Area farmers, restaurants talk about working together

CLIFTON PARK (Jan. 30) — When Wheatfields made the pledge “from local fields to your plate,” the restaurant never realized how difficult it would be. Afterall, the Hudson Valley is a fertile farming area growing a variety of delicious foods.

How to get those foods to the two Wheatfields locations, however, was trickier than owners Tim and Colleen Holmes and executive chef Tony Shortway imagined. They discovered a lot of local farmers were planting less than half their land because of a lack of demand and poor distribution channels.

Wheatfields executive chef Tony Shortway talks with Paula Schafer of the Cornell Cooperative Extension office in Ballston Spa.

Wheatfields executive chef Tony Shortway talks with Paula Schafer of the Cornell Cooperative Extension office in Ballston Spa.

“The farmers aren’t distributors, and neither are we,” Colleen Holmes said.

While Wheatfields was able to find ways to bring local products to its table, its owners realized more could be done to enable local restaurants to serve local foods. Out of a talk Tim Holmes had with Saratoga Springs Farmers’ Market coordinator Suzanne Carreker-Voigt about the issue came the idea for a Farm to Restaurant roundtable to allow farmers, restaurant owners and chefs to network and brainstorm.

The first roundtable attracted about 40 participants Wednesday at Wheatfields Bistro & Wine Bar in Clifton Park. They talked about ways to make it easier to get food from farms to restaurant dishes. The discussions were led by Paula Schafer of the Cornell Cooperative Extension office in Ballston Spa. Ordering and distribution were two key issues they talked about.

“I hear from a lot of farmers that you want to keep your individual farm identities,” Schafer said. “But what I hear from chefs is you want to just make 1 phone call to place your order.”

Cost was another major issue.

“I can’t use farm-raised chicken and be able to charge the $8 I need to charge to have people buy my lunch special,” said Kim Klopstock, owner Fifty South restaurant in Ballston Spa. Still, she added, she would rather buy local whenever she could.

That’s good news for farmers such as Jacob Hooper of Barber’s Farm in Middleburgh. Barber’s been a family farm since 1857, and Hooper is the sixth generation to work it. He relies on a farmstand, farmers’ markets and the like for most of his business.

“We direct market about 90% of what we grow,” Hooper said. “And we don’t want to drive 4 hours to sell it. We need the local people to buy our products.”

Why then are the supermarkets filled with apples from Washington and New Zealand when apples are grown here in Saratoga County?

There are a lot of reasons, RPI assistant professor Michael Mascarenhas said. He cited the dominance of multinational supermarket chains and government policies that support large-scale agriculture.

“We say we eat cheaply, but we actually don’t,” he said. “You have to add in the amount of our tax dollars that goes to subsidies. We subside oil, we subside corn, we subside railroad tracks through our government policies.”

That’s why area farmers are hoping restaurants can help them by buying local and educating diners about the benefits of eating local.

“If a restaurant is willing to advertise my farm on its menu I’m willing to give you 15% off my best price,” said Clifton Park resident Brian Bender, who runs Hand in Hand, a community-supported agriculture (CSA) farm. Bender, like other farmers at the roundtable, figures if people like what they eat at the restaurant they’d be more likely to seek out the farm’s products.

Wheatfields considers it a win-win deal.

“We tie in local products to our specials,” Tim Holmes said. “We’ll showcase that farm all week.”

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