There are many folks who could tell you a series of reasons why small-scale agriculture is not the answer to solving the climate crisis or world hunger. But every time we meet another young farmer like Eric, we can't help but feel that as long as there are people like him doing this work, and seeking to improve and expand on it, things must be headed in the right direction.
When did you know that you wanted to work in food?
I grew up with an appreciation for food's ability to bring people together. Everyone in my family had busy schedules, but my mom would make sure we sat down together every night for dinner. Now when we get together, cooking, eating and drinking wine are the primary activities.
Towards the end of college, I wanted to explore food beyond the table and learn more about agriculture. After a few short-term internships I had the farming bug, but still didn't see farming as a professional pathway. An opportunity to work with Eliot Coleman and Barbara Damrosch at Four Season Farm was my first full-time farm job. With the chance to take on more managerial responsibility, I learned the challenges and joys of making a farm a viable enterprise. From field management systems to the hustle of harvesting and selling produce, I quickly learned to love the planning, thought, and hard work that goes into a productive farm system.
How did you get your current good food job?
My girlfriend and I had relocated to Portland, OR (where I grew up) and were looking for a farm close to the urban center. Through word of mouth we were connected to a farm owner and restaurateur who was looking for a manager to run his farm. It was already March, and within a couple days after our first meeting we had sown our first seeds out of packets from the store, seed orders were in the mail and a farm plan in the works.
How did your previous work or life experience prepare you for a good food job?
Attention to detail! I think this is the single most important attribute that farming demands, whether you are planning, planting, harvesting or selling. You need to be cognizant of what you are doing at all times and observant of the environment around you.
What was the greatest obstacle you had to overcome in pursuing your Good Food Job dream?
It is tough to make a living as a farmer financially - between 75-95% of small farmers have another job depending on who you ask. The prevalent model for small-scale agriculture has lots of room for improvement, but that is part of the attraction.
Culturally, farming was also difficult early on. People thought it was cool that I was a farmer, but would then ask what I wanted to do next (I was sometimes the person asking that, too). However, as my desire to continue farming strengthened, I had a lot of support and encouragement from friends, family and fellow farmers.
What can you identify as the greatest opportunities in food right now?
Every facet of small-scale agriculture:
Production (farming!): It's clear that we need more farmers, which will bring about more innovation and political change for small farms. However, innovation in all the areas below will make farming more lucrative and therefore attractive to prospective farmers.
Tool/technology development: We need more tools and scalable technology for small farms - why aren't they making the Allis Chalmers G anymore? Is Johnny's the only one selling a hand held mechanical greens harvester?
Data collection/analysis: Things are developing here, but we need to see a lot more progress before there is widespread adoption. Farmers need to have the tools to efficiently collect and analyze data about costs, productivity, sales and margins to develop more strategic business models. There is also the challenge of getting neo-luddite farmers to integrate computers and smart phones into their operation...
Sales: We need a direct sales platform for farms (i.e. to sell to restaurants) that maintains the farmer to customer relationship and maintains or increases margins. Most farmers send an email to all their accounts, wait for their responses and then divvy up the goods as best they can. We use a Google Form, which is incredibly basic and crude, but we can list our produce availability, descriptions, pricing and photos, know exactly how much of any crop has been sold at any time, and update availability accordingly. People love it, but if it could be integrated with our inventory (and maybe Quickbooks??) and streamlined, it would be a game changer.
Distribution: I spend at least ten hours a week delivering to restaurants. I love the relationships with all of our accounts, but it's a lot of time! There are probably a few dozen vegetable farms delivering to all the same restaurants in Portland. It's all very picturesque and the relationship building is critical for every farm, but it costs us a lot of time.
If you could be compensated for your work with something other than money, what would it be?
I would love to eat at all the restaurants we deliver to, but it's hard with very little discretionary time and income. I would also love to travel around the world visiting farms and learning about different farming methods and traditions.