The Center for an Agricultural Economy (CAE) held a party Saturday, drawing a wide variety of people from the area to visit three of its facilities and learn more about the organization.
The CAE not only works with farmers who grow vegetables and process meat, but also with the consumers of those products that include schools and hospitals, but also individuals through community programs such as the Hardwick Farmers Market, the Atkins Field Community Garden and a Place-Based Education program in partnership with Orleans Southwest Supervisory Union (OSSU).
It’s amazing to see how the CAE, that I remember as just the seed of an idea, has grown. The idea that germinated when the CAE was founded 20 years ago continues to grow and thrive, while giving off energy that is nourishing the local food economy in ways that likely weren’t even envisioned then. But it’s not just the economy, the entire community is learning a successful economy isn’t always about the lowest cost option.
Twenty years ago, who would have thought OSSU school lunches would include local beef products? Then, schools were almost certainly purchasing meat products from wholesalers and not concerned about the details of where they came from. That’s just one part of the local food system supported by the Farm Connex program that helps farmers transport products to consumers.
The open house Saturday afternoon made me acutely aware of another thing that might be lost amid what we can now see. During the Covid-19 pandemic and during the past two years of severe floods in Hardwick, the town, the CAE, Jasper Hill Farm, all the partners that funded the new Food Hub and the contractors building it, took the facility from an idea and successfully revived the historic yellow barn, adding the new Food Hub next door.
The pandemic helped make us aware of the need to look for solutions close to home and the floods reinforced that too. While area towns hope for federal assistance through FEMA and the USDA and the state, they have had to rely on their own cash reserves or apply for loans to rebuild damaged infrastructure.
Not everyone likes the look of the new building, especially coming from Morrisvile, but it’s undeniable that it is a significant addition to Hardwick’s landscape, built at a time when other towns were struggling to maintain what they already had. We should congratulate ourselves that a town of roughly 3,000 people has the wherewithal to see such a project to completion.
Hardwick has managed to rebuild damaged roads and a staggering number of bridges for a relatively small town at the same time they oversaw the new Food Hub building in which the CAE will become a tenant.
While we often talk about building resilience, resilience doesn’t just happen. It’s clear that we have already built a huge amount of it.
Paul Fixx, editor
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
