Tagged: Eating In

Many in the Granite State are interested in localism and many farms, restaurants and organizations are pushing to move even more local, but it comes with its challenges. New Hampshire’s climate, land and development limits the amount of food that can be made in the state and with no organized distributions centers, localism requires much more work and higher prices for farmers and businesses that take their food. We’ll look at what’s being done in New Hampshire.

Guests

All this week in our series “Eating In”, NHPR has been looking at food – where we get it today and where it might come from tomorrow. For a lot of people, the economy forced them to take a second look at how they spend their food dollar -- whether that meant going to restaurants less or changing what they buy at the store.

Through the Working It Out web site, NHPR’s Jon Greenberg came across a woman who found herself headed towards a total food makeover.

SFX – dogs barking

When the farmer shuts down his combine, there’s nothing left but a stubbled plain. You might think the harvesting is done. But that’s when the gleaners appear - to begin the second harvest.

Like the Robin Hoods of produce, the gleaners take from the rich soil, and give to the poor. But the gleaners aren’t vegetable pirates. They work with and alongside the farmers:

You gotta carry buckets with you through the fields, picking up small things. You’re constantly bent over on your knees for the whole day.

Major grocery chains in the region have jumped in on the buy local movement.
They’ve been finding local suppliers for many of their fruits and vegetables.
And while that can mean increased sales for small farmers, it’s coming at a cost.
The retailers are requiring small farms to get certified as safe growers by the USDA.
To consumers alarmed by e.coli scares, it sounds like a great idea.
But as, part of our food series, NHPR’s Elaine Grant reports that many New England farmers say the new policy may keep them out of the market.

In the course of the great recession, household incomes went down and food prices went up. The combination did no favors for the American diet. Sales for the least expensive snack foods climbed. As part of our week-long look at food, NHPR's Jon Greenberg digs into some cheap calories.

SFX - Crunch

Along with Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs, count the potato chip as one of the big winners of the recession. John Dumais, president of the NH Grocers Association, says, many of his members would have had a much worse year if it hadn't been for sales of snack foods.

To wrap up “Eating In”, this week’s series on food, we invited our program director Abby Goldstein, quite the foodie, to talk about her grilling lesson this week with cookbook writer Kathy Gunst.

Kathy Gunst is a cooking teacher and author and co-author of thirteen cookbooks. Her latest is “Stonewall Kitchen Grilling”.

All week we’ve been investigating where our food comes from. If we’re eating right, that leads back to a farmer.

Today the average age of the American farmer is 57 years-old. In the last 5 years, 35 percent of farmers turned 75 years or older. Last year, the country lost 10 percent of its dairy farmers. On top of the troubling demographics, kids growing up in rural America are less likely to join the agriculture business.

All this week, as part of our food series, NHPR, has been looking into the possibilities of a regional food system. What would it look like? What would have to change? One of the largest obstacles facing farmers in northern New England is something they can’t change. The weather. It’s a short growing season when the rule of thumb is don’t plant before Memorial day. But as NHPR’s Mark Bevis reports, farmers across the region are finding solutions ….under glass.