Market Farming

["Kevin Ancell" <kancell AT goodearthgardens.com>]

School dishes up food plan
Lockwood wants to put local food on table
By Mike Surbrugg
Globe Staff Writer

LOCKWOOD, Mo. - Why, wonders local schools Superintendent Lyle Boyles, does
the food his cafeteria serves students have to come from somewhere else?
It is a reasonable question for Boyles, whose R-1 district is surrounded by
farmland in Dade County.

Boyles says he is working on a plan that could begin this spring that would
bring local produce to the cafeteria - a program that if successful would be
among the first in Missouri.

The project could involve the school district, the University of Missouri
Outreach and Extension, and local processors and farmers, said Bill
Heffernan, a rural sociologist at the University of Missouri-Columbia who is
consulting with the school district.

Boyles said he heard Heffernan talk three years ago about such a program and
decided now is the time to put words into action. The Lockwood effort could
be a model for the state, Boyles said.

"It is a more effective way to make schools part of their local
 communities," Boyles said.

It also would reverse a trend in which schools shop farther and farther from
home, he said.

The local food program also could involve other public institutions such as
nursing homes, hospitals and prisons.

It is a step to have more local control over the source of the food served
in the schools, he said. Food security has gotten increased attention since
the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, he said.

In addition, the high school's home economics and agriculture classes, which
have access to a greenhouse, could contribute to the effort, Boyles said.

He said details will come later on how purchases would be made to comply
with state laws, food inspection and other issues. A meeting to talk about
the program is set for 7 p.m. Monday at the Lockwood High School cafeteria.

Heffernan shares enthusiasm for the concept. "We are in a global food
system. That creates opportunities for locally based systems to evolve," he
said.

He cited an example of global food as hamburger, where the consumer likely
does not know the country of origin of all the meat. The United States does
not require processors to put such information on the labels.

Institutions could play a key role in buying and serving food grown on farms
surrounding Lockwood, Heffernan said.

Lockwood has a meat processing plant, but it is no longer federally
inspected. But Heffernan said that does not kill the idea. "(Meat
inspections) could return, and we have a state inspection system that is
ready to go," he said.

The economic impact potential could include more food-processing jobs and
possibly financial help to develop "new generation cooperatives," Heffernan
said.

In addition to meat, milk and eggs, supplies of fresh fruit and vegetables
could be extended by staggering planting dates and with use of greenhouses.
Another option would be local processing, he said.

There is a dairy in an adjoining county that processes milk that it bottles
and sells retail, he said.

Keeping the food dollar home is a boost to the local economy, he said. "The
local multiplier factor is that every dollar generated on the farm can
generate $3 to $4 before it leaves the community," he said.

That does not happen with corporate or commodity farming, which generally
ships all products away from the town to be finished and processed at other
locations, he said.

"There are no silver bullets, but this could be a way for problems of fewer
markets for farmers," he said.

A Lockwood farmer, Wayne Schnelle, is encouraged by the plan. He said he
sees a need for farmers to have more markets.

He no longer raises hogs because of limited markets and fears cattle and
grain could follow the trend of poultry and hogs, which largely have been
taken over by corporate outfits such as Tyson and Simmons.

Lockwood Mayor LaRu Lemons praised local schools for being open to new
ideas.

"I think the project is wonderful," she said. "Sure, it is ambitious, but we
got where we are today by being ambitious. I think it's wonderful we have a
superintendent who would consider this."





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