What is the true cost of food? The importance of organic & local food - April, 2009

by Cindy Cleary
It’s tempting to save money on food by shopping at discount outlets, searching for the cheapest option. The rising price of gas, food and other necessities is taking its toll on strained budgets. However, is now really the time to sacrifice the quality of our food? What is the true cost of shopping for conventional, “cheap” food?
In our modern economy, the way food is produced and the way we eat create huge costs that are not reflected in our food bills. These costs include real dollars spent on subsidies and environmental cleanup paid through taxes, as well as the hidden costs of damage to the environment, declining health, and increased global poverty.
This information has been presented to the public with books like Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food, Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and the Sierra Club’s educational video and campaign on “The True Cost of Food.” Facts and figures in this article come from www.truecostoffood.org and the book Stuffed and Starved by Raj Patel (Portobello Press, 2007).

The smallest half of farms and ranches receive only $266 per year out of the 14 billion spent on federal farm subsidies. © iStockphoto.com/Seanfboggs

So what does our food really cost? In the Sierra Club video, a family shopping at “Buy-it-All-Mart” is whisked away to uncover the true cost of items in their cart. A pound of conventional steak comes to $815! This price, based on factory farm practices, is broken down by the cost of oil (1 gallon per pound of meat); water (2,500 gallons per pound); wasted feed (10 pounds per pound); destroyed grasslands (for growing feed); and pollution (184 billion cubic feet of greenhouse gas methane is released per year from feedlots). A single conventional tomato costs $374 with a breakdown that includes pesticides, water pollution from runoff, and topsoil lost to monocropping.
If this is the true cost, how do we manage to put food on the table? Federal farm subsidies account for much of the formula. The government spends 14 billion dollars per year offsetting the cost of farming. One might think this is intended for small family farms, but it’s not. More than 65 percent goes to the top 10 percent largest farms. The bottom half collect two percent, amounting to $266 per year for a small farm. Hardly enough to keep a family farm in business.
This support for large corporate farms has been largely responsible for the decline in family farms. Today, seven percent of American farms provide over 72 percent of our food. This means food must be transported from centralized farms to the processing plants and retail outlets. Even “fresh” produce travels an average of 2,000 miles from farm to table, often spending a week in a refrigerated truck. Its quality begins to deteriorate the moment it is picked.

Fresh vegetable? Today’s conventional produce travels 2,000 miles from farm to fork and spends a week in a refrigerated truck. © iStockphoto.com/bluestocking

So what about nutrition and environmental costs? One billion pounds of pesticides are now used per year and agricultural runoff is the number one pollutant of rivers today, killing entire ecosystems and contaminating groundwater. The EPA says we could save $15 billion worth of water treatment plants if we cut agricultural toxins ($200 per family of four).
The really sad truth is that the pesticides are no longer working. Chemical-immune pests take more and more of the crops as we use more and stronger pesticides. In the 1930s, before pesticides, we lost 30 percent of the world’s wheat crop to pests. Today, after dumping 2.5 million tons of pesticides per year on wheat, the loss to pests is 37 percent. These chemicals kill not only the “bad bugs”, but the “good bugs” as well, degrading the soil. This and other monocropping practices result in the loss of 20 billion tons of topsoil per year.
But the pesticides aren’t just killing bugs and soil. Cancer rates are rising, especially in children and in areas near factory farms. Pesticides, antibiotics and hormones enter our water and food contributing to increased health issues like birth defects, autism, ADD, and resistance to antibiotics. The processed foods in our modern diet are also contributing to child and adult obesity. We are a society that is largely undernourished and overweight which taxes our healthcare system and contributes to rising medical costs.
Because of the subsidies and practices that sacrifice long-term health for short-term profit, inexpensive food is abundant. In America, we are actually spending less on our food, as a percentage of our income, than we did 50 years ago and it continues to drop. While the average was 20 percent in the 1950s, today we spend only 10 percent of our budgets on food. And this is lower than any other country in the world—Europeans spend 20 to 40 percent and in developing countries the average is as high as 75 percent.
What about the food from other countries? Soybeans, rice, corn and coffee are huge commodities in the global food supply. The raw materials are often bought cheap from farmers in countries like India, Korea and Brazil. In fact, the global market has driven these prices so low that many of these farmers can no longer support their families. Many family farms have been held for generations, and when today’s farmers can’t keep them afloat, they resort to despair and even suicide, often drinking the pesticides that caused them to sink into debt.
In some rural districts of Sri Lanka, ingesting pesticides is the leading cause of death in hospitals. In China, 58 percent of all suicides are from ingesting pesticide—two million attempts per year. These dismal statistics are repeated for countries all over the world.
But there is hope. The organic food market is growing by 25 percent a year. Eating local saves up to 17 times in gas costs. By changing our buying habits, the supply must follow the demand. Shopping local, eating organic, eating less meat and using meat that is grass fed, organic and chemical-free, may look more expensive. But these choices significantly reduce the hidden cost to our environment, health and global welfare.
Record breaking snows blanket Crestone in April - April, 2009

