Urban American Farmer, an organization based in Austin, Texas is working to build a communication network between farmers and consumers. Founder Trisha Bates offers a variety of services focused on food education to help transform urban space into food production sites.
Urban American Farmer hosts farming courses to increase consumer awareness about sustainable food sourcing and growing practices. They also offer consultation on the development of new urban farms to households, restaurants, and organizations.
The inspiration for Urban American Farmer came about eight years ago when Bates began growing food on a quarter acre and selling produce to restaurants. Through her relationships with chefs and other producers, Bates discovered that both groups were using previous growing seasons as guides for their future menus and produce selections. She realized that Austin’s local food system lacked a strong communication network between its different stakeholders.
This led Bates to ask, “What could we grow in the region if we were working together and having these conversations, and planning for the future?” She continues, “that kind of sparked this idea that maybe…our local food system wasn’t fully developed in the ways that it could be.”
She describes how interactions between farmers and buyers are usually brief and transactional.
“There’s not a lot of opportunity for the buyers and the sellers to connect and build those relationships. And because of that, there’s not a lot of understanding about each other’s business,” Bates tells Food Tank. She goes on to say that this can result in “expectations that are unrealistic, or don’t get met on either side.”
Bates seeks to bridge this gap by expanding opportunities for growers, buyers, and consumers to connect in person. Three years ago, she developed the Field Guide Festival—an annual event that engages local farmers and chefs with Austin residents through conversations about cuisine, food trends, and the different ways people can get involved in their local food system.
“If you don’t know your farmer personally, it’s hard to have any faith in your food,” Bates tells Food Tank. “And I think that buyers are going to be much more likely to spend more money and to be more invested in where their food is coming from if they know the people that they’re supporting—the people behind the farm.”
Bates understands that food education is a key component in encouraging relationship building and strengthening the local food system. She argues that common food labels like “organic” and “local” can be misleading for consumers who are not knowledgeable about the qualifications of these labels and their resulting impacts. “Just because it’s [grown] in Texas, does not mean that they’re doing it the right way. You know, it’s a huge production,” Bates explains.
She has taught hospitality workers to farm for three seasons, and has witnessed firsthand how farming can result in a deeper connection to one’s food and appreciation for the work required to produce it.
After completing their farm training, many participants reported a change in mindset about food. They shared that they “waste less,” making sure to use what they can and “compost the rest.”
“If I can educate a chef, then they’re going to go out and educate a whole bunch of other people,” Bates says.
In partnership with the nonprofit organization Sustainable Food Center, Bates is working to get more local food into Austin’s school districts. She describes this relationship as being “super impactful” for her, expressing that it gave her a deeper understanding of what her role is in the local food system.
Bates likens herself to a pollinator: “I pick up information from one place and put it down in another.” She sees her active engagement as a way of aiding in the distribution of resources and helping others achieve their food system goals. Her hope is that more connections will form between producers and buyers, ultimately lending to the expansion of Austin’s local food system.
“What I think about, for the future, is I want more people to know that there’s space for doing this work. And that it doesn’t take a very specific skill set, it just takes the drive to get started.”
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Photo courtesy of Peter F, Unsplash
