Unpopular, uncomfortable truths with Rebecca Williams
On August 4 I was scrolling through Facebook and saw a new post from Rebecca Williams: “I cannot stress enough the unpopular truth that food should be much, much more expensive than it is.” The statement echoed what I’d heard from farmers uncertain that they would make it another year, and is a major impetus behind this project.
Many Fold has been selling sheep’s milk cheese, eggs and occasionally lamb and pork to Atlanta since 2012. They’ve won awards and their farm--and cheese selection--keep growing. Rebecca is realistic about the serious challenges sustainable farmers face: as I explained the background and purpose of this blog, she interjected, “Rip off the rose colored glasses.” As we talked, she laid out the following arguments.
We spend too little on food and too much on much else:
“If food is cheap, you have a lot of extra income for stuff that we are told that we need.” Subsidies lower food prices and make middle-class lifestyles more affordable: individual cars, larger living spaces and and everything that fills them. Instead Rebecca asserts that we should balance our personal economies regarding spending on non-food.
Source: Washington State Magazine, August 2011.
Sustainable farmers are paying to reverse generations of extractive production
“We got into this business to show that you could take land and give it value in a way that is different than most people think.” Rather than focus solely on what the land can generate year to year, they’re building a system to generate the most life: replenished soil, a healthy productive flock, a community of workers with knowledge and expertise to grow sustainable farms and artisan cheese producers.
These enduring goals are praised by consumers and sustainability advocates, but the context is sobering:
Many Fold’s terraced hills produced cotton for generations, and the crop decimated the soil. Intensive monoculture farming is the rule, so it’s a safe assumption that most sustainable farmers are on similar footing.
Dairy sheep are not indigenous to America, and were bred for milk production in confinement while eating grain. Open pasture farming offers a better quality of life for their sheep and produces more distinct milk--and cheese. The Williamses select for motherhood traits to limit losses and focus on viability rather than production. Despite these efforts so many sheep have died over the years that Rebecca estimates their flock would otherwise be three times its current size.
Intensive farming isn’t just extractive of soil
The list of human resources not available to the Williamses is long: other farmers with agrarian knowledge, sheep dairy farmers, veterinarians, even a mechanic for the tractor. “We have to pay to drive a broken tractor at least 30 miles to the Kubota dealership.” These deficiencies cost money in diesel, dead, sick or underproductive sheep, and untested investments that don’t deliver. When I ask if there is any interest in research from land grant universities or working on small farms’ problems at the state level she cuts me off flatly “None.”
Scale offers hope
Rebecca’s cheese teacher is in France. There she witnesses a totally foreign system-- in which a small cheesemaker can remain small and still make a living. Her cheese teacher sells 100% of his cheese locally, either in shops or directly to a local school. Eliminating waste lowers the price for their product.
In America small or very small producers ( a level Rebecca estimates at gross sales below $1 million) are shut out of the mainstream market system. They bear a high degree of risk as the labor falls on the owner and maybe a few employees. They sell all of their products locally, but we don’t have the infrastructure to do so efficiently: rather than dropping off cheese to a local shop they work multiple farmers markets every week.
Medium-size or larger producers can get into grocery stores, get distributed, and pay similar overhead costs of sanitation and production.
Farmers markets are not sufficient
Weekly farmers markets are fun, social, and unfamiliar to most Americans as a way to get their daily bread. “Look at the greenmarket in New York,” Rebecca says “It’s open morning to night, multiple days a week. The stands are full, and they’re competitive.” Farmers markets that organize vendors by category like supermarkets, open for longer hours and multiple days at the same location would be more familiar and convenient for consumers. Many advocates prefer to limit competition for fear of damaging small farmers’ cash flow. But increasing traffic by making markets more accessible to customers grows demand for sustainable food and better food policy.
We’re subsidizing the wrong things
Two types of subsidies are direct payments and crop insurance, which will total payouts of $119 billion from 2015 to 2023. We subsidize feed grains (including corn, some of which is earmarked for ethanol), cotton, rice, soy, peanuts and oil seeds. This keeps the price of commodity meat relatively low, but does not benefit sustainable producers like Rebecca, who feed their animals on grass from depleted pastures and supplement with expensive organic, non-GMO feed. These feeds are required for some certifications, and non-GMO feed is often demanded by customers.
After about an hour and half of laying out these problem, I asked Rebecca a question that I’ll be asking every food producer I interview: What will it take for your business to be sustainable in 10 years?
“I either need a subsidy or I need people to pay 4 or 5 times as much for cheese. Or I need a tap of sheep’s milk that I can turn on and off at will. The money has to come from somewhere to make up for that depletion.”
Want to buy from Many Fold? Retail customers can buy their cheeses, eggs and meat at Peachtree Road Farmers Markets Wednesday evenings and Saturday morning, and cheese at Star Provisions, Savi Markets, Fern's Market in Serenbe, and some Atlanta Whole Foods. Wholesale customers should email info@manyfoldfarm.com.