by Keno
Crestone and vicinity were pounded by two record-setting snowstorms totaling over 45” in a five-day period between April 12 and 17.

Downtown Crestone on Easter Day—and the snow was still coming down!

The first storm, which hit on Easter Sunday, April 12, was an isolated event. The heavy snows fell mainly in the northern part of Sangre de Cristo Mountains and in the connected foothills of its western slope, but only from about Valley View Hot Springs south to about the Crestone area. The Great Sand Dunes National Park, just south of Crestone, also saw heavy snow, but not anywhere as much as the 26.8” Crestone received. In Moffat, 15” was reported; the middle of the San Luis Valley saw about 6” fall on average, yet to the west in Saguache and north to Villa Grove, only a couple of inches were recorded. Over on the eastern side of the Sangres, Westcliff reported between 5” to 7” of snow. There was little wind with this storm, but the snow fell heavy for several hours, averaging 2” per hour over a twelve-hour period.

Patio dining.

Later in the week, as most snow from this storm melted away in the April sun, a new and massive snowstorm rolled across Colorado on Friday, April 17. This pesky storm, when at its peak in the late morning, deposited 7” of snow in just a two hour period. When it finally moved out the next day, 18.9” had fallen in Crestone, with some locations around town reporting over 22”. Unlike the first storm, most of Colorado felt this storm’s punch.
With these two storms, Crestone broke several records, including most snow in April, with 47.3” (as of April 18) and the all time record for most snow in a season, with 99.0”. The old record for a snow season was 93.7”, set back in 1997-98.
The Town of Crestone WILL construct a water system this summer! - April, 2009

