By Lauren Rothman
February 26, 2015 / 2:25 pm
Growing up in Georgia in the 60s, Collie Graddick was exposed to farming and cooperative organizing in equal measure. His family ran a 200-acre meat farm, and also grew vegetables. After Graddicks father secured a contract with a local produce broker who helped the family sell their surfeit of vegetables, thereby putting some extra cash in the familys pocketsmy father used that to help us go to college, Graddick recallsGraddicks father began to see how his low-income, mostly black neighbors could better use their land to raise themselves up: by farming it. He began visiting nearby communities and urging them to grow vegetables, eventually founding the West Georgia Farmers Cooperative in 1968. Under this structure, residents learned how to farm their land and then market their produce to earn a supplemental income and help escape the poverty many of them were born into.
Graddick eventually moved to Minnesota to begin working in pesticide management for the states department of agriculture, but he never forgot the lessons he learned from his fathers work. Graddicks job brought him into frequent contact with the Twin Cities huge population of Hmong, an ethnic group hailing from areas in China, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand. Thousands of Hmong first arrived in the Twin Cities as refugees in the wake of the Indochina Wars and there they now comprise the largest urban Hmong population in the world. Many area Hmong farm for a living, and Graddick realized that while they were able to grow large amounts of produce, they had trouble marketing them due to language barriers. Huge amounts of the Hmongs vegetables were going to waste, and any profits the farmers could potentially earn from them were, too.
Graddick decided to draw upon his fathers work and help connect the Hmong to markets they may not have known about, like CSAs. And in order to involve the Cities low-income, at-risk youth, Graddick envisioned putting them to work processing vegetablespickling, canning, and freezing them to be sold year-rounda process called value added. Under this cooperative system, Graddick thought, farmers could work together, keeping money within the community as well as providing jobs and education for young people. Graddick, along with some like-minded thinkers, founded Community Table in 2010.
No one person or organization can survive by themselves: it has to be owned by the community in order for that community to sustain itself.
Today, Community Tables work extends beyond the Hmong community, also providing tools, education, and guidance to the Twin Cities Latino and African farmers.
Were helping people create businesses as opposed to living-wage jobs, Graddick told me recently. Were teaching people business skills so they can they can take those skills and replicate and build upon them to improve themselves.
Read on to learn more about Community Tables mission to create opportunity, and income, for farmers in the Twin Cities.
MUNCHIES: Community Table seeks to create a viable local food system. Is that a system that is diverse? Locally grown? Chemical- free? Less wasteful?
Collie Graddick: Its all these things. And we try to build that system based on what that communitys values are. If some of our growers want to be certified organic, we have a program to help move them into that. We have others that are growing traditional, or transitional, vegetables. They dont own their land, and so they cant get it certified. But they dont use any chemicals, so its chemical-free. And then we have some of the larger Hmong farmers, who are trying to grow the corporate system, and thats where I work with my Department of Agriculture guidelines, teaching them how to grow conventionalusing pesticides, but using them safely.
And we try to recruit people that live in the community. The thing we dont want is outsiders coming in and making money, because thats whats happening right nowthe money doesnt stay in the community. So our goal is to try to keep money in the community, revolving between the community members, as often as possible, as long as possible, before it leaves.
Can you explain that a little more?
Well, for example, were working with the University of St. Thomas on distributing vegetables to some of the corner stores in the inner city, black neighborhoods. Because of the challenge of getting a business model for that, the funding is coming from the university. So all the profits will go back to St. Thomas, which is a white, liberal university here in Minneapolis. And theyre working in the black neighborhood, a poor neighborhood. Now as long as the profits go back into that neighborhood, then Im OK with with them being a part of developing that system. But if the profits are gonna come out and go into the coffers of the university, and they take that profit and use it for their benefit, then yes, theyve brought healthy foods into the black neighborhood, but now the profits on that food are not staying in that neighborhood.
Its interesting working with people who have never managed money, to get them to manage money on a business level. Thats the kind of thing that were trying to teach people.
What kinds of farmers are interested in being a part of Community Table, and what is it about the organization that attracts them?
We have all different cultures and races of people that were working with, growing all types of vegetables. I think whats appealing is our grassroots level. We dont come in and say, Join our training program and were going to show you how to be a farmer. Basically, we say, We have opportunities for you.
I guess the best way to look at it is that were not an umbrella organization, were a foundational organization. In an umbrella organization, you can only rise as high as the umbrella. But in a foundational organization, the skys the limit. We wont let you go below a certain level. We can hopefully prevent you from failing. So whatever your bottom is, we make sure you dont go below that.
Im particularly interested in the diversity of the Twin Cities, and thus of the farmers that you work with.
Its interesting when you work with immigrants and refugee communities. Those communities are here because of government programs in the countries they left. Theyre here because their countries ran them away from home, and so being able to work with them is all about building trust. And thats what Community Table does: were able to work with everybody. No one person or organization can survive by themselves: it has to be owned by the community in order for that community to sustain itself. If its owned by someone else, then the dollars will be sucked out of that community and then theyll always be dependent.
Has Community Tables work affected relationships between farmers?
I think what we bring to the food movement here is the cooperative model. So now people are working together, rather than competing against each other. We dont need to be in competition with each other; we need to be cooperating with each other, because everybody has to eat.
Thanks for speaking with me, Collie.
