By Thea Klein-Mayer
This year, my responsibilities at The Highland Center include promoting local foods and producers through a website called Faces of Farmers. Its aim is to showcase regional farmers so that consumers can “know who [their] food comes from.”
Why? Because knowing local and regional farmers is an essential part of knowing your food. When we as consumers connect more directly with farmers, the entire system benefits— put succinctly, “Supporting local/regional food systems helps support local, sustainably run farms, can help protect our health and the health of our communities, and helps stimulate local economies.”1
Farms in Highland and four nearby counties including Alleghany and Bath counties in Virginia, and Pendleton, and Pocahontas counties in West Virginia can join the site, describe their practices, and highlight their various specialties—including meat, produce, and value-added products. Visitors to the site can view farms by county or by product, find places that sell local foods, and learn about opportunities such as farm stays, internships, or apprenticeships.
With support from the USDA’s Farmers’ Market Promotion Program grant, my coworkers and I have been adding new farms, promoting existing farms, updating the site, and, over the past few months, making a short video with a local filmmaker. The video features the region’s food system and some of the farmers, businesses, and consumers that contribute to its vibrancy.
If you’re interested in learning more about the program, joining, or if you have suggestions, don’t hesitate to write faces_of_farmers@htcnet.org or call The Highland Center at 540-468-1922. Check out the site at http://faces-of-farmers.org.
1. ”Local & Regional Food Systems." GRACE Communications Foundation. Web. 19 Aug. 2015. (Faces of Farmers logo design by Kat Rutt Design)
Comentarios