Massachusetts Local Food (MLF) was founded by three people, two of whom, Kerrie Hertel and Sheryl Vaillette, live in Westminster; and the central distribution center for Massachusetts is also right here in Westminster, currently located at Johnson’s Egg Farm on Knower Road. 

There is a growing movement across the United States to both eat healthier and to support local farmers, and these two goals dovetail much more than most people realize—if you eat locally grown food, you are eating much healthier (in many people’s opinion, including mine) than if you buy the usual produce and meats from what is derogatorily referred to in some quarters as the ‘industrial food chain’.

About a year ago my wife and I read a book called The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan, and it changed our family’s eating habits, sometimes to our kids’ chagrin.

We now often buy organic food, and we buy locally whenever possible. This has led to complaints from our younger family members—“there’s no good cereal” but even they are getting used to it, although when we break down and buy a box of Captain Crunch with Crunch Berries, it disappears in one breakfast sitting.

If you aren’t a reader, watch the movie Food, Inc. After viewing Food, Inc. at the Friday Night Food Movies series put on by Westminster’s Dr. Smith and Associates, Jen bought two copies of the movie and donated them to the Forbush Library so that anyone interested could see the movie.

Yesterday we attended the second annual meeting of Mass Local Food, which included a pot luck dinner and was held at Hartman’s Herb Farm in Barre.

The membership of the Massachusetts Local Food Cooperative encompasses a wide range of philosophies on food. For instance, at our table we sat with a couple who produce raw vegan food, something I’d never heard of. Not only does their food use absolutely no animal products, it also isn’t cooked at high temperatures if it is cooked at all.

We also shared the table with Andy and Kerrie Hertel from Maple Heights Farm in Westminster, who produce some of the best beef and eggs in the area, a far cry from the raw vegan menu.

What binds all these different types of food producers together is that they operate farms that are on the small side, and they sell most if not all of their products locally.

They also minimize their use of chemicals in the growing process, keeping their produce as close to possible to what is termed ‘organic’ --the word ‘organic’ is strictly controlled, so it is not always possible to produce food locally that can be labeled organic.

For instance, a year ago we did an article on a wonderful hydroponic farm in Amherst—they used no pesticides whatsoever, but they weren’t organic because they needed to use non-‘organic’ fertilizers in the water, because that’s the way hydroponic farming works. Imagine trying to use cow manure, for instance, in a hydroponic farm.

We in particular like the meats you can get from the co-op—the cattle is grass fed and hormone free, you can even get buffalo meat if you want, and best of all it tastes great.

Massachusetts Local Food has been in existence about two years, and 2010 was a year of fast growth for them. They are now up to five pick up locations in surrounding towns (the 5th was Worcester, and was actually in early 2011). 

The graph below shows the growth MLF experienced during 2010, and it’s a record many businesses certainly wish they could duplicate. This is why MLF outgrew the Finnish Farmers Cooperative building on Leominster Street and the MLF moved their central distribution spot to Johnson’s Egg Farm.

2010
January    December    Change
Membership    130    260    100%
# of orders    45    75    67%
$ of orders    $2,900    $7,100    145%

So, it was an upbeat meeting—there are plans to open 5 more pickup locations this year, which should be an accomplishable goal as 11 towns have expressed interest. Framingham looks to be the next pickup site to come online.

They now have a redesigned website that makes joining the co-op and ordering local food much easier, they have developed some marketing materials, and the Board of Directors had a retreat where they did a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis to help develop a strategic plan.

Mass Local Food 2011 Directors: Karen Sargent, Mae Zagami, Kelly O'Connor, Sheryl Vaillette, Kerrie Hertel, Margaret LeRoux and David Leach

Officers were elected: Kelly O’Connor will remain as President, Kerrie Hertel is the VP of Producers, Sheryl Vaillette is the VP of Customers, Karen Sargent is the Secretary and Mae Zagami is the Treasurer.

During this presentation, and into the next presentation by guest speaker Lynda Brushett, PH.D., from the Cooperative Development Institute, we all continued to partake of the potluck dinner—everyone who came brought along a specialty dish made with all or some locally produced food.

A few of my favorites were the usual—Texas style chili with locally produced hamburger and hot sausage sauce on focaccia made by Kerrie Hertel, but I was also surprised at how good the crackers brought by our tablemates, the raw vegans, were—with no oils of any sort they managed to make some crackers that melted in your mouth.

There were also gluten free offerings, and dishes like rice and pork, pizza, turkey chili and much more, all of which were excellent.

The speaker from the Cooperative Development Institute ws also interesting, and I learned something—mainly, that joining a cooperative means you are an owner as well as a customer of the co-op. I’d never thought of it that way. Rather, I just figured I’d buy food from them because I like it, but apparently you are also supposed to chip in and do some work, even if it’s only a few hours a year. I thought, “I can handle that”.

Dr. Brushett then went over some characteristic of cooperatives, which I suspect are more guidelines than rules, but nevertheless seemed to capture the spirit of a cooperative—there were 7 of these characteristics, and basically they concerned how the cooperative is run—democratic, open, independent, and adhering to the “one man, one vote” rule, and then there were some characteristics that were more idealistic—education and training, cooperation with other cooperatives, and concern for the community. Overall, I’d say that Dr. Brushett was very impressed by the strides our Massachusetts Local Food has made.

What struck me about this movement is not that it will ever replace our current food system—mass production seems necessary to me to feed all the people in the world, including here in the United States. All these pesticides and artificial fertilizers were once known as the ‘green revolution’, and that’s how the world is fed.

However, what this movement is doing is providing people with an alternative to this mass produced food, and if enough people start paying attention to what they eat, eventually the big agricultural companies will start offering healthier alternatives too. Food can be produced without growth hormones, grains and corn genetically modified to be impervious to Roundup, and high density feedlots so animals can put on weight in record time. If enough people demand it, we’ll have a choice. It’s happening already.

Next time you are in a grocery store, take a look at some of the new brands of ‘organic’ cereal that have appeared. If you look closely enough, you’ll notice that these cereals are from some of the major food conglomerates in the world.

It has been exciting to watch as the choices of food and other products have become available through Massachusetts Local Food. As more pickup sites are added, more producers will follow and the selection will increase even more.

Having the Massachusetts Local Food distribution site in Westminster brings people into our town—both customers and producers. Maybe that’s a good use for Old Town Hall.