How Locally Sourcing Food is Impacting Fort Collins and Pushing Sustainability Goals
Fort Collins plays a major role in sustainability for the Northern Colorado region. Among the city’s sustainability goals, food sustainability has been a key factor in successfully implementing these practices in the area. Farm-to-table ( also known as garden-to-table or farm to fork) is a concept that has considerably grown in recent years.
Sustainable goals that Fort Collins is striving for include resilience to climate change, thriving public lands, being water smart, having zero waste, being carbon neutral, and being a world class workspace.
Locally grown sustinence that is distributed by restaurants has positive impacts on sustainability, health, and economics. When food is grown in the region there are less chemicals needed for preservation. The carbon footprint for transporting these goods is considerably lower than food transported from out of state or even internationally. Local farmers benefit economically from selling their goods to nearby customers including local restaurants. The products have a higher taste quality due to the minimal time between harvesting and consumption. Nutrients in food can be drastically depleted over the duration it travels.
An increase in businesses have been pushing for more sustainable options whether that be through encouraging public transit, less single-use plastics, or locally sourcing food.
What Happens Before the Food Gets to Your Plate?
In the case of locally sourcing, very minimal preservation precautions must be taken before food reaches restaurants. Farmers work incredibly hard to provide nearby restaurants with clean, wholesome, healthy food.
Agriculture has massively impacted the Fort Collins community for hundreds of years.
Today, many farmers in the area are still able to thrive off of the land and produce healthy products for Fort Collins. The Raisin’ Roots Farm has several acres of land just outside the City Center. Ben Pfeffer, the owner of Raisin’ Roots,
“believes that the path towards improving our food system and the people that depend on it is through building healthy relationships with the soil and with each other.”
Ben’s farming partner Carolyn Fitzgerald holds steadfast values in “producing nutrient-dense food while improving agricultural land for generations to come is important and rewarding work.”
Ben and Carolyn came together to share their viewpoint on food sustainability in Fort Collins.
“Raisin’ Roots Farm values serving our customers by providing nutrient-dense, pesticide-free, local produce and ethically raised animal protein. We grow our produce organically and focus on improving soil health in our farming practices to sustain the quality of food we are growing and the resiliency of the land under our management.”
The local restaurants that work with Raisin’ Roots Farm for fresh ingredients include Jay’s Bistro, Tasty Harmony, Cafe Vino, Jax Fish House, and Slyce Pizza. Occasionally they serve Wolverine Farm, Locality, Fish, Alimentary, LickSkillet Catering, The Regional, and Fort Collins Country Club.
From Ben and Carolyn’s farming expertise outlook on sustainability, they strongly believe that choosing to eat locally sourced food is beneficial for various reasons.
“The restaurants we serve are accounting for the real cost of food production and are investing in local and regional economies. Local sourcing and practical economics are not mutually exclusive. Consumers who choose to support local sourcing are investing in their local and regional economies. They are also minimizing their food safety risk and are consuming fresher food.”
The Restaurants That Are Ensuring Wholesome, Healthy, Sustainable Practices for Their Community
Numerous restaurants in Fort Collins choose to locally source at least some of their ingredients, if not all. This decision to locally source has many positive results including healthier food, a strong relationship with customers, and promoting sustainability in a time where these practices have never been more important.
Spoons is a well known and well-loved business in Fort Collins that locally sources their ingredients as much as possible. Chief Executive Officer Brandon Hocke gave some insight into the passion that drives the company.
“Sustainability is incredibly important to Spoons as a company, and we consider it a social responsibility to be as eco-friendly as possible. We have recently switched over to using all reusables/durables for all of our dine in guests to minimize the amount of waste going into the landfill from customers who eat in our restaurants. Where effective composting is available, we have converted to using all compostable products in units such as Allison Hall. We have worked closely with Gallegos Sanitation to educate our customers and our team members about the importance of being a sustainable business.”
The Spoons restaurant has values that appear to be a common thread throughout sustainable restaurants in the local area. Hocke explained,
“ One of our five core values is “Community is Important”. As a part of that, Spoons wants to create a healthy community by supporting local businesses, farmers/ranchers, and other producers in the area. Both Tom, owner, and I grew up in rural backgrounds, spending a lot of time in farmer’s markets, county fairs, etc where the concept of purchasing local and supporting the person down the road (literally) was a normal, yet vital, part of the social ecosystem.”
Local Farms that Spoons works with for locally sourcing their food include:
- Miller Farms
- On the Vine Farms
- Native Hill Farms
- Hoffman Farms
- Petrocco Farms
- Golden Prairie Farms
Some of their most popular items available are also from local areas including Boulder Chips, Turtle Mountain Kombucha from Fort Collins, Fresh Brewed Teas from Denver, Rocky Mountain Soda from Denver, and Big B’s Juices from Hotchkiss, Colorado.
Brandon Hocke dived into the fact that eating locally sourced food versus choosing to eat at a fast food chain or elsewhere are not mutually exclusive concepts.
“Spoons continues to strive to source products locally and still provide that meal at a low price point (none of our combos are over $10). It is incredibly important to recognize the impact that supporting these restaurants has on the local economy and overall ecosystem.”
“By supporting them you are supporting your neighbors and friends.”
The Next Door Eatery is an establishment in Fort Collins created by Kimbal Musk, that has been very successful in locally sourcing their ingredients. In fact, there are plans for Musk to open up more Next Door Eatery restaurants across the country. “Kimbal Musk is focused on real food. Musk defines “real food” as food you can trust to nourish your body, trust to nourish the farm, and trust to nourish the planet.”
