table talk / By Bob Doran

It’s Official!

Community alliance rolls out Local Foods Month

(Sept. 6, 2007) Whereas*, Humboldt County is renowned for its local dairies, grass-fed beef and fresh fruits and vegetables, and recognized as an emerging center for local family-owned farms in the United States; and*

Whereas*, family farmers are a cornerstone of our communities — trusted providers of nutritious food and stewards of our precious natural resources; and* …

The Redwood Roots Farm stand at the Arcata Farmers’ Market. Photo by Bob Doran.

GALLERY >

(Well, whereas too many more things to list here — basically that we locals support and have grown to count on the area’s family farmers who are “enhancing the quality of life for everyone…” )

Now, Therefore Let It Be Resolved that the County Board of Supervisors proclaims September 2007 “Local Food Month” in Humboldt County, and urges all members of the community to join in a month of celebrating local agriculture and recognizing the farmers who provide our food …”

That proclamation, “respectfully submitted” by the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, proclaimed by the Supes last week and set for reiteration this week by the Arcata City Council, sets the stage for a series of events in the coming weeks, some put on by the CAFF, some by other like-minded community groups.

Now I have to admit, I’d never heard of the CAFF before recently. I knew an organization called the Friends of the Humboldt County Farmers’ Market ran a farm tour last fall (see “Talk of the Table,” Oct. 5, 2006) and knew they put out the first Farm to Table calendar, but I hadn’t heard that they’d thrown in their lot with a statewide advocacy group.

CAFF got its start in 1983 as the California Association of Family Farmers, running parallel to something called the California Agrarian Action Project that formed in the late ‘70s in Yolo County when farmworkers started losing jobs to giant industrial farms, and in particular due to the coming of the mechanical tomato harvester. (Should we mention that using a machine to pick tomatoes meant redesigning the fruit to be tougher? And never mind if it didn’t taste like much.) CAAP ended up filing a lawsuit against UC Davis for using our tax dollars to profit agribusiness at the expense of small farmers. The two organizations worked together on issues including pesticide rules and water rights until 1993, when they merged to become Community Alliance with Family Farmers.

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