By DANA DUGAN
Initiated by Local Food Alliance, $5 for Farmers was created to encourage consumers to support community farms, organizations and businesses. The community outreach program has a huge goal.
“If every resident in Blaine County spent $5 a week on local foods for a year, it would generate $5.7 million into our local economy,” said Amy Mattias, co-director of Local Food Alliance. This ensures that we vote with our dollar, and our vote goes into the food-dollar percentage. When we buy from farmers, more of the food dollars stay in the hands of farmers, and less goes to the many middlemen involved in shipping food into the Valley.”
To spread the initiative around, LFA collaborated with The Hunger Coalition, all three Atkinsons’ markets, Konditorei Bakery & Café in Sun Valley and Blaine County Food Council. There are signs displayed in local markets, adhesive decals for windows and restaurant menus, printed materials, digital marketing, and reusable shopping bags.
Not everything can be labeled, of course. Many artisan products use a combination of local and imported items, and some items are made but lack local ingredients.
“This campaign may focus on farm-fresh food but we want to be inclusive of items made in Idaho, which sources many items locally in their products, such as Toni’s Ice Cream and Piedaho,” Mattias said.
The aim is also to identify all local foods, eventually, from beer to beans, cheese to bread. LFA’s criteria for local food includes family farms in southern Idaho, from the Boise area to the Tetons, and everywhere in between. This area includes the Snake River basin, a rich agricultural region.
Basically, consumers can pledge to adhere to $5 a week through the LFA website, which will track participants, by the number. It asks that people make an intentional purchase to spending $5 on local food, or value-added item. There is no way to measure yet how many people are following through on their pledges.
“We trust the consumers to follow through,” Mattias said. “There are all ranges of products, dry goods, value-added, meats, and dairy. Any way you can show up for farmers, it works.”
Local markets such as Kraay’s Market & Garden, Atkinsons’ markets and NourishMe are obvious places to make these purchases. So, too, are the many restaurants that buy from local farmers. Consumers can find which dining options offer local food at localfoodalliance.org/food-guide.
By supporting local farmers, LFA hopes to create a thriving community in which residents are nourished by food grown nearby that leaves a small carbon footprint. Community-based food systems also have been shown to strengthen rural economies.
“It’s really doable and approachable,” Mattias said. “Everyone can do it. It’s not a donation.
No one has to buy a $20-a-pound steak. It could be flowers, or flour from Hillside Grain available at Atkinsons’ for your baking. It could be a bag of greens from Squash Blossom Farm. It could be a pound of ground beef from Silver Spring Ranch, or pork from Elkhorn Ranch, three pounds of potatoes or a dozen eggs from Harmony Hens, at NourishMe.”
As the growing season kicks into gear this spring, LFA plans on having an event to meet farmers and taste local food, other than farmers’ markets, akin to the recent Farmers & Buyers meet, presented by LFA, held at the Ketchum Innovation Center.
“We want to show the diversity of food that’s available throughout the year,” Mattias said.