by Leanna Bradbury

After four years of planning, fundraising, and cost-cutting the Town of Crestone will construct a potable water and fire hydrant system. Over the last few months a lot of very hard work was done to make this system fit into the $638,000 loan/grant from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs. The bids, opened April 7, were low enough to proceed, and construction is scheduled to begin later this month.
Affordability was hardly the case last October when the general contractor bids were opened: $987,000 … $1,043,000 … $1,292,000. After engineering, testing, legal and augmentation costs, there was only $530,000 available for the contractor. It was easy for the townspeople to remain poker-faced at the bid opening. They were stunned. The high bidders congratulated the low bidder and left. Project Engineer Mark Thomson told the “low” bidder he would be contacted. The Town Trustees had no choice but to reject all bids.
The Water Team—Mayor Ralph Abrams, Trustees Kizzen Laki and Jim Hollmer, Planning Commissioner Warren Stephen, Fred Bauder, David Hill, Town Manager Akia Tanara and Treasurer Leanna Bradbury—brainstormed, investigated sources of additional funding, while Engineer Mark Thomson redesigned the system to be smaller.
Trustee Kairina Danforth, with previous experience as a procurement officer, joined the Water Team after her recommendation that the Town purchase pipe and other materials directly. Warren and Ralph surfed the internet to find a cheaper water tank. Ideas popped up that if the system were being divided up, why not make small pieces that could provide work for local contractors? Borrowing additional funds was the last resort because loan payments would increase the cost of operating the system later.
By the time requests for bids and quotations were re-sent in March, construction of the system was in 19 separate pieces. Several additional expenses had been discovered that would have been add-ons to the October contractor bids and raised the cost of the system to $1.1 or 1.2 million. The Team knew that about $200,000 in costs had been cut by Thomson’s redesign of the distribution lines, and $80,000 was saved (and a larger, better tank obtained) by getting the water tank directly from a manufacturer. A drastic “Option 2” with only 2 instead of 3 distribution loops was included in the bids.
Whether the system would be affordable was still unknown when a special Board of Trustees meeting began April 7. It was all dependent on much lower bids for materials and installation. As the bids were opened and read aloud, all 6 materials bids were between $120,000 and $140,000. Later analysis would no doubt show at least one to be complete. Then the installation bids were opened: $359,000 … $121,901 … $643,000 …. Everyone had their poker faces on, except when Treasurer Leanna passed a note to Mayor Ralph, “Did you bring champagne?” and he let out a stifled yelp of joy. $121,901 was almost too good to believe, and the next three days were spent making sure it was real. Every inquiry made about Robins Construction of Antonito yielded rave reviews, and a second walkthrough of the work with Randy Robins and Mike Ruybal provided a sense that they simply charge less and work faster than other contractors.
Not only are costs low enough to proceed with construction this year, but all three distribution loops will be installed. There will be ten fire hydrants strategically placed downtown and in residential neighborhoods. All construction elements except materials and the water tank will be awarded to San Luis Valley contractors.
More than two thirds of town property owners will be close enough to a water main to make municipal water service less expensive than drilling a new well. Construction is forecast to begin Monday, May 18, and the preconstruction tap fee special rate will be valid until 1pm, Friday, May 15, 2009. Those rates are $2,500 in residential zones and $3,000 in the commercial district. Regular tap fee rates are $3,500 residential and $4,000 commercial. Monthly service rates begin when the service line to the “curb” is connected on the property. Most property owners who have purchased water taps have functioning wells and will be prepared for a quick changeover to municipal water when needed. For more information or to purchase a tap, please contact Town Hall, 256-4313, as soon as possible.

The noble potato: past & present and The potato’s virtues - April, 2009

The Crestone Eagle, April 2009:

The noble potato, at home in any garden or farm, from high altitude deserts and beyond. Photo from Chokecherry Farm in Crestone.

story & photos by Nicholas Chambers
Hailing from the South American alpine and grown for over forty centuries, the potato has been the staple of the peasant and aristocrat alike. Today, it remains the world’s fourth largest food crop. Boasting a history of wide variation and selection, its Andean homeland has given rise to over 5000 varieties alone. Ironically, the means of this controlled variation is also the Achilles tendon of global potato agriculture.
Since the potato is propagated through planting the same tissue over and over (through seed potatoes), it is susceptible to more diseases than any other major crop. There is no break in the potato tissue lineage as there is in a true seed cycle that goes through a dormancy. As such, dependence on the stalwart potato has given rise to a widespread epidemic, as well as the development of modern practices to keep potatoes diverse and free of disease.

An Gorta Mor—“The Great Hunger”
One story says that the potato found its way to Europe after contact when a Spanish Armada shipwrecked off the coast of Ireland and lost its New World cargo to be washed up on shore. It soon became a mainstay of a Gaelic agrarian population who at once realized the potato’s excellent economy in nutrients and productivity. One acre could feed up to 10 people, which contributed to a huge population boom in the early 1800s.

Nitschka terKuile (left) and John Baxter of Mountain Valley Lumber (right) looking over the extremely healthy looking potato plants in one of two greenhouses that Nitschka manages.

Under an era of British imperial feudalism: “the pig was to pay the rent, the potato fed the family.” Three hundred years of planting the same potato stock, called the lumper, predisposed not just Ireland but all of northern Europe to a massive blight beginning about 1845. One million Irish people died and another million and a half emigrated to America or Australia, causing one of the world’s greatest exoduses, and inadvertently infusing these countries with Irish culture.
How could such a world-changing migration occur from reliance on a particular food crop? The answer is more political than biological. For one, during these years enough potatoes to feed the entire Irish population were still being exported from Ireland under British trade. The potato blight was all over Europe. Other countries were able to deal with it because they had more autonomy and self-determination.
The other relevant factor was that potato plants do not inherit their parents’ traits through the typical flower-pollination-fruit-seed cycle. Thus, to select this variety over that variety throughout history, people have planted an “eye” of the mother—essentially cloning successive generations of the same plant. This has worked out nicely with being a staple in a household, as what was too small or surplus, you could plant the next spring, much like grain. Thus, when the potato crop is from the same plant tissue year after year, diseases can spread rapidly and

