Sustainable Food Center is yet another example of how centralized organization can accomplish sustainability on a grand scale. In the 1970’s Austin Community Gardens was created and in 2001 they joined with Sustainable Food Center to create an incredibly efficient process for disseminating resources and information to the masses.
Although there are many Farm-to-Table food movements across the country, I have been hard pressed to find one more organized than the Sustainable Food Center. This 501c3 non-profit’s main goal is to make sure that people eat locally by utilizing 3 programs: Farm Direct (Grow), Grow Local (Share), Happy Kitchen (Prepare).
As part of the Texas Farmers Market Coalition they have been able to increase market sales at the downtown market by 140% over last year. Although they do have 40% of the sellers as vendors, those vendors are required to garner the majority of their materials from local sources. Even with vendors, they are still able to keep a strong local presence with nearly 60% of products coming from farmers or other local sources. The farmer’s market operation alone is massive in scale and requires 170 volunteers to help ensure its success. With the recent addition of an artisan market, and with an extensive network of farmers, consumers are able to find not only staple products but specialty products as well.
Though the Farmers Market in and of itself is impressive, the Sustainable Food Center reaches even further into the community through their spin off programs including: Farm to Work, Farm to School, Farm to Industry, Farm to House, and many others. All of these provide a direct connection to farms and growers. One of the most intriguing successes is their Farm to School program, which has 15-20 schools already participating in direct farm purchases.
In Dallas, many farmers cannot afford organic certification even though they use organic practices and are left in the cold. In Austin, the Sustainable Food Center helps promote these types of farms by allowing them to market as “sustainable” which helps to reach more consumers. This allows for smaller farmers to achieve more success and provides consumers with even more educational opportunities and choices. While some might think that this sort of labeling undermines quality, the SFC ensures the adherence of practices by conducting not only initial visits but routine visits as well.
Part of the Sharing aspects of the program encompasses education of the community. Their belief is that buying local not only helps stimulate the economy, but also can contribute to the quality of life of Travis County citizens and the sustainability of land resources. By offering resources on starting community gardens, participants are able to grow meals that can feed a family of 4 two meals a day for a week. With nearly 30 community gardens, this program has the ability to touch many in the community struggling to put quality food on the table.
The last, and one of the more unique, programs is Prepare or Happy Kitchen. Here three people work in the office and 25 community volunteers help to provide cooking classes, budgeting and other resources to educate the community on how to maximize the benefits of buying local. All classes utilize farmer’s market ingredients and are aimed at the low-income citizens to help elevate their food knowledge and quality of life. Because this program has the ability to change the cycle of “bad habits” there is an enormous potential benefit. Families that might have struggled in the past are able to have resources that were previously unavailable to them.
With the creation of replication templates, the SFC seeks to not only help those in their community but others who might need help starting community gardens and projects like the Happy Kitchen. By far, this is one of the most fascinating and exciting organizations that I’ve seen.
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