O’Neill: Farming is a shared effort

Casey O’Neill is a farmer and owner of Happy Day Farms in Laytonville, Calif. The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of The Mendocino Voice. If you’d like to write your own column for The Mendocino Voice, send your idea to info@mendovoice.com.

I used to think I could do all the work, reveling in the spirit of rugged individualism and neglecting to grasp the true nature of community and shared effort. As my body ages and I come to understand the scope of the need for food systems work, I realize the depth of this folly. I am a piece in a puzzle, but someone took the box away and we’re all working to put the picture together.

Yesterday at the Farmers Convergence in Hopland, I was struck again by the recurring feeling of hope, of the joy in shared effort, reveling in the gathering of people who care about land, about food, about community. It feels good to work together, to see in each other the pieces of a puzzle that we are all working on, and to gather to try to get a better sense of the picture we are co-creating. Big gratitude to the School of Adaptive Agriculture and to everyone who worked so hard to make the conference happen!

Nothing about this is easy. I got home well after dark to the lingering snow, and as I unloaded boxes of leeks from the car to the farm truck at the top of my driveway to shuffle them down to the farm and into the cooler in a biting wind I reflected on the difficulties inherent in small-farm-based food systems. We are inefficient when compared to larger operations; we cannot achieve economies of scale, and we are geographically isolated by distances that raise transportation costs, and the more rural we are, the higher are our input costs in terms of price and transportation.

During the conference I attended two Farm-to-Schools roundtables working on developing better connections between farmers, school food-service staff and folks from the nonprofit sector working in this area. The challenges are real; school food service is intense and demanding, understaffed for the need, and regimented in process. Getting fresh, local produce into schools is a goal shared by many, but sorting out pricing, quality control and transportation are all difficult steps. Food service staff don’t have the extra prep time often required for fresh produce. It was good to sit down and understand more about the challenges so that we can work towards shared solutions.

We need systemic support for these shared goals. Society chooses what practices to subsidize, and there needs to be a focus on policy work and development to create consistent funding streams to change the school-food paradigm so that staff have time and capacity to focus on fresh, high-quality food. We need support for localized farms to increase production, and support for the systems that monitor quality and provide transportation. The more we can hyper-localize these goals, the more we reduce food miles and other pain points in the system.

I keep coming back to the realization that I need to grow more food, which brings me back to the question of how much work I can do myself. I’m realizing that I’m in the process of a life change from young farmer in need of support to being a capable farmer who offers support to others, and that some of my best skills are in networking and connecting, building linkages and community to strengthen our local food system.

We need more production, but we also need dedicated financial support throughout the local food system to make it all work. Food distribution is a difficult business, with little to no margin and huge mileage in such a geographically isolated place. Farms are small and cannot achieve economies of scale, yet the produce is fresh and phenomenal. It made my day to hear from the ladies at Kelseyville School District how much they had appreciated our salad mix, but it also made me more aware of the challenges in consistently getting produce to them.

It all comes back to costs, and what form of agriculture we’re willing to subsidize. My argument is that directing funding to support nonprofit distribution and transportation, and purchasing power through EBT and Market Match programs is an effective means of stimulating hyper-localized economies, getting fresh, high-quality food to the people while supporting small, independent operators.

Programs to support increased production like those offered through the Good Farm Fund and the CDFA Farm to Schools grants are essential to building our local food system networks; we need many more such programs. Sustained funding for local food hubs is key to being able to move produce to customers. Part of the Farm to School program needs to focus on how we manage volumes and transportation to make the program cost effective, but there also needs to be an understanding that it’s worth spending more money to get fresh, quality produce onto lunchroom trays.

As I reflect on my journey this winter, I see my focus broadening from my farm into food systems work. Looking back on the last 15 years of farming, I see clear cycles of venturing forth, burnout, and retreat. I am cautious, but also excited for the work to be done. It feels good to see so many people dedicated to the shared goal of right livelihoods that create good food and broaden access. I’m looking forward to this next chapter. As always, much love and great success to you on your journey!