local food systems across our rural communities. Without delay, I want to introduce you to Ken Meter, one of the most respected authorities in the economics of food and farm country. He wrote a fact filled piece for the Compost the newsletter of Just Foods Cooperative in Northfield for its October November issue. This was before he presented a much more extensive set of background facts and figures at the cooperative’s annual meeting.
Posted by Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin on November 19, 2010
2010 farming season has finished as far as being out in the fields is concerned, but planning, building infrastructure and preparing for 2011 is just started. In the coming months, there will be a lot of activity at the Rural Enterprise Center. First, we will be hiring 2 new staff to run the community farm/training program out of the Carlson property in Northfield. Second, we will finish the design and build a poultry processing facility, unless the feasibility analysis shows that this is a business we shouldn’t get into, but as we progress in the process we are finding more reasons for a project implementation. Third, we will formally start the organizational process to launch a network of drop-sites in the whole metro area, including the 7 counties with a focus on 4 of them where we have identified the largest market potential for poultry.
Launching the processor and organizing a large network of drop-sites is the starting point for the scalability of production and reaching out to wholesale accounts to build volumes and launch the first cluster of 8 poultry farms and at least 10 other enterprise operations from related enterprises. These and other activities are in front of us as we prepare to establish a strong presence in our regional markets and get the first cooperative launch, we look forward to engaging even more of our established partners and starting new relationships, specially in the market and distribution area of our business infrastructure.
Posted by Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin on November 13, 2010
Last night, I attended a Transition Northfield presentation by Richard Heinberg, senior Fellow-in-Residence at the Post Carbon Institute in California. Although he did not addressed the long-term solutions to the problem, he effectively addressed the challenge we face in our near 100% fossil fuel dependent society. The work we do at the Rural Enterprise Center fits within this overall picture as a new generation looks at scalable and sustainable solutions to our local economies, food and living systems in a way that we can re-design the way we produce and use energy, food, living spaces, communities, etc. I also checked their website and found this quick 5 minute slide show quite informative, check it out below.
Posted by Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin on October 24, 2010
I will be speaking at the Wedge Food Cooperative’s annual meeting, with close to 15,000 members, and over $31 Million in annual sales, the Wedge is the largest cooperative grocery in the country and a leader in innovative partnerships that have significantly expanded cooperation and local food systems development in Minnesota and the Midwest. Check out their annual meeting announcement and scroll down to Gardens of Eagan and Cooperative Partners Warehouse at the bottom of their website’s front page. Both of these initiatives add valuable and needed infrastructure to the growing local and regional food systems.
My presentation at the Wedge’s annual meeting will focus on the larger opportunities for systematic changes that we can initiate through larger partnerships, the deployment of new cooperative enterprises and structured and deliberate steps that can be taken to transform the flow of healthy foods from farm to table at a larger scale. At the Rural Enterprise Center we work all of these within a larger systems development framework, as we pursue these objectives in the transformation of food and agriculture systems, we incorporate principles for social responsibility, fair trade and ecological sustainability in a way that is scalable to meet real market demands for healthy products.
The Rural Enterprise Center is a program of Main Street Project that focuses on enterprise development. Our mission is to strengthen communities by bringing together the support infrastructure, systems, resources and programs that rural entrepreneurs need to succeed. More...
