Karla Chambers, co-owner of Stahlbush Island Farms and past Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Director, gave the keynote address this morning to a packed house at the Local Food Connection in Eugene, Oregon. The address focused on the Economics of Local Food. Chambers says that there is one thing that everyone can do tomorrow to help boost the economy and create new jobs: buy local products made in the U.S.A. Every dollar spent has a three to four multiplier effect.
“When you purchase Stahlbush blueberries, you’re also supporting all the businesses that I need to deliver my product. I need seed, farm managers, shipping, dry storage, food scientists, plant managers, accountants, mechanics, machinery etc. ” said Chambers.
By buying food grown and processed in the USA, consumers are not only supporting the individual product but also all of the associated companies that went into making it.
Chambers also introduced the notion of frozen is fresher.
“I’m guessing that not a lot of us out here today are harvesting blueberries right now,” joked Chambers
Food shipped in from Vietnam, Chile, Argentina, and Mexico has to make over a 15-day road trip to arrive ripe in grocery stores says Chambers.
“My food couldn’t survive that road trip.”
Stahlbush harvests their products, like blueberries, at peak ripeness and freezes them within hours. Chambers says that when food is ripened on the vine, it gets all of its nutrients, solids, flavor, and antioxidants.
Chambers also touched on our dependence on foreign oil and the need to become energy independent and secure our national food supply. She ended with the simple message that in the United States, our sustainability as an economy will be heavily influenced by our energy independence and food security over the next 20 to 30 years.
