NORTH CIRCLE PROJECT
The North Circle Project, now it its third year, is aimed at promoting organic and sustainable farming by opening doors to new markets for locally grown fruit and vegetables. Farms form the cornerstone of our rural communities, and by strengthening the rural farm economy, we increase food security, preserve the character and viability of our rural communities, practice good stewardship the land and put good healthy food on family table. The North Circle Project seeks to build a collaborative community of organic growers around a new business venture: a state and organically certified kitchen and processing facility for making a line of frozen, canned or baked foods to be marketed locally at food cooperatives and other retail outlets.
Want to get involved? WEI is seeking local fruit and vegetable growers, interested consumers or buyers, or anyone with related expertise to get on board with the project. Contact María Regan-González for more info at 651.583.0705 or email María at northcircle@w-e-i.org. If you would like to join our mailing list for the North Circle Newsletter, click here for electronic registration.
WHAT CAN THE NORTH CIRCLE PROJECT DO FOR LOCAL FARMERS?
*Assist local farmers in transitioning their fields to organic certified.
*Perform market research analyses to help local farmers create the highest quality products with the best value.
*Write a business plan and feasibility study for a proposed state certified kitchen and processing house serving area farmers interested in adding value-added products to their small business ventures.
*Create a North Circle brand that area farmers can use to market their products with a family signature.
*Assist local organic growers with marketing and distribution.
*Organize community members in support of The North Circle Project; bringing consumers and producers closer together and renewing rural community ties.
CHALLENGES TO AGRICULTURE IN EAST CENTRAL MINNESOTA
Our nation's farmers earned less producing crops in 2005 than they did in 1969, even though productivity had doubled. The biggest losses are in the traditional agricultural states, including Minnesota. From 1985 to 2005, farmland decreased 9.5% in Minnesota, adding up to a loss of 2,900,000 acres and 16,400 farms. In Chisago County, where the Women's Environmental Institute is located, and seven surrounding counties in Minnesota, a staggering 64% of farms suffered net losses in this same time period. Protecting farmland is imperative to our present and future food security.
If more and more farmers can no longer make a living, where is the money we spend on food going? In 2005, farmers made an average of 22 cents for every dollar spent on food. According to the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service, this is down from 33 cents farmers were making in 1970. Processing, marketing and distribution now claim the majority of the food dollar.
BUY LOCAL CAMPAIGNS
Local growers face numerous challenges when marketing their products, one of which is a lack of small-scale local infrastructure that would allow them to reach new markets. The North Circle Project would help solve that problem by enabling growers to work together to create new value added products. Our project will add organic produce and products to an already emerging St. Croix Falls Buy Fresh Buy Local campaign that has captured the interest of a growing number of consumers.
WHY GO ORGANIC?
The North Circle Project is based on fastest growing agricultural market and one that is still available to small family farms working in collaboration with one another. This is the market for organically certified produce and value-added products.
Organic foods are grown without synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers that may not only be harmful to the health of farmers, consumers and the environment. Organic inputs, such as manure, compost, and labor, are all things a family farmer does not need to pay for, which help keep the farm’s expenses low. Organic foods also fetch a price premium of 25% to 200% more than conventionally grown foods, which means higher profits for the grower. Lower costs and higher profits mean higher overall earnings for small family farms.
According to John E. Ikerd, Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Economics, University of Missouri Columbia:
Organic farmers do not have to become a part of the industrialized food system. Organic farmers can join with
other small farmers in developing an alternative food system that can coexist with, and someday displace,
the global-industrial, corporately-controlled food system. Independent organic farmers may well lose the battle to
keep industrial agribusiness from dominating the mass production and mass distribution of organic foods. But,
smaller, organic farmers can still compete effectively for the fast-growing and profitable organic niche markets –
both locally and internationally. And more important, small-scale organic farming can be carried out by means that
are ecologically and socially sustainable over the long run, whereas, industrial organic production cannot.
The sustainable agriculture movement offers the best hope for the future success of small-scale, independent
organic producers. (John Ikerd, “The Architecture of Organic Production”)
NORTH CIRCLE PROJECT STAFF
Jacquelyn Zita, Project Supervisor. Jacquelyn is a women’s studies scholar, educator and farmer. She is a professor at the University of Minnesota and former Chair of the Department of Women’s Studies. She has an undergraduate degree in Biology and Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Washington University. She is locally known as “The Apple Lady” on Amador Hill and has managed the Amador Hill Organically Certified Apple Orchard (now run by WEI) for nearly a decade. Jacquelyn brings to the North Circle project her experience as an educator and administrator, plus her extensive knowledge in biology, environmental health issues, environmental justice studies, and organic farming. Jacquelyn is also Vice President of the Friends of Wild River State Park.
María Regan-González, Program Coordinator. María is an Americorps VISTA volunteer with experience in international sustainable developmentand community organizing. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Minnesota in Global Studies: Environment and Sustainable Development and Spanish. María previously worked in the MN Department of Agriculture’s Sustainable Agriculture Program. She also was a past researcher at the University of Minnesota investigating the various effects of sustainable development projects in Latin America and has worked for two non-governmental organizations implement food security projects abroad. María believes that the local and organic foods movement is a great way to address a number of domestic and international issues such as poor nutrition, environmental degradation and loss of small family businesses and community ties.
NORTH CIRCLE ADVISORY BOARD:
Bud Markhart, Professor of Horticultural Science at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Markhart teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in environmental physiology, plant propagation, and organic production in addition to being involved with important ongoing research and development in his field. Dr. Markhart is a member of the board of directors for the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, a member of the Plant Biological Sciences graduate faculty, a member of the Sustainable Agriculture Minor faculty, and an advisor to the Student Organic Farm at the U of MN.
Dana Jackson, Associate Director of the Land Stewardship Project, a Minnesota-based conservation organization, and co-founder of the Land Institute who has a long history of advocacy for sustainable agriculture. Dana has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Harvard University and has published several books on sustainable agriculture.
Shereen Naumann, local farmer at Leap of Faith Farm, North Branch, Minnesota.
Collie Graddick, WEI Board Member and North Circle Advisory, an Agricultural Consultant with the MN Department of Agriculture (MDA) managing the MDA/ US Environmental Protection Agency’s Urban Pesticide Educational Initiative program. Formerly a regulatory advisor with MDA Seed, Noxious Weed and Pesticide Regulatory Program, Collie has worked with MDA for 12 years. Previously a County Extension Agent in Auburn, Alabama, and a marketing coordinator at Cargill-Nutrena, Collie earned a BS in Plant Science from Fort Valley State College in Georgia and an MS in Plant and Soil Science from Tuskegee University in Alabama.
William Shafer, an emeritus professor in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Minnesota. His research is focused on the nutritional impact of fruit and vegetable processing.
SUPPORT FOR THE NORTH CIRCLE PROJECT
The following grants have been awarded to WEI to support the North Circle Project:
*2006-2009 Three-year project grant from Americorps VISTA through the
Initiative Foundation
*2007 Center for Urban and Regional Affairs Community Assistantship Program
grant (CURA/CAP)
*20007 East Central Initiative Foundation matching grant.
In-Kind Assistance
*Small Business Development Center is offering assistance in feasibility analysis and business planning.
*Agriculture Utilization Research Institute has made a generous donation of time to assist with product development.