As an organic beef producer, Tim Hoven has dealt with two kinds of customers.
There are those who think he is ripping them off with high priced organic steaks and those who readily pay the asking price.
Hoven sells his beef through farmers’ markets and direct sales. He wants people to understand the price is more than the cost of production.
Some of that education will start when he and others open a new farmers’ market in Calgary in June. He was a regular fixture at the Calgary Farmers’ Market where about a million customers shop each year for direct contact with farmers and fresh foods. His business has grown to the point he can set out on his own.
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Calgary chef and caterer Wade Sirois said selling the concept of locally produced food is a small but growing movement capturing new customers one person at a time.
“People who support local food are paying the true cost of food,” he said.
That was part of the theme of his food seminar called Local 201 where he linked Calgarians with Alberta farmers who can sell them a complete food basket.
Besides explaining the economics of food, he wants to erase the divide between city and country folks.
“People in the city have to start understanding what affects our agricultural land. If you are going to eat all your life, why don’t you learn about food all your life?” he said.
He buys meat and produce from about 40 different area farmers for his catering business. About 70 percent of his food budget is spent on buying local but he dismisses the 100-mile diet fad as unreasonable. Contact with farmers is better regardless of distance.
“Local is relationship based,” he said.
Besides linking farmers with potential customers, he wanted to gather small groups working on urban agriculture. That included those involved in permaculture where urban dwellers are shown how to renovate their back yards for vegetable garden space.
He also introduced people who have seed exchanges or offer a community garden where they buy shares from a farmer who can supply fresh fruit and vegetables on a seasonal basis. The problem of finding space to grow a garden is a roadblock for many.
“The missing ingredient is the access to land,” said Paul Hughes of Calgary, who is working with the city and province to open up spaces for gardens along utility and transportation corridors.
Another innovation is taking place at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology Polytechnic, said culinary instructor Maxwell Lawrence.
A garden is being planted on campus this year so students understand the seasonality of products.
“They need to understand there is not some big warehouse where their food comes from,” he said.
