Untitled Final Feature

Endless rows of corn stretch as far as the eye can see out the window of Amtrak’s 351 Pere Marquette train riding from Detroit to Chicago. The bland, dusty yellow nothingness goes on for hundreds of miles, punctuated by signs warning of deadly pesticide applications.

Much of the Midwest looks like this. Super-sized farms dominate the landscape that used to consist of forests, marshes and fields. A diverse set of animals and plants also populated the countryside a few decades ago. Now biodiversity is threatened as industrial farming devastates more and more of our formerly fruitful terrain. In addition to biodiversity, the safety, nutrition and efficiency of the American food supply is in danger.

It hasn’t always been this way. Before the industrial revolution American farmers used crop rotation and other clever methods of reaping the benefits offered biologically by Mother Nature. Like today’s organic farmers, they would use ground coverings and perimeter plants to attract natural pest predators like wasps instead of marinating their crops with deadly chemicals. Livestock could roam through orchards, providing both weeding services and fertilizer deposits for free. People ate what was available in a reasonable distance from their home, as modern preservatives and genetic modifications for longevity in fresh produce ceased to exist.

As the United States grew, so did their farms. After the Great Depression the fear of starvation was all too real, and any increase in food production was seen as a blessing. The bigger, the better. Variety dwindled as farmers began to specialize in items that were easy to grow and required the least attention.

Today, conventional supermarkets offer consumers significantly fewer choices of produce than a century ago. Crops like apples, tomatoes, lettuce and corn, to name a few, each come in a handful of varieties. In the past, hundreds of different versions of these crops were available, varying in size, color, flavor and more. According to the Rural Advancement Foundation International, more than 90 percent of varieties of each crop became extinct between 1903 and 1983.

Not only is the loss of diversity worrisome for consumers who favor choices in their diet, it endangers the safety of our food supply. Since certain pests are attracted to specific crops, mono-crop farms extending for miles actually encourage exponential breeding among a specific pest population. This multiplies the need for chemical pesticides, which are already harmful enough in small doses. Mono-crop farms are also more susceptible to outbreaks like the E. coli strain in fresh spinach occurrence in the fall of 2006.

Worse yet is the industrialized meat market. Epidemics spread quickly among animals when they are confined to the inhumanely crowded living quarters that are customary to US livestock and poultry production. Cows and chickens must constantly consume unnatural foods and drugs chosen to increase their output of milk or eggs. By torturing animals we end up consuming greater quantities of a lower quality product at a cheaper cost.

In Kalamazoo, consumers have an alternative. Several farmers in the area bring their organic, locally grown goods each Saturday to the Bank Street farmers market. In the summer this service extends to Tuesdays and Thursdays as well. Three farmers at the market have an especially great relationship with Food Dance Café downtown Kalamazoo, who cooks with primarily locally produced foods.

Dennis Wilcox and Genevieve Malek own and operate Blue Dog Greens in Bangor, Michigan, supplying Food Dance with fresh organically grown produce. Wilcox says he got into farming to be a “house husband” and work from home. He farms organically and participates in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), a program that allows customers to prepay for produce seasonally.

Pat Smith of Kirklin-Smith farms sells an interesting arrangement of eggs. Each of her birds lay a different egg, some small and round, others long and oval shaped. They run around as they please, in and out of a wading pool in the yard. One likes to lay her eggs on her husband’s workbench, leaving Smith to find and gather them for sale. A dozen costs just over three dollars, slightly less than the price of free-range eggs at a Meijer store.

Scobey’s Produce in Wayland, run by Rose and Bill Scobey, is known for a delicious variety of green beans, sweet corn, onions, lettuce and melons. The beans take a lot of water but yield many per plant, making it worth the expense.

Why make the trip down to the farmers market and buy these local foods instead of simply choosing one-stop shopping? Kalamazoo College professor Amelia Katanski says the food is tastier. “Take the tomato for example. The big farms grow them for thick skin so they’ll travel well. Locally they’re grown for delicacy and flavor.” Others support local farms for reasons relating to environmental protection and the humane treatment of animals. Still others make the switch for health reasons, knowing that the nutritional value is higher in locally produced, organic foods, and that nothing ultimately good can come from deadly pesticides.

Eating Well and Keeping it Local

A colorful sign boasting groceries and fresh produce invites pedestrians of the Kalamazoo Mall inside, where they might find that this is no average grocery store. Petite yellow signs cry out, Local! Organic! Whole! Natural! Tomato coconut curry love soup wafts from the deli corner to meet with the scents of hemp and incense. Unkempt beards and wild dreadlocks scurry about gathering their cherished fares, politely excusing themselves as they squeeze past one another in the tight aisles. Employees quickly approach the obvious first-timers to offer needed guidance.

