BY LINDA McGURK
Indiana Correspondent

NOBLESVILLE, Ind. — Freshness, flavor and a desire to support local family farms usually rank high among the reasons more American consumers buy their produce from farmers’ markets or straight from the farmer.

But local food systems can also be an important economic development tool, especially in a time when many rural communities have been battered by the recession, according to Scott Hutcheson, an Indiana food writer and sustainable communities strategist.

“When we think of economic development, it seems like we’re always looking for that 800-pound gorilla, that 500-employee factory that’s probably not going to happen, when in fact, we need to build our communities from the ground up,” he said.

Hutcheson, who also works for Purdue University, addressed a group of Purdue extension educators in Noblesville in late August as part of a project called “Indiana Flavor.” The goal of the program, developed by Purdue and sponsored by the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, is to spread information about how the local food economy works and how communities can create and sustain local food networks.

“We wanted to provide people with some new tools so they can go back to their communities and start this conversation and jump-start some activities, like starting a farmers’ market or getting restaurants to serve local food,” Hutcheson said, adding the program is open to anybody, not just extension educators.

He noted there are about 10 communities competing for each large economic development project in the United States every year, so the chances of landing a major factory are pretty slim. Instead, rural communities need to rely on many different strategies to thrive economically, and with the interest in local foods already sky-high nationwide, local food systems seem poised to be part of the equation.

Right now, Hutcheson said books about local foods are on bestseller lists, the number of farmers’ markets keeps growing, organizations promoting local foods are becoming more visible and place-based foods are starting to show up on restaurant menus. In Indiana the local foods network is growing too, with Hoosier producers now offering foods ranging from shiitake mushrooms and persimmons to meats such as geese, turkey, buffalo and elk.

Several chefs at Indiana restaurants are committed to using local ingredients when possible and agricultural products from the Hoosier state resonate with consumers beyond its borders. For example, Hutcheson recalled a phone call from a restaurateur in Chicago who was wondering if he could help her find a rhubarb producer in Indiana.

“I told her I could do that, but then I asked her, ‘Don’t you have any rhubarb producers close to Chicago?’ And she told me yes, they sure did, but she could charge $2 more for her pie slices if they were made with rhubarbs from Indiana,” Hutcheson said. “Even 25 miles from the border people are impressed with ‘Hoosier made.’
“We’ve got this opportunity to brand Indiana foods. The idea is not to fight our agricultural heritage, but leverage it.”

In order to strengthen local food systems in Indiana and increase the flow of money that comes into and circulates in the state’s communities, he suggested using a model based on networking. The first step involves identifying a wide range of stakeholders – consumers, producers, restaurateurs, grocers, schools, hospitals and health and environmental organizations, to name a few – then figuring out the unique food assets in the community.

Once those assets have been defined, the stakeholders should decide how they could link and leverage these in new and innovative ways – for example, by launching a joint marketing initiative, publishing a local foods directory or starting an annual food festival. By building these networks, the theory goes, people build sustainable communities.

“Networking is the business model that drives – and will drive – the economy in the U.S. The vertical business model is a thing of the past,” Hutcheson said. “In order to have a vibrant local economy we need to have local networks.”

For more information about Indiana Flavor, contact Hutcheson at hutcheson @purdue.edu or call 765-494-4277.