Some of the farms they locally source from for the Fort Collins location include:
- Monroe Organic Farm — Kersey, CO
- Oxford Gardens — Longmont, CO
- Koberstein Farms — Holyoke, CO
- Innovative Foods — Evans, CO
- Morning Fresh Dairy Farm
- Wisdom Natural Poultry
- Healthy Harvest Productions — Berthoud, CO
- Morning Fresh Dairy Farm — Bellvue, CO
- Wisdom Natural Poultry — Haxtun, CO
Courtney Walsh, the Communications Director for The Kitchen Restaurant Group gave some insight on business values and sustainability.
“”Food you can Trust” is the primary company value that drives our business. Trust in the way the food is sourced. Trust in the way it is prepared. There are no hidden tricks or things to worry about. Whole, unprocessed food with clean ingredients from suppliers we know and trust. Classic dishes done in a new way. From indulgent to healthy to allergen-free.”
The Next Door Eatery boasts a menu that accommodates different allergies while still maintaining affordable prices that compete with chain restaurants in the area that do not locally source their ingredients.
“We designed the Next Door menu to be affordable yet sustainable, with variety to fit any mood. Full of flavors and textures that appeal to a broad range of appetites, including those with dietary preferences. Next Door recipes are made with food you can trust, using wholesome, unprocessed food without bad additives or artificial ingredients, sourced from suppliers we know and trust.”
“We hope (and believe) that guests will choose restaurants that value people over profit.”
The FoCo Cafe is a bit of a cult favorite for the Northern Colorado Region. Community is one word that perfectly sums up this passionate business. They are proving that with locally sourced ingredients, and a community that’s backing them, they can provide fresh ingredients for people in all different sorts of financial situations. The Executive Director of FoCo Cafe Mallory Garneau gives us honest feedback on what this business is all about and what makes it so special to the community.
“Through moving our mission forward year after year, despite the difficulties in finding funding that don’t need certain boxes checked to prove those we serve are in need. We are showing that community based solutions can work and are ultimately the answer. We work towards social sustainability through providing opportunities for all members of our community to get involved in a multitude of ways. We are working towards zero waste to help to sustain the environment, and provide services for our community members to help fill gaps that they may see such as basic need items or free food in our outdoor resources.”
“ Participating in community nourishes the soul. Providing the healthiest of food possible to our guests, reducing our carbon footprint through locally sourcing, and supporting our local economy to help our community thrive beyond just through our services.”
The FoCo Cafe is proving that businesses will thrive based off of values rather than purely economic influence.
“FoCo Cafe is 100% driven by values like many nonprofits. We hope that we can show that community based solutions to the social problems we are experiencing are doable and the ultimate solution to getting over them. We work with local businesses and community partners to join us in the fight and support of an entity that provides what FoCo Cafe does, something that is available to everyone regardless of their situation. We’ve seen more entities pop up with similar value, like Vindeket Foods, a pay-what-you-can grocery store in which we helped to get them off the ground with our input and model.
We also don’t get much of the traditional funding that most nonprofits get, so we have to get creative and depend on the community more so than those traditional models, so we have to bring along our community to believe in us and this concept.”
The Economics Behind Food Sustainability
When purchasing food, it may appear a feasibly low price to maintain that item and consume it with seemingly relatively fresh qualities. In many cases, that food product came from a region far away, with poor management on harvesting, and had a high carbon footprint during transportation. It lost freshness along the way, and required chemicals and preservatives that now reside in your body. Along with reduction in healthiness, the product itself was most likely grown in an area that has negatively affected local communities. For example, shrimp mangroves can cause deforestation in areas they are planted in. Once a mangrove can no longer sustain the shrimp habitat, they are moved to the next plot of land and so on.
“The shrimp might be nice and cheap, but what is the real cost of the shrimp”, poses Dr. Barbier.
Doctor Jo Burgess Barbier is an economics professor at Colorado State University, with exemplified knowledge on agricultural economics. She has an unmatchable viewpoint on how economics sway both farmers and sustainability. In terms of economic benefits from locally sourcing, Dr. Burgess said,
“Once all the “hidden” costs and benefits of production are taken into account, the locally produced food may be the most efficient (i.e. cost effective). Also make contribute to local, national and global sustainability objectives. Could also help generate local socio-economic benefits in terms of employment, improved local population health benefits, etc.”
Garden-to-table has been becoming more relevant now than ever. Dr. Burgess believes this is due to environmental issues in today’s world,
“Increasing scarcity of sustainable food production relative to population and income growth, because of external damages from pesticides and fertilizers on the environment, because of global warming damages from carbon emissions from transportation, because of excessive use of scarce water, because of loss of soil fertility……”. The list could go on and on.
Economics play a huge part in farmer’s livelihoods. The status of the economy changes from many factors, and can greatly impact farmers. Dr. Burgess relays,
“ (Agricultural subsidies) Can lead an unlevel playing field for small local farmers because most of the subsidies go to the large farming operations. Also, subsidies aimed at production rather than sustainable management can lead to adverse agricultural management practices.”
In overall terms of sustainability, I asked Dr. Burgess why sustainable practices can put a stress on the economy. She said,
“If an economy is unsustainable and runs down the natural capital stock but no reinvestment in human or physical capital, then total capital stock declines and we may not be able to maintain standard of living (GDP/capita) over time (Weak sustainability). Some of natural capital may be essential, irreversible if lost, and uncertain in value. If this is run down then puts a further constraint on economic welfare and wellbeing (strong sustainability). At the most extreme, it could lead to economic collapse and undermine the welfare and well-being of the population.”
Next time you and your family or friends are deciding where to eat out, try and think more sustainably. It could potentially better your health, improve your local economy, and you could be a part of a very important movement in our world today. Simple everyday decisions like this could begin to better the environment.
