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GOURMET NEWS www.gourmetnews.com n JANUARY 2018 n GOURMET NEWS 9 8 sofi Award Celebrates Good Food from Good Farmers By Lorrie Baumann A sofi Award for yogurt-type dairy products went to Five Acre Farms' Local Honey Kefir, which comes from a producer founded on the idea that when people know their farm- ers, good food happens. Dan Horan, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Five Acre Farms, started the company seven years ago with the intention of finding outstanding dairy, egg and apple farmers using sustain- able practices, paying them fairly and telling their stories. Over those years, the company's product offering has expanded from fluid milk to in- clude buttermilk, yogurt and kefir as well as apple juice and seasonal apple cider. Horan is scaling the company's business outside the New York-based region where it currently operates, and says that, because every region has local farms, that's all pos- sible without weakening the local connec- tions between consumer and farmer that are at the core of the business. "Five Acre Farms finds outstanding dairy, egg and apple farmers using sustainable practices, pays them fairly and tells their stories," Horan said. "We put the farmer on each package so consumers know exactly where their food is coming from and that restores the connection between the farmer and the consumer. We start with simple ingredients and don't complicate it." Horan's commitment to local and regional food goes back 30 years, when he founded an organic produce farm, which is still run by his brothers, and he worked on an early concept for Five Acre Farms while he was still in business school. When he started his company in 2010, he decided to focus on milk and eggs because those commodities are produced on farms all across the U.S. "It's our thesis that there's a lot of very high- quality milk out there, produced by farmers who are good stewards of the land, and the government price does not meet their cost of production," Horan said. In selecting the farmers Five Acre Farms wants to work with, Horan looks at issues like water protection, land management, and manure handling as well as how the animals are treated on the farm and the quality of the milk itself. "I think there are quite a lot of farms that do a very good job on these issues, but they just get mixed up in the whole blend of the mar- ket," he said. Five Acre Farms pays its farmers directly for their milk at a price that's somewhere between what they'd get on the commodity market and the premium price for organic milk. Before they go to the retailer, the products are labeled to identify the specific farmers who produced them. "An important part of our mission is connecting people with their farmers because that link has been broken. We give people an opportunity to establish a connection to their food. On every jug of Five Acre Farms milk, there's a red tag that identifies the farmer behind the product and highlights some detail about the farm itself. Our egg cartons offer the same type of information, along with a picture of the farmers. We want the cus- tomer to know some of what goes into farming. We also don't want things to be so unapproachable and sterile that it's just about numbers. Farming is about people and the land." Five Acre Farms' approach is a response to dairy farmers' difficulties navigating a market in which the sale price for their milk is unrelated to the cost of producing it and the reality that some of the efficien- cies that have made it possible to produce some field crops more cheaply over the years just don't apply when the actual source of the product in question is a live animal. One result of that is that New York is among 22 states with net farm decreases between 2002 and 2012, which is the date of the last national agricultural census, a federal government count of the state of the nation's agriculture that's conducted every five years. Census results from 2012 show that 24 percent of New York's land area – or about 7.2 million acres – is in farms. That figure hasn't changed much since the early 1990s, but the number of New York farms has declined from 36,352 in 2007, the date of the census just prior to the last one, to 35,537 in 2012. That means that, while the amount of land that's being farmed hasn't changed much, the number of farmers has — and they're not just get- ting thinner on the ground; they're also get- ting older. Between 1997 and 2012, the average age of New York's farmers went from 52.9 to 57.1 years old, and of those 35,537 farms counted in 2012, 40 percent had sales of $5,000 or less — echoing trends that are happening all across the U.S. (For a similar approach to this prob- lem, read "Saving Wisconsin Family Dairy Farms, One Premium Cheese at a Time" online at http://wp.me/p7yziE-2eW.) For New York's dairy farms in particular, 5,427 farms owned dairy cows in 2012, com- pared with 5,683 just five years earlier, ac- cording to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's figures. Those New York dairy farms reported total dairy product sales of $2.4 billion in 2012, about 45 percent of the state's total agricultural sales, according to a 2015 report by Nelson L. Bills and Bernard F. Stanton, agricultural economists with Cor- nell University. "When I