The People’s Food Co-Op downtown Kalamazoo does not aim to compete with the massive grocery conglomerates on the outskirts of town. The not for profit Co-op seeks to provide organic, locally grown and natural products at a reasonable cost. This task tends to be quite difficult in the United States, where corn, wheat and soy based processed foods are heavily subsidized. In comparison, farming legislation gives almost no incentive to farmers who grow fresh produce. Going against the grain, the People’s Food Co-Op tries to tackle this issue and offer an alternative.

For some customers People’s fits with their environmentally conscious lifestyle. Others simply have to know what exactly they’re eating, and that it’s healthy. A few only come in for one hard-to-find snack that fits their gluten-free diet, but a core group of members do the vast majority of their grocery shopping at the Co-op. Their requests dictate the inventory carried and they can browse vendor catalogues to make personal orders for items not already available. The most die-hard members arrive with cloth grocery bags and empty jars, leaving with them full of bulk grains, pasta and beans and a beaming smile.

Members of the core group also include the young, trendy staff members. Heather Finch, 22, works as the assistant manager at People’s and like most employees, spends much of her free time hanging out and shopping there as well. Following nearly three years of employment at the Co-op, most customers refer to her as the “co-op girl” when they see her somewhere else in town. Even with her modest income she eats almost entirely organic and only shops elsewhere when she needs a bottle of wine.

“I eat nasty food sometimes too,” Finch admits, “but when I’m eating well I feel better.” Does she feel like she is giving up a lot to eat this way? “Yes- the potential for thousands of dollars of medical bills.”

Mainstream America commonly assumes that an organic diet would be too expensive. Evidence to support this theory inhabits any conventional grocery store, where sad-looking organic strawberries cost more than double what genetically-altered pesticide-laden cartoon-sized strawberries do. Boxed macaroni and cheese costs nearly two dollars at People’s, while the standard bright yellow version holds strong at $0.49. “Look at the ingredients! You have to know what you’re paying for,” Finch counters.

Though the list does not reach even half the length of that of a Twinkie, it may make you reconsider your appetite. The cheese-like sauce for this “enriched macaroni product” produced by Kraft Foods contains whey, milkfat, milk protein concentrate, salt, sodium tripolyphosphate, citric acid, lactic acid, sodium phosphate, calcium phosphate, milk, yellow 5, yellow 6, enzymes, and last but not least, cheese culture. To make this substance edible, the chef must add milk and some form of a butter-substitute. Those that choose the higher price for a more natural macaroni and cheese dinner pay its producer not to add some of these ingredients to it.

This goes for produce as well. Organic eaters have to pay extra for farmers not to process their crops into packaged foods laden with salt and sugars. They pay them to farm the old fashioned way, without chemical pesticides and genetically altered seeds. They pay so farmers can earn a decent living without hefty subsidies from the government.

Another employee preaches to the choir from the produce section. “Food just tastes better when you know where it’s coming from, that the land was farmed with care, and that the farmers were paid well. It has a whole other flavor.”

Kalamazoo College student K’tanaw Schiff, 20, agrees. She proudly declares that her whole suite enjoys using the co-op, as her roommates include vegetarian and vegan consumers. The variety of products at People’s also has enough options to fit within Schiff’s kosher diet. “I’m okay with paying more because their stuff tastes better. Its local and animal friendly and I support that.”

How much more are they really paying? Finch disagrees that it’s too expensive for most to eat organically. “If you buy grains in bulk, shop at the farmer’s market, and buy what is in season, you can eat cheaply and organically at the same time. But you have to take the time to cook.” Lucky for the cooking-challenged members, the Co-op community collaborates to sustain a bank of recipes, with copies of recent ones hanging above the produce for anyone to bring home. They coach each other on cooking techniques of vegetables with names that are rarely seen in a one-stop-shopping complex.

In offering natural and organic foods People’s encourages an overall healthy and environmentally friendly lifestyle. They live by the three Rs, reducing, reusing and recycling as much as possible. They minimize energy use and support local businesses including farms and health stores. Local music and artwork also sell well at the Co-op, recent additions to the inventory.

The activities at the Co-op represent a greater movement among American culture demanding real food at reasonable prices. The farm bill will be up for renewal this year, and hopes are high that per-unit corn subsidies will finally decrease in favor of healthier produce. With low income as the best predictor for incidence of obesity in the country, people are starting to take notice. Many other illnesses can be traced to poor diet and some members of the American populace want to go back to their roots.

Finch says “you have to decide that you’re worth it. Your body is worth healthy food.”