One of Nitschka’s hobbies is growing banana plants in the potato greenhouse. Since the greenhouses are equipped with growing lights she is able to force the bananas into fruiting.

extensively.
Here in the San Luis Valley we have more than a 100 years of potato growing history and today average about 57,000 acres under cultivation. Our unique, isolated, cool-night, alpine desert valley echoes the conditions of the high Andes where the potato first went under the yoke of domestication. Modern SLV potato farmers successfully grow many different varieties of healthy potatoes without crossing genetics and without predisposing their seed stock to disease through plant tissue propagation, also called in vitro propagation or phytoculture.

Plant tissue propagation
Nitschka terKuile is a Dutch American who runs an organic family farm near La Jara. Born in Costa Rica, she has been the operations manager for the potato lab and greenhouse at Summit Farms near Center since 1991. With a background in wheat and maize improvement projects in Mexico, and degrees in general agriculture and greenhouse management from Colorado State University, she probably knows this process better than anyone in the valley. “They tried to hire some PhDs to do the job, but they only lasted a few years!”

Nitschka terKuile in the growing room. Note the stickies on the growing boxes indicating how she can propagate so many varieties in a small space in a small amount of time.

Plant tissue propagation is a common form of commercial breeding for crops like blueberries, cranberries, sweet potatoes, orchids, and strawberries. It is essentially a disease-free way to quickly and economically produce abundant healthy daughter plants in a small space. Nitschka and her staff start the process two years in advance of the field planting.
First, they must acquire a few certified disease-free plants from the cooperative extension or similar, and bring them to their sterile propagation lab. From the mother plant, they cut pieces with each having a meristem, or lateral growth bud. These pieces are then transferred to a nutrient growing medium and put under lights where the meristem sprouts a new root system and thus a new plant. Now one plantlet has become three. They again take these new plantlets and cut them into pieces with a meristem, and the three now becomes nine. In this very sterile and controlled way (with air filters, breathing masks, disinfectant boot mats, flaming workspaces, etc.), they keep propagating until they have enough plantlets to fill their greenhouse.
Once planted indoors, the plants are allowed to fulfill a full growth cycle (even through the winter with lights) that produces enough disease-free “nuc” seed potatoes to fill their fields with plants that will produce a first generation crop. After the first year in the field, they harvest the very valuable generation 1 seed potatoes, which will then be used the next year for on-farm seed or for sale as seed.
The farmer can go on planting these field grown seed potatoes until generation 5 or 6 when they must then go back to a nuc seed or risk disease. This process is done both by organic and non-organic farmers, as it is a way to keep potato stocks healthy whatever their field growing practices might be. Home growers might not be so concerned by disease, but “the worst thing home gardeners can do is to plant potatoes that come from a store,” says Nitschka. “These potatoes can be 6 or more generations old, coming from regions that have diseases we don’t, and our soils can be easily contaminated. While these store bought potatoes might look okay, their diseases will show up after a season and will remain there for a long time. It is important for people to realize how big a part of the Valley’s economy is in potatoes.”

Once Nitschka and her staff have fulfilled their requirement for plantlet count, they put the plantlets into the greenhouses in peat moss and perilite to go through a full growth cycle. The resulting “nuc” seed potatoes are certified disease-free and extremely high-value at 50¢ -75¢ apiece.

Next time you get a chance to have a Bliss Triumph, Colorado Rose, or Inca Gold, consider the history that potatoes have gone through and the delicate care that is now employed to keep this major staple healthy and productive.
To buy good disease-free seed potatoes that can be saved for successive generations, try Ronnigers Potato Farm or our Valley’s own White Mountain Farm in Mosca.

