New Seasons market brings conservative farmers, liberal shoppers together

by Sarah Gilbert, Posted Jan 4th 2006 @ 8:38AM

oregon country beef in the beautiful country near madras

My mother grew up on a dairy farm in central Oregon, near Madras. My relatives, and those who grew up around her, now supply beef, lamb, dairy products and produce to the citified folk in Portland.

They would be sending most of their stuff to wholesalers, who would in turn send it to processors, or ship it overseas, or... who knows. A few decades ago, many of them were near bankrupt. Until New Seasons market happened along, with its commitment to sourcing locally. New Seasons is just part of a movement among those flamingly liberal Portland folk to buy local, organic, sustainable. And according to this article in the New York Times, it's working. And most ironically? Those farmers, they're conservative and straight-laced. But they're supplying the liberals.

According to Doc Hatfield, co-founder of the Country Natural Beef cooperative, "Most of the ranchers are rural, religious, conservative Republicans," Mr. Hatfield said. "And most of the customers are urban, secular, liberal Democrats. When it comes to healthy land, healthy food, healthy people and healthy diets, those tags mean nothing."

New Seasons makes use of country-of-origin labeling on all its produce, and "locally grown items carry yellow shelf tags. Of the 30,000 items on each store's shelves, 8,142, or 27 percent, have yellow tags." And by all accounts, the exercise is very successful - ranchers and farmers are now solvent, and if my friends are any indication, the customers are thrilled.

It's a little funny that the Times makes a point of the dichotomy between the customer and the supplier, who are working together despite their politics and "values," because that's a very real situation in my own family. Cousin Tommy Jo [his real name] is working on the cattle farm while I'm sitting here on my high horse in the city, blogging about the free-range, antibiotic-free beef he raises.

But more importantly, it feels really cool to be a part of this, on a bunch of levels. And it makes me want to shop at New Seasons - and be thankful that I have that opportunity.

Source

Filed Under: Farming, Business, Newspapers, Stores & Shopping
Tags: eating local, EatingLocal, farmers, local, local food, local market, local sources, LocalFood, LocalMarket, LocalSources, new seasons, new seasons market, NewSeasons, NewSeasonsMarket, oregon, organic, portland, portland ore, portland oregon, PortlandOre, PortlandOregon, stores-and-shopping, west coast