A26-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 5, 2003
Campaign Promotes Locally Grown Food
(Continued from Page A 1)
would seem, are yearning to find
each other. They are like two
highway crews tunneling through
a mountain from opposite sides.
The mountain in this illustration
represents all the complexities of
today’s marketplace, including
issues of processing, transporta
tion, marketing, and government
regulation of the food supply
chain. What they need in order to
succeed is some kind of naviga
tion system to guide their efforts.
Such a navigation system is be
coming available in southeast
Pennsylvania, with promise for
other regions of the state in com
ing years.
Recently in downtown Phila
delphia, the Pennsylvania Associ
ation for Sustainable Agriculture
(PASA) and its partners, the
Philadelphia Fair Food Project
and Farm to City, unveiled a
campaign called “Buy Fresh/Buy
Local” that will aim to connect
Cheryl Cook, deputy sec
retary of the Pennsylvania
Department of Agriculture,
addresses the gathering of
local food enthusiasts.
Cooperative
UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre
Co.) Penn State Cooperative
Extension is gearing up to assist
in the state’s homeland security
system.
“Cooperative extension is
uniquely positioned to respond to
emergencies,” says David Filson,
director of Penn State Coopera
tive Extension’s South Central
Region. Filson recently accepted
additional duties coordinating
the organization’s statewide
emergency response efforts.
“We have a network of educat
ors around the state, with an of
fice in every county,” Filson says.
“We also have a communications
system including a statewide
computer network and satellite
downlink facilities in nearly
every county that gives us the
capacity to send and receive in
formation very quickly. But with
the added threat of terrorist at
tacks against our farms, food sys
tem and water supplies, we felt
the need to enhance our emer-
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farmers and consumers through
a network of farmers’ markets,
restaurants, caterers, and other
market venues, focusing specif
ically on Philadelphia for this
first stage of the campaign.
“Philadelphia is an exciting
city for food,” noted Bridget
Croke of the Philadelphia Fair
Food Project. “Restaurants par
ticipating in the Buy Fresh/Buy
Local campaign make special
dishes featuring locally raised in
gredients. For instance, Django
Gypsy Caf serves a delicious At
lantic Bluefish and creamy mush
room polenta made with locally
grown black forest mushrooms,
and a smoked tomato broth made
with locally grown tomatoes and
bacon made from locally raised
pork.”
What is local food? The cam
paign focuses on Pennsylvania
food grown within a 75-mile radi
us of Philadelphia, reaching as
far as the areas around Lancas
ter, Reading, and Allentown.
“We are blessed to have a tre
mendous variety of farm-fresh
products available from south
eastern Pennsylvania,” says Bob
Pierson, Queen Village resident
and manager of Farm to City
farmers’ markets in seven Phila
delphia communities. “The farm
ers’ markets in Philadelphia sell
everything from strawberries, to
matoes and sweet com, to natu
rally raised beef, aged cheeses, lo
cally made breads, and
mouthwatering BBQ chicken and
ribs cooked right at the markets.”
By next year, staff members at
PASA hope to expand this effort
to a growing network of market
venues throughout the target re
gion, and to make materials
available to individual farmers in
southeast Pennsylvania who wish
to label their products as locally
grown. A similar program may
Extension Gears Up To Assist In Homeland Security
gency preparedness and response
capabilities,” he says.
As a result, emergency re
sponse contacts have been named
in every county extension office
and in each of extension’s eight
regions.
A task force of Penn State fac
ulty and extension specialists also
has been assembled to lend ex
pertise in response to a wide vari
ety of potential emergencies.
“Extension is a key partner in
local and statewide emergency
planning,” Filson says. “In the
event of a natural or manmade
emergency, the county emergen
cy management office would set
the wheels in motion.
Relevant state and federal
agencies such as the Pennsyl
vania and U.S. agriculture de
partments, the state health de
partment, state emergency
management agency, state de
partment of environmental pro
tection, and others would be
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be launched to promote farm
products in southwestern Penn
sylvania by next year as well.