Contacts:
Ronniger’s Potato Farm, 877-204-8704, www.ronnigers.com
White Mountain Farm, 719-378-2436

The potato’s virtues

The potato is an agreeable crop: easy growing, productive, stores well, and economically nutritious. From only 1 tuber there can be grown about 8 daughter tubers, or two pounds of seed potatoes can yield 50 lbs of tubers for the table. Even the common Russet with the skin on is low in sodium, high in potassium (more than a banana!), and a good source of fiber. It is rich in protein, carbohydrates, and has most of the vitamins and minerals needed for sustenance, including vitamin C, B6, niacin, riboflavin, folic acid, beta-carotene, and iron. Russets even have a total antioxidant capacity of 13.2, ranking higher than carrot, kiwi, watermelon, cantaloupe, radish, and tomato. One of the Valley’s pride varieties is the Purple Majesty, which is very high in anthocyanins (antioxidants), which are spread throughout the tuber and not just the skin. Irish peasants living on mostly potatoes were actually healthier than other European peasants who relied on mostly bread for their staple.

School & community center possible for Crestone? - April, 2009

The Crestone Eagle, April 2009:

by Matie Belle Lakish
For years, the vision of a community center and school large enough to hold the myriad activities of our diverse community has floated and swirled around Crestone, always waiting for just the right combination of land, money, leadership, and opportunity to bring it to fruition. Maybe its time has finally arrived. On March 15, the Crestone Charter School hosted a community meeting to introduce the architect, Harry Teague, from Basalt, Colorado, who has been engaged to design their new campus, and to gather ideas to make the building a true center for community activities. Citizens obliged by filling the Colorado College hall and sharing their thoughts. As Anne Silver said, “This is a very positive thing. Usually when we get together [for a meeting], we’re fighting something.” A permanent campus for Crestone Charter School (CCS) is a high priority. Founded over a decade ago, the school has been in rented and temporary buildings since its inception. CCS operates under a contract with Moffat School District. Kathryn Brady, CCS Director, says that as part of its latest contract, CCS is committed to present progress on acquiring land, or to present a plan for construction of a facility in 2009. Conveniently, this deadline coincides with a new state statute, HB08-1335, Build Excellent Schools To-day, or B.E.S.T., which was passed in August of 2008 and funded from the Colorado Land Trust. B.E.S.T. provides for every school in the state to be assessed for the safety and security of its current facilities, and of-fers grants that schools and districts may apply for to that are deficient. A high priority for the state is to eliminate temporary buildings, or the portable wooden structures that have been a standby of overcrowded campuses, and which house over half of CCS students.
A CCS Facility Committee has moved quickly to position the school to take advantage of the next round of funding which could provide 88% of the cost of a new school. Fortunately for local citizens, B.E.S.T. funding also requires that the school coordinate with the community to build a multi-purpose campus that will accommodate wider uses. The meeting on March 15 was held to hear what community uses of the facility were most desired.

Citizens happy to respond
One of the first suggestions was that the school should reflect the community’s interests in alternative building materials and employ solar and renewable energy. Teague replied that, after the educational and safety needs of the students, that would be the highest priority. Teague, who will be assisted on the local level by architect, Hisa Ota, gave a Powerpoint presentation of three of the schools he has designed, including the one in Basalt which his four children attended and where his wife was a teacher. All of the schools incorporated a central open-space area with classrooms surrounding, and features that were particularly exciting to students like “towers” and “caves.”
Other features that the community requested were a large gymnasium-type room where students could exercise and the community could gather for concerts, dances, and large meetings. A commercial kitchen was discussed and Neighbors Helping Neighbors representatives said they would like a place to prepare and serve large community meals. A parent suggested that a kitchen could offer opportunities for children to explore cooking, and that nutrition and food preparation should be part of the curriculum.
Tom Dessain made the case for a stage and venue for musical events. This generated requests for good acoustics and lighting, and a space for art exhibitions. Some citizens wanted access to exercise equipment in the times when students were not using the space.
An area for an expanded community library was a priority for several, and possibly archives for special book collections. A number of people spoke of using the space for different age groups, including pre-schoolers and seniors, and stressed integrating the school and the community.
Outside spaces were addressed as well. Tilopa requested an amphitheater for outside performances, and Natasha said that older kids need more exercise and an opportunity to play competitive sports, such as soccer. Others reinforced the need for outdoor play spaces, and perhaps at least a little bit of grass.
Robert Philleo said that one of his pet peeves is parking lots, and suggested parking among the trees. Nathan Good, who grew up in alternative schools, suggested keeping cars away from the immediate area.
Steve Storm brought up the issue of using local labor, and heads nodded around the room. Storm pointed out that there are many highly qualified builders in the area that need work.

