(Posted 7-17-00)
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News Service Contact: Laurie Gengenbach, 336-334-5371

UNCG ANTHROPOLOGIST HELPING N.C. FARMERS

GREENSBORO — In tobacco country, conventional wisdom holds that no food crop can compete with the golden leaf in per-acre profits

Dr. Susan Andreatta, at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro begs to differ.

"I can name probably a dozen diversified, organic farms in North Carolina who are grossing $20,000 an acre," she said. "If you’re good, that’s what you should be doing."

By using traditional, time-honored farming practices, and keeping close tabs on their markets, these growers are able to hold on to the family farm and a cherished, though imperiled, way of life.

As an applied cultural anthropologist, Andreatta sees agriculture as first and foremost, culture. She’s passionate about preserving this piece of America’s rural cultural heritage -- a heritage tied to earth, seasons, climate – and, most importantly, to commerce. Key to preserving this culture, she says, is to find new ways for farmers to make a reasonable living. The answer may not lie in a different row crop, but  instead in direct marketing of specialty crops geared toward the burgeoning demand for organic products, she says.

Supported by a $45,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Andreatta will spend the next year working with the Guilford County Cooperative Extension Service to develop a two-pronged education campaign aimed at growers and consumers. Growers are hungry for information about consumer preferences so they can tailor their plantings accordingly, she says. Consumers, meanwhile, should understand the process behind getting quality, local produce on their tables.

Early this summer, Andreatta and her students spent five Saturdays surveying consumers at the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market, a direct market for local small-scale local growers. Among the questions asked were: How often do you come? How far are you willing to travel? How much more, if anything, are you willing to pay for fresher produce?

Andreatta also conducts farm visits and plans to form focus groups to ask growers other questions: Do you have enough outlets? Do you want to stay small, or expand? How do you rate your quality of life?

With the information, Andreatta will design separate outreach programs to educate consumers about farming, and farmers about consumer preferences.

 "When people want cheap food, part of that is not respecting what farmers do," she said. "There’s a huge disconnect between what consumers know about farming and their food. One thing they don’t know is the hidden costs of food."

Given the uncertain future of the cigarette industry, tobacco farmers are particularly eager to learn new growing strategies because many of them have little experience with other crops and desperately want to remain in farming.

U.S. Census data show numbers of farms in North Carolina have dwindled from 59,284 in 1987 to 49,406 in 1997. Meanwhile, the average farm size continues to rise as corporate agribusiness replaces the family farm.
"What’s happening is young people have little incentive to stay in farming," Andreatta said. "They see their parents working real hard, making only so much money, and on the other hand, they know they can sell 500 acres to a developer and become millionaires overnight. But others, who have soil in their blood, are fighting to hang on."

Andreatta’s project grew out of earlier work funded by a $3,000 UNCG Research Excellence Grant on community supported agriculture, a program in which consumers pre-pay a farmer for produce, thus sharing the risks of a bad season, or reaping the rewards of a bountiful harvest. That study revealed that growers who combine direct marketing with community supported agriculture can, and do, make a living, and that consumers were satisfied with the program.

Andreatta joined the faculty of UNCG in 1997 and is author of several journal papers, presentations and reviews. She received her Ph.D. from Michigan State University.

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