“Our aim is to eventually make
sure that consumers anywhere in
the commonwealth have a reli
able method of identifying farm
fresh products grown in their re
gion by farmers who would wel
come their customers to the
farm” explained Ruth Sullivan,
PASA’s director of southeast pro
grams.
In fact, the Buy Fresh/Buy
Local Campaign in Pennsylvania
is part of an even larger, nation
wide Buy Local Initiative organ
ized by Foodßoutes Network
(Foodßoutes), a nonprofit organ
ization based in Centre County
(Millheim) that provides techni
cal support to community-based
groups working to strengthen re
gional markets for locally grown
foods. Foodßoutes provides com
munications tools, networking
opportunities, and information
resources to organizations work
ing to rebuild local food systems
across the country.
“People everywhere are at
tracted to this issue regardless of
whether they seek out local food
for reasons of personal health,
support for family farmers, con
cern for the environment, to
strengthen their local economy,
or simply because local food
tastes better. Food has the power
to unite and reconnect people in
a way that gives this movement
unique potential” said Joani
Walsh, program coordinator for
Foodßoutes.
A party to celebrate the launch
of the southeastern Pennsylvania
Buy Fresh/Buy Local campaign
was held June 15, Father’s Day,
at Yard’s Brewing Company in
Philadelphia and was attended
by 130 local food enthusiasts.
Fare for the day included a
If the emergency involves an
attack or other event that affects
the food system, for instance, co
operative extension would be
called in quickly to provide in
formation and assist with com
munication.
“Depending on the need, that
information and expertise can
cover a range of agricultural and
consumer issues, including farm
biosecurity, plant and animal
Big Y Launches Certified Hereford Beef
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. Big
Y has announced that they are
now the exclusive New England
retailer for Certified Hereford
Beef steaks and roasts that are
cut fresh daily in each store. Big
Y World Class Markets will carry
over 85 cuts of Certified Hereford
Beef such as tenderloins,
sirloins, rib eyes, and lon-
don broils.
‘We pride ourselves in
offering our shoppers the
very best possible products,
and are excited to intro-
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These two fans of local food seem to express concern
for where their next meal is coming from.
roasted pig from Country Time
Pork in Berks County, as well as
a variety of other foods, including
zucchini and eggs from Green
Meadow farm, cheese from Farm
Fresh for Chefs (both Lancaster
County), and a variety of breads
and beverages produced in the
southwest region.
A featured speaker attending
the event was Cheryl Cook, re
cently appointed deputy secre
tary of the Pennsylvania Depart
ment of Agriculture (PDA), who
brought greetings .from Secretary
Dennis Wblff. Cook made cleat
health, risk management, food
safety and human health, and
family and household manage
ment,” he adds.
Penn State Cooperative Exten
sion also offers a wealth of publi
cations, fact sheets and Web sites
that cover a wide variety of emer
gency-related topics.
In addition, resources are
shared and distributed nation
wide through the Extension Dis-
duce our new line of Big Y Certi
fied Hereford Beef,” said Scott
Ruth, Big Y Vice President of
Meat and Specialty Departments.
“We’re confident our customers
will agree this is the most flavor
ful, juicy, tender beef they’ve ever
tasted.”
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the department’s intention to
support the promotion of Penn
sylvania-grown products on a
local basis as a priority in the fu
ture. Cook explained PDA’s
plans to implement a “Pennsyl
vania Preferred” label that can be
used in a complimentary way
with other marketing materials
more locally based.
With the Buy Fresh/Buy Local
campaign, a new era of mutual
appreciation and benefit between
Pennsylvania family farmers and
consumers may indeed have
begun.
aster Education Network, with
extension systems at most land
grant universities participating.
Meanwhile, Filson will be over
seeing disaster-related training
and coordination for Penn State
Cooperative Extension so that
staff throughout the organization
understand their roles and are
ready to respond if and when
they are needed.
The only major American
owned and largest family-owned
and operated supermarket in the
region, Big Y employs over 8,300
people in its 50. locations
throughout central and western
Massachusetts and Connecticut.
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