started farming, there were seven dairies in our town in Connecticut. Now there are none," said Horan. "We're not going to save the whole planet, but we cer- tainly want to be part of restoring agriculture in the region." He says that when consumers get the chance to read his Five Acre Farms prod- ucts' labels and learn something about the farmers who produced them, that often per- suades them to pay a little more for a local product that comes from a farmer that they can identify as a neighbor. "People are dis- covering, particularly when it comes to good, know-your-source food, that there's actually more to it than price. If you want clean water in your watershed and good an- imal husbandry, low price is not the only factor driving your decision about what to buy. There are many people who can pay only the lowest price, but a good portion of the market can pay a little more, and they're shifting their priorities," he said. "We're trying to help the retailers develop a con- versation with their customers. Local is a trend that's not going away. We are in 250 to 300 outlets now and growing. Local is getting bigger; it's getting stronger." GeeFree Foods Launches Microwavable Sandwich Pockets GeeFree Foods recently launched a line of gluten-free, all-natural, frozen, microwav- able sandwich pockets in three varieties: Sausage, Egg and Cheese; Buffalo Chicken; and Cheese Pizza. GeeFree is the only man- ufacturer of gluten-free puff pastry products in the United States. Encased in GeeFree's signature pastry dough, the sandwich pockets come two per box and are free of antibiotics, hormones, ni- trates, corn and soy. The microwavable sleeves keep them crispy. They retail for $6.99. Sausage, Egg & Cheese sandwich pockets are packed with uncured sausage, egg and cheddar cheese. Each 4.5 ounce serving has 320 calories and 12 grams of protein. The Buffalo Chicken variety is loaded with chicken, buffalo sauce, celery, blue cheese and other delicious ingredients. Each 4.5 ounce serving has 350 calories and 7 grams of protein. Finally, the Cheese Pizza version is brimming with mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce and zesty herbs. Each 4.5 ounce serv- ing has 390 calories and 8 grams of protein. Since receiving an infusion of capital from its new investment partner Procida Funding and Advisors, GeeFree has broadened its dis- tribution channels. The brand is now sold in 43 states. Kroger Hosts First Natural Foods Innovation Summit The Kroger Co. hosted its first natural foods innovation summit, in partnership with 84.51°, on October 12 in Cincinnati, Ohio, with keynote speaker Joy Bauer, MS, RD, CDN. "Kroger is proud of the role we've played in making natural and organic products more affordable and accessible to America," said Jill McIntosh, Kroger's Vice President of Natural Foods. "This category was a $16 bil- lion business for us in 2016, and today's company-produced expo is an innovation platform that allows us to continue to expand our natural foods product portfolio by part- nering with emerging brands on micro and macro levels." Top trends in natural foods are holistic health, convenience and sustainability. Con- sumer insights show that customers are adopting a 360-degree approach to health and wellness, including greater consumption of natural foods to prevent illnesses. A grow- ing number of customers are seeking health- ier on-the-go snacks and meals, and nutri- tional drinks are increasingly becoming meal replacements. Kroger's team of buyers continuously look for opportunities to purchase region- ally that allow the company to expand its product portfolio for customers, stimulate the local economy and enhance product freshness. Sourcing locally also supports the company's sustainability commitments, including Kroger's Zero Hunger | Zero Waste initiative. Recently, Kroger joined the Sustainable Packaging Coalition ® , a membership-based collaborative of like- minded companies striving to advance sus- tainable packaging. This new trade show is part of the Re- stock Plan that Kroger announced at its annual investor conference, McIntosh said. "Customer lifestyles are evolving, and as America's grocer, we understand the importance of carrying relevant prod- ucts at affordable prices that are meaning- ful to the nearly nine million customers we serve daily in our family of stores," she added. Kroger will begin to host Natural Foods Innovation Summit events a few times per year. Local and natural foods brands can visit Kroger.Com/WeAreLocal to learn how to join Kroger's family of suppliers. New Lemon Pepper Seasoning and Vegetable Seasoning from Bone Suckin' Best-selling Bone Suckin' ® Sauce is debut- ing an all new Lemon Pepper Seasoning and Vegetable Seasoning. Bone Suckin' Lemon Pepper Seasoning – also available as an organic seasoning – is a bold and de- licious blend of citrus and pepper, guaran- teed to make your meal come alive with zesty fla- vor. It's perfect for simple grilled shrimp, salmon or chicken. Bone Suckin' Vegetable Seasoning is best on grilled or baked aspara- gus. A dash of Bone Suckin' Vegetable Seasoning is all you need to get that five star flavor on your healthy side item. For more information, call 919.833.7647, email sales@bonesuckin.com or go to www.bonesuckin.com.

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