According to Indiana State Department of Agriculture data, approximately 90 percent of the food consumed in Indiana comes from other states and other countries. While imports and exports will always remain a staple of the state economy, there seems to be plenty of opportunity for Hoosier growers to grab a larger percentage of the local food market. But how best to accomplish such a task? And in the meantime, are producers doomed to duke it out for their share of that small fraction of the market that currently buys local? Our state motto, The Crossroads of America, seems more applicable than ever before; for those of us interested in boosting local food consumption and improving the infrastructure here for family farms to thrive, we’ve arrived at a crossroads indeed.
This drawback is one of the reasons Carter, along with Tyner Pond Farm Owner Chris Baggott, co-founded FarmersMarket.com, which allows consumers to purchase a wide selection of locally produced goods online and then pick up at their nearest market host.
Carter says farmers markets represent the leading edge of a trend that requires more creative solutions in order to thrive. Whether that means more web and mobile application innovation, improved delivery systems, more cooperative farms and groceries or all of the above, time will tell. “To break through to the next level and move the needle on that 90 percent number, we will have to see innovation in the model,” he says.
The current state of duck production in Indiana provides a telling example of the need for improved local infrastructure. Although Indiana is the country’s leading supplier of duck—according to Indiana State Board of Animal Health data, we produce more than 20 million ducks per year, which is 73 percent of U.S. duck production—there are no processing facilities in the state for small-scale duck farmers. Large producers with on-site processing capability are able to sell their product at a lower rate, while the small guys must travel out of state for processing, raising prices above the competition.
Ryan Nelson, chef and owner of Late Harvest Kitchen and The North End Barbecue in Indianapolis, says plenty of space exists in the market for more Indiana restaurants to source locally without competing too fiercely, but cost efficiency is perhaps the biggest obstacle—an obstacle that could be removed if more effective and organized infrastructure among local growers could reduce the costs those growers must pass along to their buyers.
Changing the way they do business, she says, is what has proven most difficult food growers—large or small. According to Ellett, large farmers who might want to diversify their crops and break into new systems of growing and selling food have a learning curve that involves marketing their farms in new ways. Large farmers may need to “learn how to create a farm brand and a logo and a story” about their farms so that they can engage local and regional customers, she says.
Smaller, diversified farmers who regularly sell at farmers markets may need to look at finding new audiences for their products—particularly large buyers. In their case, their learning curve may be that that they need to stop thinking about the retail prices that they get at the farmers market and “start thinking about selling more product, packaging it in a wholesale manner and being able to not spend as much time marketing,” she explains.
These learning curves are where Extension educators come in. Each holds different areas of expertise and works within their areas to help farmers find the information they need to expand their operations. Educators create videos, webinars, and toolkits, as well as host conferences to connect farmers and food growers to the people they need to meet.
James Wolff, Extension educator in Allen County, points to the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership, which is pushing to improve the regional food system, and the upcoming Allen County Food Council as two examples of how folks in the northeast region of the state are working together. “There are a lot of groups coming to the table to accomplish that push (to improve the regional food system) and make those connections,” he says.
The demand for fresh, locally grown products has never been higher, so for those who’d like to see small- to mid-scale Indiana producers provide more than just 10 percent of the food Hoosiers eat, the best step forward is to view the problem in the most pragmatic light, which is to say, realize that working in solidarity to make the pie much bigger, instead of competing against one another, might be the most sensible approach.
In short, there’s plenty of room to, well, grow.