In This Issue
• Three Sisters Garden Corn: It’s Officially Summer
• What Does Sustainable Really Mean? (From the Evanston Market Newsletter)
Got Me Some Three Sisters Garden Corn
Local Food Forum supports all of our local, sustainable producers and we try not to play favorites. Our farmers all produce delicious food and I’ve shown in the newsletter how I make the effort to spread my purchases around.
But if you’ve been haunting farmers markets for a long time, you probably have some favorites, and so do I. I’ve often said that it’s not officially spring until I purchase my first Michigan asparagus from Mick Klug Farm (St. Joseph, MI). And though it has been plenty warm (and humid) for a while now, I can say it’s officially summer because I received my first sweet corn delivery of the season from Three Sisters Garden (Kankakee, Illinois).
The timing of the first corn depends on the region’s many microclimates, and I’ve actually bought corn from a variety of vendors for more than two weeks. Don’t get me wrong, everyone’s corn has been wonderful.
But long ago, Three Sisters Garden, then a fixture at Chicago’s Green City Market, became my go-to farm for corn, and I’m looking forward to digging in.
Farmer Tracey Vowell discusses the corn in the Three Sisters Garden newsletter written yesterday:
At long last, it is that magical time. Field sampling aside, tonight I will have my first ear, and our first small round will travel to homes and restaurants, tomorrow.
This is the time when we really start to search for that extra gear, as time will not wait for us to catch up. We are so very small, and sweet corn has become the foundation of our reputation. It is heavy, awkward to pack, and space consuming like no other crop we produce.
Did I mention heavy? Of course, sweet corn has very nearly become my annual measure of how much I am feeling my age. I will admit that I have happily backed away from the harvest and bagging production that now requires something of a crew to accomplish. Still, sweet corn is our most reputed and sought after product.
We grow Mirai Sweet corn, originally developed in Harvard, Illinois on Twin Gardens Farm. Truly, the hybrids are superior in flavor when compared to other supersweet varieties. A few years ago, Twin Gardens sold the Mirai line, and the future of this corn in the States was unsure. We are very pleased that it is starting to reemerge on the seed scene, meaning we never had to turn away.
This line of sweet corn seed, and what has become an almost monumental effort to keep up with demand, has moved what was a novelty planting squarely into the category of foundation crop for our little farm. Certainly helpful that it gets along with the Three Sisters theme**.
Over the next few weeks, we will feature Three Sisters Garden corn in some food preparations. To learn more or to order for home delivery in Chicago, click the button below.
** Three Sisters refers to three crops — corn, squash and beans — that are staples in much of Indigenous American culture.
What Does Sustainable Really Mean?
Product certifications are intended to provide clarity for values-driven food consumers, but there now are so many of them that they can cause confusion. We find the following essay — by our friend Mark Dolnick, editor of the Friends of Evanston Farmers Markets newsletter — informative and helpful, and hope you will too.
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We'll continue our consideration of certification at the farmers market and the role it plays for the vendors and their customers with a look at a popular but largely unregulated term: sustainable…
I think it is fair to say that agricultural producers who seek certification are looking for a tool to give credence to any claims they make to consumers about their methods or their products, as well as their commitment to stewardship of the land and, by extension, the planet. An article by NC State University is titled Certifications: Marketing Benefits for your Farm Business. In the first section, Why would farmers want to pursue certifications? the answer is laid out pretty quickly and clearly:
"There are many claims attached to products — how do consumers know which ones are valid and which ones are “greenwashing,” claims that do not mean anything but are meant to appeal to consumers? Voluntary independent third party certification allows products to address consumer concerns. It assures quality, prevents fraud, and promotes sales."
Why are there so many options for certification? From the same article: "There are a growing number of certifications available. Certifying organizations provide varying levels of assistance and outreach for marketing their certifications to consumers and educating consumers about what their standards mean. Some practice advocacy and lobbying to support their values."
As a fellow who had to explain a certification for many years, your humble correspondent thinks all the organizations are doing a pretty bad job of "educating consumers." Confusion about Federal Organic Certification after 30 years runs rife, for instance. If I had a quarter for every article in my feeds that explains what USDA Organic Certification is or isn't, I would still be poor, but I'd be able to do an awful lot of laundry. The alternate certifications are, unsurprisingly, even less well understood.
Certified Naturally Grown (CNG) is an alternative certifying organization that is about as old as the USDA program. Farmers tend to choose CNG because of cost factors (it's cheaper), and because they preferred the certification mechanism. The organization itself explains, "CNG's certification approach is based on the participatory guarantee system (PGS) model that relies on peer reviews in which inspections are typically carried out by other farmers. The PGS model promotes farmer-to-farmer knowledge sharing about best practices and fosters local networks that strengthen the farming community. This model minimizes paperwork and keeps certification dues affordable."
I brought up CNG because that's the standard I am familiar with from my years selling produce for a CNG-certified farm. It required a lot of effort to both differentiate the standard, and to assure the customer that it was "just as good." The point is that certain certifications are better fits for certain types of growers, but it takes considerable work to get the benefit from a marketing perspective. USDA Organic is an easier sell, if you will, but it's hampered by distrust in the federal government that manages it.
Enough! It's time to get to the subject of today's long post: sustainability.
I believe the TL:DR (too long: didn't read) for this subject is "oy!" A 2017 article on GrowingProduce.com, Whose Sustainable Standard Wins? relates the challenge for farmers in terms of the profusion of entities trying to codify "sustainability" for us. There's the Leopold Academy, Inc. that signed an agreement with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to accredit certifiers to offer sustainable certification via an actual national standard: ANSI/LEO-4000. But there is also The Sustainability Consortium and The Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops, both developing science-based metrics for sustainability. Again, "oy."
If you frame the question as, Is there a universal definition of sustainability, well, good luck with that.The website youmatter.world begins its article about sustainability by stating that, "There is no universally agreed definition of sustainability." The next 3,500 words explain how the term applies to agriculture along with many other industries and activities. Oy.
The Growing Produce article I mentioned above concludes that, "Ultimately, it's about attracting consumers." That's true, but kind of cynical. Farmers often require certification to get into markets, and once there, it's helpful for farmers and consumers to have a shorthand, verifiable way of communicating the way they grow their products. That is largely what certifications are for, as they relate to farmers markets.
But the growing interest in matters beyond approved or banned substances used in growing foods, such as environmental stewardship and social responsibility, has driven the development of the term sustainable. And although public relations are a strong driver for pursuing certification, farmers tend to appreciate the guidance and clarity that a well-made standard provides once they have earned it. Our farmers really do care.
The graphic at the top of this newsletter is helpful in understanding the word. More and more people want food that is safe and healthy. They want food produced in a way that sustains the planet. They don't mind farmers making money providing those things.
Sustainability, regardless of the details that lead to certification, reflects a confluence of those three interests. People. Planet. Profit. Where those interests successfully coexist, we achieve sustainability.