Home-grown food gains popularity

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that 94 percent of Missouri farms were owned by individuals or families in 2002, up from 90.6 percent in 1992, while total farmland is up nearly 5 percent. Additionally, 59 percent of farms sold less than $10,000 in goods in 2002, up from 51.9 percent in 1992.

The popularity of locally produced food is part of the reason, at least according to the people who raise and grow it in the Ozarks.

Area farms provide meat, eggs, fruit and vegetables, and the number of area eateries and grocery stores that carry those goods is on the rise.

Mama Jean’s Natural Foods carries products from a long list of local producers: the list includes spinach and greens from Ozark Exotica in Theodosia, cheese from Morningland Dairy in Mountain View, milk and dairy products from Memory Lane Dairy in Fordland, and black walnuts from Hammons Products in Stockton.

Mama Jean’s manager Kelly Norman said local products offer flexibility.

“Most of our items are on a regular delivery schedule, but if we call (a local producer) and say ‘We don’t have any chickens to sell,’ he’ll make a special trip to us and deliver some,” Norman said. “Larger companies wouldn’t do that.”

Flavorful selling point

Kip Glass has a theory about what’s driving the popularity.

“Most people don’t have a clue what good food tastes like,” said Glass, owner of Autumn Olive Farms in Bois D’Arc.

Autumn Olive Farms provides chickens, eggs, turkeys, pork and grass-fed beef to local restaurants and grocery stores, including Harter House and Mama Jean’s.

“The selling point is flavor. Flavor sells them every time,” Glass said.

Flavor is one of the reasons Branson’s Candlestick Inn get much of its food from local sources. Executive Chef Alden Grant said buying locally – which he does as much as he can – helps ensure quality.

“If you buy the very best product you can get, and you source it locally, and you see it, touch it, smell it, and you shake the farmer’s hand and you know him by name, you get a better product,” said Grant, who buys meats, mushrooms and other produce from local farmers. “I don’t like to serve nasty crap (out of) a box that comes from 2,000 miles away if I don’t have to.”

Marilyn Ison, owner of Autumn Lane Farm in Springfield, sells eggs to supermarkets, including Mama Jean’s, Price Cutter, Summer Fresh and Murfin’s in Ozark, something she’s done since 1998.

“When we’re unloading eggs into the cases, and people ask us who the farmer is and we say, ‘You’re looking at ‘em,’ it’s great,” she said. “How many times do you get to go the store and meet the person who raised that egg or that produce?”

Food safety

With recent national recalls and food safety scares, Ison said more customers are looking for safer alternatives, which local producers can provide.

“A lot of people around here feel they don’t have to worry about that quite as much,” she said, noting that small operations are also less likely to use commercial fertilizers or pesticides that can leave residue on foods.

“If you learn who your farmer is and what their practices are, you don’t have to worry about how your food is raised or whether it’s safe.”

Meat-and-egg producer Glass raises his beef cattle using an all-grass diet instead of grain, which he said is unnatural and unhealthy for cud-chewing animals.

Though grain diets are typical, Glass said they raise animals’ internal acid levels, which can provide a breeding ground for E. coli bacteria.

“The largest user of bicarbonate of soda in this country is the beef industry,” Glass said. “They have to get that acid knocked down, so they use it in the feed mixes.”

Mama Jean’s manager Norman said she also has seen higher demand for organic products, many of which are produced locally, particularly with last year’s recall of California bagged spinach and this year’s peanut butter recall, which affected Peter Pan and Wal-Mart’s Great Value brands.

The advantages of using local producers also stretch into the economy – money used to purchase products from area farmers stays in the local economy and keeps those farmers in business.

In December, Price Cutter Supermarkets unveiled special sections in five of its Springfield-area stores to showcase more than 50 Missouri-made products, in partnership with the AgriMissouri program of the Missouri Department of Agriculture. Price Cutter officials did not return calls for comment.

While focusing on local products helps stores expand their inventories, Chef Grant said the advantages come back to the purchaser as well.

“It’s putting money in the local economy, money (for) the farmer who needs a job,” Grant said. “It’s a guy who’s appreciative and is going to give me better service than somebody who’s never met me before. It’s business, and it’s common sense.”

Ison at Autumn Lane Farm said she does her part to promote local growers – in addition to her own products, she buys from other local farmers whenever she can.

“Why should I pay the box stores when there are local people doing the same thing?” Ison said. “I don’t care if I pay a few dollars more. I want those people to keep doing what they’re doing. I don’t give a rat’s patootie about the big-box stores.”