Farm to Stable: Balancing What We Grow with What We Eat

By Brett Osborn, foundation studies professor, SCAD Atlanta

“There is no better felling than going out to your garden and picking fresh ingredients for your salad,” says SCAD Atlanta foundation studies professor Brett Osborn. “The difference in freshness dramatically impacts the flavor and quality of the food.”

The son of an artist, Osborn worked on a dairy farm in Wisconsin as a young man. He saw the care farmers put into growing crops, and ate food that he and his friends planted, picked, and packed. He has continued that tradition with a small home garden and encourages others to look at ways they can reduce food waste.

Osborn is also a highly regarded modern and postmodern artist whose special effect miniatures can be seen in “The Karate Kid III” and “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home,” and one of his paintings hangs in the Georgia State Capitol. As a life-long nature conservationist, Osborn is ready to challenge how we can ensure fresh food for millions of people across the nation — whether you grew up on a farm or not.

Brett Osborn

What if farmers knew exactly how many seeds to plant? How many tomatoes they really needed, or bean sprouts to harvest? What if they worked directly with consumers to mitigate and eliminate food waste? Can you imagine the difference that would make to the quality of our food?

Growing up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin, I learned the importance of efficient farming techniques, and I saw the flaws and the guess work we had to do in order to fill orders. I tasted the difference between fresh and truck-delivered produce. Eighty percent of our vegetables were either home grown or from neighboring farms in the area. The difference in quality in what we call “farm to table” today is clear, and I believe we could all be enjoying that same level of food satisfaction in our homes daily.

As we move forward, we should be looking for ways to partner with local farmers to first ensure efficient farming, and a better diet for ourselves. By eliminating the middle of the process –packaging, storing, shipping, and stocking shelves — we will create better options.

Most of us have found ourselves in a farmer’s market on a Saturday morning. I know who my favorite vendors are and have built relationships over the years that I have found beneficial in my shopping habits. Obviously, I can’t find everything I need at one vendor today, but I believe that we could develop a system that would fix that problem.

Working directly with a local farmer, I could put in a yearly order. For example, I need 100 tomatoes a year, 50 heads of kale, and 50 pounds of peas. My order would allow my food partner the ability to buy, plant, and harvest the correct amount of food in a given cycle. The system would help farmers use their land properly, rotate crops more effectively, and become more profitable in the long run.

Removing the guess work and eliminating the need for food subsidy programs would be a huge benefit to farmers. Concurrently, we as consumers would eat healthier, fresher food.

This process has its drawbacks of course. What if my diet shifts? What if I want arugula instead of kale? What if the snap peas don’t come in as one would expect? Do I have to go to different vendors for different types of food, such as poultry, starches, and fish? Would the farmers be able to grow what I wanted in the first place?

These questions would have to be answered as we evolve the process. One thing is clear: We need to find ways to help farmers efficiently use our natural resources, and we need to eat the healthiest food possible. Continue to build relationships at your farmer’s market and know that the food you eat has an enormous effect on the quality of your life.