The economics of FARE

The interest in FARE (Farm Alliance for Responsible Ecology) has been amazing. We know that this subject interests many people. We have been bombarded by the concept of food. There is even a TV network dedicated to food. The interest in food, and specifically, good food is really nothing new. In fact, from what we have been finding, it is old; real old. Our grandmothers and great-grandmothers knew good food. They knew that buying locally made health sense. Not only did it make sense, but in past generations it not only made health sense, but it made economic sense. Buying fruits or vegetables, out of season or not grown locally, was expansive because of the travel cost. Today, large corporate structures have made the world transport of food very cheap, thus putting a huge variety of food that is not grown locally available to us on a daily basis.

The amount of marketing ploys to deceive us is also implanted in this distribution. We can find “Canadian Pastured Beef” in the stores. To be labeled as such, beef can be transported from anywhere in the world and only needs to be on Canadian soil for 24 hours to be labeled “Canadian”. For a chicken to be considered pastured, the chicken needs to spend only 24 hours on a pasture, according to the US FDA.

Since Thanksgiving is coming up (in the United States) it needs to be noted that the turkey we are going to be purchasing cheaply or even given to us, is 3 years old at a minimum and has been stored in a deep freezer. That has been the norm for the past 15 years, when there was a shortage in turkeys. The industry with the blessing and even the pressure of the federal government had turkeys stored so that there would never be a shortage again. The result, unfortunately, is that we are eating 3 year old birds, unless we are buying locally raised turkeys that are FRESH !

We have also, since our entry into the food business a couple years ago, found that excellent food need not be expensive, but quite the contrary, is often less expensive. Having started with fresh local grown produce that was absent of pesticides and chemicals and only sold in season, we realized that we actually sold the vegetables and fruit less expensively, in many cases. Noting we weren’t or aren’t always the cheapest, we are always the best.

The same thing is true with our homemade artisan cheese, small batch baked breads, canned goods with no additives, and gourmet herbs and spices. We take the same locally grown or produced items and create them into equally locally produced products.

Our French Boule, for example costs less per pound than mass produced white sandwich bread. In addition to the savings, it contains no chemical additives, no preservatives and only contains the best ingredients available.

In this time of worrying about things like flu, it makes sense to keep ourselves as sustainable healthy as possible and that is obviously sustaining it locally with fresh foods.

To make these products available to you and your family or household, simply sign our simple agreement and you are ready to go. It really is that easy. For as little as $10.00 (with $5.00 of that applied to your first purchase) you will be able to purchase items that are currently costing you significantly more elsewhere.

We hope that you will join us in making life more fulfilling for ourselves. Let's face it, no one is going to do it for us. Please direct any questions, comments or requests for membership to FAREfarming@aol.com or 610-250-7951.