By Rubie Dianne Simonsen
Sacramento has made great strides within the last five years since former Mayor Kevin Johnson dubbed the City “America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital.” The grid has become a mecca of home brewers and food enthusiasts, with more fanfare for local coffee shops than ever. Nobody will argue with you, even the native-Sacramentians, that this boom has been a long time coming.
It seems we have finally settled on a identity that is easily “us” which keeps Sacramento away from being compared to Portland or other hipster magnets. But I hope we don’t kick the dirt off of our cowboy boots too early. Let’s not forget that we were a cowtown. Grandparents talk about the days when Highway-99 was still a dirt road they walked on, and spending summer picking sacks of tomatoes for nickels.
Before our Farm-to-Fork Capital over glamorizes farm living and another neighbor starts selling their homemade pickles for $20 a mason jar, let me remind you, faming isn’t easy and it sure isn’t cheap. To farm even a small piece of property like First Mother Farms in West Sacramento, you are going to sink nearly $5,000 you first year - which doesn’t include paying yourself.
Although food is being elevated for its local roots farmers aren’t raking in cash from events like the Tower Bridge Dinner that aim to promote the City’s new identity. Frankly it’s just the opposite - their asking for the food for free. Fundraising on the plate shouldn’t be the model in our City. When we profess to support our farmers, and be a City of Locavores we should be putting our money where our mouth is.
If I had started farming because I thought the timing was right in Sacramento I would be a damn fool. To some I still am a fool because the economics of farming has always been broken. It has always functioned on high amounts of government subsidies at large scale farms because we have aimed to keep our food cheap.
The simple fact is the produce isn’t cheap no matter the scale. The math is simple, the cost of land is high, the cost of labor is high, water is a limited resource, then add every other tool, seed, and other infrastructure you need to cultivate the soil and harvest a tomato, and somehow, we get FREE.
At some point the imbalances we have created will fail. No business can remain sustainable when asked to undercut their value at every turn. Here are my last words of advice for all those passive Locavores wandering Sunday farmers markets, learn to eat less so you can pay what that heirloom tomato is really worth.