Page 30 - bon-dia-aruba-20200605

A30 FEATURE
Friday 5 June 2020
Farm-to-table dining takes on new meaning amid pandemic

By LISA RATHKE and PAT- with people seeking locally
RICK WHITTLE raised beef, said farmer
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Bruce Chapell.
Eric Pray is used to shipping "Since then, our beef sales
seafood all over the coun- have been off the charts,"
try. But since the coronavi- he said.
rus took hold, he has shifted PrairiErth Farm in Atlanta, Il-
his focus closer to home linois, this season doubled
— selling lobsters from a its consumer supported ag-
homemade tank in his ga- riculture, where customers
rage. pay up front for produce
Pray, of Portland, Maine, throughout the season to
is one of hundreds of fish- 322 members, said Katie
ermen, farmers and food Bishop, one of the farmers.
producers who have shift- And it has about 75 on its
ed to a direct-to-consumer waiting list, she said.
model amid the virus out- However, it's unclear
break. The pandemic has whether this new model will
stressed and sometimes be sustainable once the
disrupted supply chains, coronavirus crisis passes.
shuttered restaurants and Food products that are
changed the way consum- heavily dependent on res-
ers buy food, leaving some taurants, such as seafood,
producers scrambling for a eventually need those
new way to reach their cus- customers back, said John
tomers. Sackton, an industry analyst
The farm-to-table move- and publisher of Seafood-
ment in the United States News.com. But for now,
has grown in recent years, selling direct to customers is
as consumers have in- a way to get a better price
creasingly demanded lo- for those products than
cally sourced food. But in In this Friday, May 29, 2020 photo, Eric Pray weighs a lobster in his garage in Portland, Maine. they would typically see,
the past several weeks, Associated Press he said.
the movement has grown Pray, a Maine fishermen for
out of necessity because pork processing capac- in the Northeast in April, codes, and cutting and three decades, said he's
some producers can't rely ity was down 40% from last which was 13% less than a packaging portions rather managing to make ends
on the complex web of year, according to Jayson year ago and 37% less than than selling in bulk. meet so far, but it'll be more
processors, distributors and Lusk, head of the depart- two years ago. "It's been way, way too of a challenge the longer
middlemen to get food to ment of agricultural eco- "The two biggest problems much work, way more restaurants and proces-
customers. nomics at Purdue Univer- are facilitating distribu- changes. We made sors remain inaccessible.
For some, the challenges sity. Plants are now mainly tion throughout the sup- more changes in the first One of his customers, South
have turned into opportu- back online but at reduced ply chain while protect- two weeks than we had Portland anesthesiologist
nities — and new custom- capacity with beef and ing worker health, and re- planned to make in two Stephen Harden, said the
ers. pork plants running about vamping food demand in years," he said. appeal is as much about
"When restaurants reopen, 10% to 15% below last year, a way that avoids further Templeton Farm, a small helping neighbors as buy-
we'll probably keep doing he said. disruptions," said LaPorchia grass-fed beef farm in East ing great food.
home delivery, because Some sectors have also Collins, a professor in the Montpelier, Vermont, lost its "My wife and I sort of felt it
we've got a good base of suffered reductions in val- Department of Economics biggest business — two res- was our duty to support lo-
customers," Pray said. ue, in part because the at Tulane University. taurant accounts — when cally as much as possible,"
But it's not good news for restaurants they normally Before the pandemic hit, they had to shut down. he said. "And of course,
many of America's food rely on are closed. Live, Gunthorp Farms in La- But around the same time, the food is much better
producers. In late April and 1.25-pound lobsters were Grange, Indiana, had been the phone starting ringing quality."q
early May, U.S. beef and worth $6.74 per pound selling most of its pasture-
raised pork and poultry to
upscale restaurants, includ-
ing ones started by famed
chef Rick Bayless, as well
as to charcuterie shops.
Then, practically overnight,
restaurants and shops shut
down, drying up the farm's
business.
The farm has been able to
switch to retail packaging
and selling the pork and
poultry elsewhere but it's
been far from easy, coming
after endless hours of work
In this Thursday, May 28, 2020 photo Jamien Richardson moves by the family and employ- In this Thursday, May 28, 2020 photo, Beth Shiller of Dandelion
a tray of baby arugula in a crop house at Spear Spring Farm in ees, said Greg Gunthorp. Spring Farm stacks eggs at her farmer's market stand in Rock-
Warren, Maine. That involved changing land, Maine.
Associated Press the labeling, adding bar Associated Press