Here we go into a new decade and even amidst the tumult in our world, here at the Texas Center for Local Food, we find hope as we move forward. Sure there’s been some serious yuk this past year and we’ve also seen sprouts of new ideas and new collaborations that – if we nurture them together – will flourish in the days ahead. Who makes our society if not each of us? So let’s go….
Intentions
We’ll give you news you can use and we’ll stay in better touch with you. We’ll encourage you to tell us what you think using our social media and our website comments. We exist to serve you. Let us know what you need and we’ll do our level best to make it happen. World peace? Ok, let’s work on that. Texas farmers and ranchers earning a decent living? Yes, that’s the ticket. Healthy food for everyone in Texas? Absolutely and this heavy lift requires us to row in essentially the same direction.
Our mission is centered on increasing demand for healthy local food so farmers and ranchers can earn a decent living. We’re making the pie bigger through our K-5 Farm-to-Kids Texas program. We teach young children in Elgin Texas where food comes from through farm tours and experimental learning and they prepare the food and eat it. Hands on, real world stuff for kids and their families. This increases current and future demand for Texas family farmers’ food. Oh yea and it’s all aligned with the Texas Science Education standards. Yum!
We’re working with the University of Texas at Arlington on a cool project to improve logistics for small family farmers. Farmers spend a lot of time driving to deliver great food to customers like restaurants, grocers, farmers markets and you. They also have to be on the phone a lot to make that next sale. So …. yes, you’ve got it.. they run out of time and have to make calls while they drive. Well, no one wants that, so we’re working with a team of engineers at UT Arlington to understand how a routing app or an Uber-type app might help farmers do deliveries using less time and saving them money. We’ll be piloting various possibilities with farmers in Central Texas and in Alabama in 2020. Of course tech won’t solve everything and we’re open to any solution to this gnarly farmer problem.
How do we get more people to buy healthy food from Texas farms and ranches? in 2020, we’ll dive deep into this… is it that folks don’t know where they can buy? are farmers markets too inconvenient? is the price too high? If HEB carried healthy local food, would more people buy it? We’d love to hear your thoughts on this.. so please drop us a line today. Where do you buy your food? What would it take for you to buy more food from Texas family farmers?
Thank you for your continued support and for joining us in creating a year of healthy Texans and the family farms who feed us! Not a member yet? Join us now and share your appreciation for Texas family farmers and ranchers.