June 2008
Living La Vida Local
By Annemarie Donnelly

Maurine Orndorff, agricultural programs technician for the Lake County Soil & Water Conservation District, educates people on the value of eating local foods. She is involved in the effort to help farmers attain conservation easements for their properties to ensure that the property is never developed.

In 2008, most Americans are operating on a very different family budget than any they ever anticipated. Gas can cost a family $400 a month or more, and day-to-day groceries are escalating at a rate that boggles the mind.

For businesses selling food or fine dining, rising costs and the desire to provide a more sustainable local environment means that most are turning their eyes to produce in their own backyard.

Larry Romp owned and operated a farmer’s market before joining Heinen’s three years ago. The local grocery hired him to help develop a buying system that included more local farmers.

“At the farmer’s market, my business was around everything local and Jeff (Heinen) felt that Heinen’s should be involved much more locally,” he says. “Today we buy from about 45 to 50 Ohio growers, which is much more than they were able to do before.”

To help develop the availability of produce that the 17-store chain needs, Romp has visited local farmers to discuss the produce and quality needs for the grocery business.

“The Amish were always really big about keeping the family on the farm, but in the past years many have had to go out and do other things,” he says. “Now a lot of the young people are going back into farming. So it’s better for the environment and good for the local economy.”

Because fresh produce eliminates a travel period that can range from four to 10 days, Heinen’s can truly deliver on their motto of “Picked today, in the stores tomorrow.” What’s more, Romp says local foods will always taste fresher and will last the consumer much longer.

“You could load up the refrigerator and it will still be good a week later,” he says. “We really see it as kind of a win-win for everyone. We want to keep the dollars in the local community and keep the farmers in the community – and some are now learning to farm organically.”

Preserving agriculture

Along with businesses like Heinen’s, who want the freshness of local produce, local government entities are also trying to spread the word about the importance of keeping agriculture in Northeast Ohio. As the agricultural programs technician for the Lake County Soil & Water Conservation District, Maurine Orndorff is dedicated to encouraging farmers to keep their land growing.

“We’re working to educate people about the value of eating local foods – which are fresher, and also helps the local economy by keeping dollars in the community,” she says. “We’re also working with farmers to try to find ways to help extend their seasons and the amount of produce they can provide.”

One of the biggest efforts of the Soil and Water Conservation District, however, is directed to helping farmers to attain conservation easements for their properties. Orndorff says this will ensure that the property is never developed, and farm owners can benefit from tax advantages.

“We’re trying to encourage communities to keep agriculture by looking at the impact it can have to their economy,” she says. “Residential land use costs more to service than it does in tax dollars.”

Orndorff recently worked on a study of the grape industry in Madison Village and Township, measuring all of the economic benefits associated with grape farming. The study found that in just one year, visitors to wineries in Northeast Ohio brought in $30 million to the area. Along with wine purchases, income was generated from associated costs like dining, lodging and fuel.

Orndorff is also working with the other side of the equation – by calling on local restaurants and encouraging them to buy local whenever possible.

“I met with Bistro 70 in Painesville and they seemed very interested, but haven’t had the opportunity because of the winter season,” she says. “I’m looking forward to talking with many more restaurants.”

Not always cheapest

Buying local produce does not necessarily prove less costly. In many cases, costs can run higher than produce shipped across the country – even with the added fuel charges.

“Our biggest cost coming in right now is the fuel charge,” says Tom Krizman, owner of Krizman’s Farmer’s Market in Mentor. “To bring a truck in from California, we’re seeing a $4,000 truck charge, which was just $1,000 or $1,200 a year or two ago.”

For Krizman, buying local produce hasn’t been feasible because of cost and lack of availability.

“We buy local in the summer, when people demand it,” he says. “But actually it’s not economical.”

Larry Shibley, one of the partners of the local Yours Truly restaurants, also finds that buying local is not always the right choice for the business or the consumer.

“We’ve adopted a policy that we try to specify whenever possible locally grown or produced items, but it is a little harder,” Shibley says. “Generally, customers are in favor of it, but people don’t want to pay a premium for it, and sometimes an item might cost 25 percent more if it is grown in Ohio.”

For example, Shibley says maple syrup is a product they’ve tried to source locally, only to find that it might cost 100 percent more per portion than a Vermont or Canadian syrup.

“We’d lose money on it if we used a Geauga County product,” he says. “Our customers want us to put together a product that makes sense both in quality and price.”

Still, the Yours Truly restaurants are able to find many quality local products to purchase at a comparable cost to the national suppliers.

“A lot of times it’s just paying attention. Sometimes you can buy a quality commodity product locally for the same price,” says Shibley, who cites bread, tomatoes and meat products as a few of the local products they purchase.

Forkfuls of freshness

Local options and purchasing logistics may improve due to the launch of a new online distribution system in June. Fresh Fork Market is the brainchild of five students at Case Western Reserve University, four of whom graduated in May. The project was developed as part of a business competition and after winning the event, the students decided to make the business a reality.

“What we are offering is a virtual farmers market, as a supply chain solution for restaurants to buy local agricultural products direct from local farmers,” says Trevor Clatterbuck, one of the four partners in Fresh Fork Market. “Farmers can list their products and set their own prices on the Web site and restaurants can see what’s available, make choices and add items to a shopping cart. We arrange the transportation directly to their door.”

By encouraging farmers to compete with other farmers, Clatterbuck says that quality and price should be improved for the purchasing restaurant.

“If the customer knows the name of the farm he is purchasing from, he won’t buy a product if he’s had a bad experience with quality,” he says. “By making farms compete for the customer they will have to provide a quality product.”

Clatterbuck and his partners have been marketing the program for the past year, while working out all of the logistical details as they finished their schoolwork. The business is planned to “go live” June 1, with a number of Cleveland restaurants lined up to do business. Clatterbuck has already been talking to restaurants in Lake County, in preparation of the next phase of their launch.

“Cost is the No. 1 concern, of course, but most restaurants recognize the benefits in terms of freshness and nutrition density,” he says. “We would never advertise ourselves as a price leading solution, but I think we will have both competitive and premium products, which is appropriate for our market.”

The new company will also provide benefits to the environment because product is not shipped over long distances, or left to spoil in storage.

“Local produce is much more sustainable because we’re not holding an inventory,” Clatterbuck says. “There’s no spoilage as there is with a traditional distributor. Some distributors lose 25 to 30 percent of their product due to waste in transportation or just sitting around.”

Local restaurateur Randall Johnson is already interested in the services Fresh Fork Market could provide.

“Up until this year, there really has not been a mechanism in place to get local produce, but we’ve signed up to work them and see how it goes,” says Johnson, owner of Molinari’s in Mentor. “I think it‘s a big undertaking, but I think it’s a great idea.”

Johnson says he’s tried to buy from local farms before, but hasn’t had much success because of the amounts of food needed.

“I think there’s a great interest from people in wanting to eat local foods,” he says.” I think people will be very interested in giving this a try.”

Clatterbuck says restaurants will be encouraged to let their customers know about the benefits of buying locally. Fresh Fork Market plans to provide marketing tools like menu inserts and table tent cards.

Customers at Heinen’s are already exposed to the green enthusiasm there and Romp says the store is always trying to promote its locally grown products.

“We’re trying to tell the story to our customers because it’s an important story,” Romp says. “With Heinen’s being the local grocer – it’s the right thing to do.”

Annemarie Donnelly is a Mentor freelance writer.