Financial realities
But all of this is contingent upon CCS being able to secure the B.E.S.T. grant and provide the required 12% match. Bill Roberts, Chair of the CCS Governing Council provided some of the facts.
CCS is looking at an estimated total cost of around $4,000,000. If the project doesn’t grow substantially because of the community’s requests, 12% of that would be roughly $500,000. Director Brady said that there are still a number of unknowns at this point, such as whether in-kind labor, materials, or land can reduce that amount. The best thinking at this point is that the district would ask voters to approve a bond to provide the match. As the district has other needs as well, it might be appropriate to include the Charter School’s needs in a larger bond for the entire district.
Asked about the CCS’s bonding needs, alone, Roberts said that a bonding company had given a rough estimate of around $12 per $100,000 of assessed valuation to raise the half-million required as a match. However, he stressed, all estimates are tentative at this point.
At the Moffat District Board of Education meeting on March 23, the board agreed to support a bond. This allows CCS to submit a statement of willingness to bond with their application, even though the details of the bond will not be worked out for a few more months. This should significantly enhance the chances of getting the grant.
A location has not been firmly decided upon, but CCS has a couple of options. The preferred location, and the one talked about at the meeting, is a parcel located between Crestone and the Baca, which is owned by Robert Philleo. The town of Crestone is considering acquiring this land through a DOLA grant, annexing it, and giving CCS a long-term lease. Ralph Abrams, Crestone Mayor, said he “would be happy to have the school positioned between the town and the Baca where kids can walk instead of being driven.”
This parcel has been considered for a community center in the past, but at that time suitable access could not be agreed upon. Water has also been an issue in the past, but this parcel could now be served by Crestone’s new water and sewer system.
The big job now, but one the audience felt was do-able, is to inform the voters of the Moffat School District of the advantages of this school and community center to our children, and indeed, to all of our citizens. A second community meeting is planned for April 18 (time and place to be announced) to present the architect’s tentative plan and get further input. The next step would be to complete the grant application, and if it is approved, contingent upon the successful passage of the bond, we may indeed, at long last, have both a school and a community center.
BLM defers oil & gas leasing in the San Luis Valley - April, 2009

The Crestone Eagle, April 2009:

by Ceal Smith
Public lands in the San Luis Valley will not be auctioned off for oil and gas development in the May 14 Bureau of Land Manage-ment (BLM) lease sale. Since last fall over 30,000 acres between Villa Grove and Crestone, in Saguache County have been under consider-ation for leasing. After months of careful evaluation, the BLM deter-mined that additional analysis and updating of its 18-year old Manage-ment Plan was needed before leas-ing could proceed. The San Luis Valley Water Protection Coalition and San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council have been working with local land man-agers to evaluate concerns over the risks of drilling in the Closed Basin to aquifer, wildlife and cultural re-sources since news of the possible lease sale broke last year. All par-ties agreed that significant deci-sions and discoveries have been made since the BLM Management Plan was completed in 1991. New findings on the historic Old Span-ish Trail and legal decisions on wa-ter resources (including completion of Division 3 Rio Grande Decision Support System) will need to be fully considered. The BLM manages over 500,000 acres of public lands in the San Luis Valley and oversees oil and gas leasing for these and Rio Grande National Forest lands. A year ago the BLM attempted to lease over 145,500 acres of the Rio Grande National Forest and 1,876 acres of BLM lands near Crestone. In response to an overwhelming public response, almost 100 formal letters of protest (including from Valley county commissioners, mu-nicipalities, citizens and organiza-tions) and urging from Congress members Ken and John Salazar and the Rio Grande Forest Service, all but the 3 BLM parcels near Cre-stone were deferred. The Town of Crestone is currently appealing the BLM denial of their protest on the three parcels near the town.