Source link:
http://munchies.vice.com/articles/re...he-twin-cities
February 26, 2015 / 2:25 pm
Growing up in Georgia in the 60s, Collie Graddick was exposed to farming and cooperative organizing in equal measure. His family ran a 200-acre meat farm, and also grew vegetables. After Graddicks father secured a contract with a local produce broker who helped the family sell their surfeit of vegetables, thereby putting some extra cash in the familys pocketsmy father used that to help us go to college, Graddick recallsGraddicks father began to see how his low-income, mostly black neighbors could better use their land to raise themselves up: by farming it. He began visiting nearby communities and urging them to grow vegetables, eventually founding the West Georgia Farmers Cooperative in 1968. Under this structure, residents learned how to farm their land and then market their produce to earn a supplemental income and help escape the poverty many of them were born into.
Graddick eventually moved to Minnesota to begin working in pesticide management for the states department of agriculture, but he never forgot the lessons he learned from his fathers work. Graddicks job brought him into frequent contact with the Twin Cities huge population of Hmong, an ethnic group hailing from areas in China, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand. Thousands of Hmong first arrived in the Twin Cities as refugees in the wake of the Indochina Wars and there they now comprise the largest urban Hmong population in the world. Many area Hmong farm for a living, and Graddick realized that while they were able to grow large amounts of produce, they had trouble marketing them due to language barriers. Huge amounts of the Hmongs vegetables were going to waste, and any profits the farmers could potentially earn from them were, too.
Graddick decided to draw upon his fathers work and help connect the Hmong to markets they may not have known about, like CSAs. And in order to involve the Cities low-income, at-risk youth, Graddick envisioned putting them to work processing vegetablespickling, canning, and freezing them to be sold year-rounda process called value added. Under this cooperative system, Graddick thought, farmers could work together, keeping money within the community as well as providing jobs and education for young people. Graddick, along with some like-minded thinkers, founded Community Table in 2010.
No one person or organization can survive by themselves: it has to be owned by the community in order for that community to sustain itself.
Today, Community Tables work extends beyond the Hmong community, also providing tools, education, and guidance to the Twin Cities Latino and African farmers.
Were helping people create businesses as opposed to living-wage jobs, Graddick told me recently. Were teaching people business skills so they can they can take those skills and replicate and build upon them to improve themselves.
Read on to learn more about Community Tables mission to create opportunity, and income, for farmers in the Twin Cities.
MUNCHIES: Community Table seeks to create a viable local food system. Is that a system that is diverse? Locally grown? Chemical- free? Less wasteful?
Collie Graddick: Its all these things. And we try to build that system based on what that communitys values are. If some of our growers want to be certified organic, we have a program to help move them into that. We have others that are growing traditional, or transitional, vegetables. They dont own their land, and so they cant get it certified. But they dont use any chemicals, so its chemical-free. And then we have some of the larger Hmong farmers, who are trying to grow the corporate system, and thats where I work with my Department of Agriculture guidelines, teaching them how to grow conventionalusing pesticides, but using them safely.
And we try to recruit people that live in the community. The thing we dont want is outsiders coming in and making money, because thats whats happening right nowthe money doesnt stay in the community. So our goal is to try to keep money in the community, revolving between the community members, as often as possible, as long as possible, before it leaves.
Can you explain that a little more?
Well, for example, were working with the University of St. Thomas on distributing vegetables to some of the corner stores in the inner city, black neighborhoods. Because of the challenge of getting a business model for that, the funding is coming from the university. So all the profits will go back to St. Thomas, which is a white, liberal university here in Minneapolis. And theyre working in the black neighborhood, a poor neighborhood. Now as long as the profits go back into that neighborhood, then Im OK with with them being a part of developing that system. But if the profits are gonna come out and go into the coffers of the university, and they take that profit and use it for their benefit, then yes, theyve brought healthy foods into the black neighborhood, but now the profits on that food are not staying in that neighborhood.
Its interesting working with people who have never managed money, to get them to manage money on a business level. Thats the kind of thing that were trying to teach people.
What kinds of farmers are interested in being a part of Community Table, and what is it about the organization that attracts them?
We have all different cultures and races of people that were working with, growing all types of vegetables. I think whats appealing is our grassroots level. We dont come in and say, Join our training program and were going to show you how to be a farmer. Basically, we say, We have opportunities for you.
I guess the best way to look at it is that were not an umbrella organization, were a foundational organization. In an umbrella organization, you can only rise as high as the umbrella. But in a foundational organization, the skys the limit. We wont let you go below a certain level. We can hopefully prevent you from failing. So whatever your bottom is, we make sure you dont go below that.
Im particularly interested in the diversity of the Twin Cities, and thus of the farmers that you work with.
Its interesting when you work with immigrants and refugee communities. Those communities are here because of government programs in the countries they left. Theyre here because their countries ran them away from home, and so being able to work with them is all about building trust. And thats what Community Table does: were able to work with everybody. No one person or organization can survive by themselves: it has to be owned by the community in order for that community to sustain itself. If its owned by someone else, then the dollars will be sucked out of that community and then theyll always be dependent.
Has Community Tables work affected relationships between farmers?
I think what we bring to the food movement here is the cooperative model. So now people are working together, rather than competing against each other. We dont need to be in competition with each other; we need to be cooperating with each other, because everybody has to eat.
Thanks for speaking with me, Collie.
Source link:
http://munchies.vice.com/articles/re...he-twin-cities