Farming in New England faces steep financial challenges in creating and sustaining markets for locally grown products, according to area farmers who gathered Friday in Francestown.
“Local food is a big deal for us, and it’s a challenge. How do we create financial incentives and opportunities for farmers who are trying to do this full time?” longtime Peterborough dairy farmer Robin Hulbert said at the forum, hosted by Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander.
Emily Sherwin of Steppingstone Commons in Alstead said the goal of her farm, which she operates with her husband, Jacob, is to “keep calories as local as possible.”
“We aim to be the grocery store, so people will shop with us first for food and go to the grocery store afterward,” Sherwin said. “We are a year-round, whole-diet farm, and we’re always looking for ways to diversify and provide for a full diet for our community.”
Sherwin said that while she is grateful for the federal grants that have supported her farm and enabled Steppingstone Commons to break even, many grants are designed for much larger-scale operations, which makes it difficult to use the funds. Sherwin said the average New Hampshire farm has about $62,000 in sales, and the average cost of running a farm is $65,000.
Dan Field of Bending Branch Farm, a goat dairy farm in Marlborough, cited another federal fencing grant that didn’t cover the cost of drilling fence posts into New England ledge.
Field said local food is considered “basically a luxury product,” which is not sustainable.
“With SNAP, when people come to the farmers market, they get a match from the state which enables them to get twice the value for their money. There’s nothing like that for the average consumer. If there were an incentive like that, it would encourage people to buy local,” Field said.
Shelley Goguen Hulbert, who runs Callie’s Creamery in Peterborough with her husband, Robin, said small farms struggle to compete with retailers.
“I don’t see how a young farmer could do what we’re doing and make it work now,” Goguen Hulbert said. “The question is, will people choose a truly local operation? Will they choose our product on the shelf if it costs a little bit more?”
All the farmers present expressed concern about farm succession. Theo Groh, who grew up at the Wilton-Temple Community Farm and whose parents still run the farm, said that because farmers have no retirement funds, they often have to sell their land to retire.
“That land is immediately snapped up for housing, and once that is gone, it is gone,” Groh said.
He added that large-scale industrial food processing has significantly reduced the nutritional value of food and that agricultural policy doesn’t focus on improving nutrition.
“We are not giving people the nutrition that they need,” he said.
Roger Noonan, who runs Middle Branch Farm in New Boston, said self-supporting farmers’ co-ops are essential to small farms’ financial survival. David Trumble, a state Senate candidate who farms full-time in Weare, said co-ops allow farms to share marketing and operating costs.
“There is strength in working together, and the co-ops are one of the few options that small farmers have,” Trumble said. “Doing it all by yourself is really hard.”
Farmers also said they struggle with healthcare, with most relying on spouses and some bouncing on and off Medicare because of fluctuating income.
“We are on and off health insurance all the time, which is scary when you make a living with your body, and when you have children,” said Sherwin of Steppingstone Commons.
Field also raised the issue of getting locally farmed food into public schools and mentioned the Cornucopia Project, which works with the ConVal Cooperative School District, as an example of a successful program.
Still, Trumble said that as a farmer, one of his goals is to “get food to people who don’t have food,” and lamented the lack of government programs linking farmers with people experiencing food insecurity.
“We rely on nonprofits and volunteers, because there is no system. There used to be programs, but those funds have gone away,” he said.
Goodlander said she saw that as an opportunity to create legislation that would support small farmers, connect them with communities and continue for future generations.
“The rules have been written for big agriculture and big distributors,” Goodlander said. “The bottom line is, we’re buying food from far away; that’s not as good.”
