From Serious Eats' Ed Levine: "Last week (Aug 8, 2008) we began talking about farmers and farmers' markets and the crucial role they play in the food culture (as far as we're concerned, they're heroes). Yesterday we met one of our favorite farmers, Rick Bishop of Mountain Sweet Berry Farm in Roscoe, New York, who grows strawberries and vegetables and sells them at the Union Square Greenmarket in New York City."

Today, thanks to the good folks who work on behalf of Serious Eats advertiser Pure Kraft Salad Dressings, we are proud to bring you a video portrait of Bishop. It's beautifully shot and edited by our friends at Optic Nerve, and it chronicles both Bishop's story and the story of farmers' markets in general. So thank you, Kraft, thank you, Optic Nerve, and thanks in advance, serious eaters, for taking the time to watch.

 

 

The First Lady At The Top of The Food Chain: America’s food movement is filled with thousands of well-intentioned groups that have often been at odds with each other’s goals. Writer Paula Crossfield highlighted this in a recent Huffington Post piece, Step One: Hone The Ask, in which she pointed out that it's difficult to know what to even request that the Obama administration change in food and Ag policy, because food activists have been so disconnected from each other, and have lacked definitive leadership. But as of yesterday, the food movement is in swell shape, because First Lady Michelle Obama has just become the official leader, and she’s laid out, in capital letters, precisely which food initiatives the White House believes need immediate attention, and where her influence is available to be used. "The Asks" have already been honed into a plan, into what can be regarded as round one of making profound changes in our food culture (Pic: Mrs. Obama with a snap pea, at yesterday's garden harvest event).

At an afternoon picnic, during a celebration of the harvest of the White House Kitchen Garden, Mrs. Obama delivered policy-heavy remarks that covered some of the most hot-button topics in food. While ostensibly addressing the Bancroft Elementary School fifth graders who’ve been helping her work in the garden, Mrs. Obama talked about food deserts, local food economies, food security and food justice; getting more fresh and nutritious foods into the USDA’s Child Nutrition programs; the critical issue of reducing diet-related disease; supporting local and smaller food producers; encouraging urban and community gardening. Of course there was a big media presence at the harvest event, but most news outlets failed to report how very far-sighted Mrs. Obama’s remarks were, how progressive and reassuring they are at a moment in time when everything about food is open to debate. Instead, mainstream media focused on the feel-good angle of the story, with headlines like It’s Pea Picking Time in The Garden! and Garden Party: The First Lady’s 73 Pounds of Lettuce.

The White House, however, posted all of Mrs. Obama’s remarks online—as well as on Youtube--because the issues she discussed are not only critically important on their own, but must be resolved in order for many of the President’s policy goals to be achieved, particularly his very ambitious plans for health care reform. Having Mrs. Obama make these potentially volatile remarks is a politically brilliant maneuver, since she’s currently enjoying approval ratings that are higher than the President’s. And delivering the remarks at a picnic--in the presence of the children whose eating habits have been permanently altered after just a couple of months working in the garden (which transformation has been happily recorded for all posterity by NBC, in the Inside The Obama White House TV special)--served to make “the plan” seem like a series of goals that are imminently possible.

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For the past century Becker Farms and Vizcarra Vineyards has harvested its own fruits and vegetables to provide fresh produce and a wide variety of value added products such as hand made pies, jams, cookies, cider, fudge and wines.

In the last two years Becker Farms has adopted a field to table approach with many of its catered events serving items grown and picked for the occasion right from the farm.

In an effort to increase consumer interest in local agriculture Becker Farms and Vizcarra Vineyards is pleased to announce 100 mile radius seasonal meals featuring farm fresh fruits, vegetables and other agricultural products from across Western New York or within 100 miles of the farm.

To introduce the 100 mile radius meals program there will be a press conference on June 4th at 4pm at Becker Farms and Vizcarra Vineyards. Featured Farms that will be present for the conference include the following:

Snyder Farms - Lockport, NY
Britt Farms - Gasport, NY
Tripensee Flower Farm - Gasport, NY
Apple Blossom Florist - Medina, NY
Upstate Farm Milk Co Operative - WNY Dairy Farms
Flying Bison - Buffalo, NY
Dewey Produce - Elba, NY
Atwater Dairy Farm- Barker, NY
Johnson’s Greenhouse- Gasport, NY
Tastings- Buffalo, NY
CY Farms - Elba, NY

The conference will include complimentary food sampling and wine tasting in an open air courtyard and provide an opportunity to taste food grown from around the region. The kitchen garden, quail and hen house are open for viewing.

The conference will be held to kick off a series of 100 mile radius meals that will take place through out the summer. Seating dates are by reservation only and will be held on the following dates:

June 12
July 16 & 26
August 16 & 29
September 11 & 12

For reservations go to www.beckerfarms.com or call 716.772.2211
Becker Farms believes that a farm fresh meal is a very basic yet integral part of maintaining a strong bond with families and friends. We believe this philosophy strengthens our communities and enriches lives. Together we can educate our communities and share a piece of our beautiful countryside.

From Andrew Martin of The New York Times: As tens of thousands of people recently strolled among booths of the nation’s largest organic and natural foods show here, munching on fair-trade chocolate and sipping organic wine, a few dozen pioneers of the industry sneaked off to an out-of-the-way conference room.

Although unit sales of organic food have leveled off and even declined lately, versus a year earlier, the mood among those crowded into the conference room was upbeat as they awaited a private screening of a documentary called “Food Inc.” — a withering critique of agribusiness and industrially produced food.

They also gathered to relish their changing political fortunes, courtesy of the Obama administration.

“This has never been just about business,” said Gary Hirshberg, chief executive of Stonyfield Farm, the maker of organic yogurt. “We are here to change the world. We dreamt for decades of having this moment.”

After being largely ignored for years by Washington, advocates of organic and locally grown food have found a receptive ear in the White House, which has vowed to encourage a more nutritious and sustainable food supply.

The most vocal booster so far has been the first lady, Michelle Obama, who has emphasized the need for fresh, unprocessed, locally grown food and, last week, started work on a White House vegetable garden. More surprising, perhaps, are the pronouncements out of the Department of Agriculture, an agency with long and close ties to agribusiness.

In mid-February, Tom Vilsack, the new secretary of agriculture, took a jackhammer to a patch of pavement outside his headquarters to create his own organic “people’s garden.” Two weeks later, the Obama administration named Kathleen Merrigan, an assistant professor at Tufts University and a longtime champion of sustainable agriculture and healthy food, as Mr. Vilsack’s top deputy.

Mr. Hirshberg and other sustainable-food activists are hoping that such actions are precursors to major changes in the way the federal government oversees the nation’s food supply and farms, changes that could significantly bolster demand for fresh, local and organic products. Already, they have offered plenty of ambitious ideas.

For instance, the celebrity chef Alice Waters recommends that the federal government triple its budget for school lunches to provide youngsters with healthier food. And the author Michael Pollan has called on President Obama to pursue a “reform of the entire food system” by focusing on a Pollan priority: diversified, regional food networks. www.nytimes.com