This blog post is inspired by a conservation my classmate, a food science student, and I just had about finding our niche in the city food system. After having spent the morning volunteering for an urban farm in Vancouver, she wrote me: "From all I've seen, small scale organic farming is labour intensive and unprofitable." This has led me to wonder why we learn in the classroom that we should somehow contribute to the regional food system's transformation when we are simultaneously told by those experienced in the field that our ideas about becoming entrepreneurs of farm to table industries and urban farmers are risky and often unrealistic.
Moreover, organic regulations are too difficult to keep up with for many business owners, especially as land prices in Vancouver are so high to begin with. So my friend and I brainstormed further. I recently sat through a presentation by a graduate of my undergraduate program who began his enterprise by working East Africa with coffee farmers. He eventually started the non-governmental organization, Agrodev, to expose coffee farmers to niche markets by helping them become certified Organic. He late opened a coffee shop in Vancouver, where demand for such products is high. Years later, he now is a successful wholesale coffee roaster who also educates local coffee entrepreneurs about FairTrade and other sustainability and social equity related added value practices.
I also thought of Zak the Baker, a family acquaintance in South Florida, who completed his undergraduate degree, took up a baking apprenticeship in Sweden, and returned to South Florida to become a sourdough bread connoisseur whose local claim to fame began at my neighborhood farmers market in Miami. Just last year, he moved up the urban food system ladder by becoming a bread wholesaler and business owner of a warehouse bakery in the city's budding arts district. His business is on the rise, though he intends to keep it at a local scale. His secret was simply having taken advantage of a locally rare product, fresh bread topped with condiments from all sorts of regions (a sort of creative toast concoction, really). His bread business along with another Miami local FairTrade coffee business, Panther Coffee, add to the urban fabric of the neighborhood.
My friend and I have moved on to discussing the concept of high-value commodities desired in our food. An aspiring business owner, she wants a "sustainable" business economically and environmentally in order to keep our products locally-sourced, but also generate income. Where is our niche? Looks like we have some exploring to do.
Photo taken from:
Moreover, organic regulations are too difficult to keep up with for many business owners, especially as land prices in Vancouver are so high to begin with. So my friend and I brainstormed further. I recently sat through a presentation by a graduate of my undergraduate program who began his enterprise by working East Africa with coffee farmers. He eventually started the non-governmental organization, Agrodev, to expose coffee farmers to niche markets by helping them become certified Organic. He late opened a coffee shop in Vancouver, where demand for such products is high. Years later, he now is a successful wholesale coffee roaster who also educates local coffee entrepreneurs about FairTrade and other sustainability and social equity related added value practices.
I also thought of Zak the Baker, a family acquaintance in South Florida, who completed his undergraduate degree, took up a baking apprenticeship in Sweden, and returned to South Florida to become a sourdough bread connoisseur whose local claim to fame began at my neighborhood farmers market in Miami. Just last year, he moved up the urban food system ladder by becoming a bread wholesaler and business owner of a warehouse bakery in the city's budding arts district. His business is on the rise, though he intends to keep it at a local scale. His secret was simply having taken advantage of a locally rare product, fresh bread topped with condiments from all sorts of regions (a sort of creative toast concoction, really). His bread business along with another Miami local FairTrade coffee business, Panther Coffee, add to the urban fabric of the neighborhood.
My friend and I have moved on to discussing the concept of high-value commodities desired in our food. An aspiring business owner, she wants a "sustainable" business economically and environmentally in order to keep our products locally-sourced, but also generate income. Where is our niche? Looks like we have some exploring to do.
Photo taken from:
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