NEWS  RELEASE / June 18, 2001

 

     The economy of Southeast Minnesota is being weakened as food is bought and sold in the region, an important new study reveals. The study will be released at a news conference starting at 11 A.M., THURSDAY, JUNE 21, at Hidden Stream Farm, near Plainview in Wabasha County. Instructions on how to reach the farm are below.

 

     The study, "Finding Food in Farm Country," shows that $800 million of potential wealth flows out of southeast Minnesota each year through food and commodity markets. This is a substantial loss, equal to 10 percent of the total, annual household income of the region's 303,000 residents.

 

     Much of this loss could be reversed if the region's farmers and consumers created a stronger regional food system, the study states. That would benefit all of the region's residents and improve its soil and water quality.  The region, which has 8,400 working farms, covers the counties of Fillmore, Goodhue, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Wabasha and Winona. 

 

    The study was commissioned by the private, nonprofit Community Design Center of Minnesota, which assists communities in realizing their sustainable economic, social and environmental goals.

 

   "We examined the scope of the food market in Southeast Minnesota to determine how much of it could potentially be captured by local growers," said Ruth Murphy, the Design Center's director. "We believe that if the true, total value of all regional food purchases is known, the region's producers, processors and marketers can make better economic decisions in creating a regional food system."

 

   The authors of the report are Ken Meter, president of the Crossroads Resource Center, and Jon Rosales, research fellow at the University of Minnesota's Institute for Social, Economic and Environmental Sustainability.  Funds for the study were provided by the university's Southeast Minnesota Experiment in Rural Cooperation.

 

    The study is the first to calculate the amount of money that is lost to Southeast Minnesota through food and farm purchases.  "It is no surprise to the region's farmers that rural communities are taking a hit," Meter said. "Our contribution is to show just how large the losses are, and to suggest what the region can do to reverse those losses."

 

     The study also will help inform decision makers in Washington, D.C., as a new farm bill is written.  "Southeast Minnesota is not alone," Meter said. "Rural communities across the country are in similar straits.  Rural people are migrating to cities in massive numbers.  More and more, farm areas are becoming the 'Third World' of the United States."

 

     Copies of the study, along with fact sheets, will be provided to reporters at the news conference. Available to answer questions will be local farmers who are practicing alternative, sustainable farming methods, area residents who are providing local food initiatives, the authors of the study, environmental experts and officials of the Community Design Center.

 

 

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     Lisa Klein, whose family has operated Hidden Stream Farm for more than 40 years, said there is little awareness of how much money is leaving Southeast Minnesota through food and commodity markets.  Keeping more of that money within the region will depend on a multiplicity of local efforts, she said.  

 

    "If farming is to remain viable in our region, consumers need to open their minds," said Klein, who practices sustainable agriculture on the farm with her husband, Eric. Two ways in which consumers can help the region's economy, she said, are to "buy more locally-produced farm products and shop more at farmers' markets."

 

 

    HIDDEN STREAM FARM IS ABOUT 2 MILES SOUTHWEST OF PLAINVIEW ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF WABASHA COUNTY HWY. 25. 

 

   

TO GET THERE FROM PLAINVIEW, TAKE COUNTY HWY. 4 SOUTH 1-1/2 MILES TO COUNTY HWY. 25.  TURN RIGHT ONTO COUNTY 25 AND GO 2 MILES. IF YOU ARE ENTERING PLAINVIEW FROM THE WEST ON STATE HWY. 42, TAKE COUNTY HWY. 25 AT ELGIN, AND PROCEED TWO MILES (COMING FROM PLAINVIEW, THIS WOULD BE A LEFT TURN FROM HWY. 42 ONTO HWY. 25.   

 

    For more information on the conference, please call the Community Design Center at its Southeast Minnesota office in Lanesboro: (507)-467-3446.  

 

                                                         

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