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New Web site helps chefs and shoppers find locally grown foods

August 16, 2007

Mary Childress - Charleston Daily Mail

Fairlea, WV - For restaurant chefs and fresh food shoppers in West Virginia, there's a new way to get more homegrown goods into the kitchen.

For farmers, it's a way to sell more fruit and vegetables to consumers.

The Web site www.wvfarm2u.org just got up and running today.

Created by the non-profit group Collaborative for the 21st Century Appalachia, the Web site is intended to help people all over the state find farmers' markets, roadside stands and grocery stores in each county that carry locally grown produce, as well as restaurants that have menus filled with such foods.

But in order for it to work, farmers who have produce to sell and chefs who need the produce to create special signature recipes all have to register on the site.

It's free anyone who wants to participate. Just register and plug in the information about your farm products.

Officials with the non-profit group say they created the Web site to help build a market for West Virginia's agricultural products and to link farmers to chefs some of the biggest buyers and to the general public.

"We want to preserve the Appalachian culture, particularly around community food activities like making homemade products such as apple butter, molasses...where the community got together just to enjoy food," said Allen Arnold, director and founder of the Collaborative for the 21st Century Appalachia.

The grassroots group was formed in 2005 to encourage a new way of Appalachian cooking, specifically a healthier one that still uses traditional and local ingredients, such as morel mushrooms, ramps and fresh, farm-raised meat.

The organization wants its efforts also to spur community and economic development.

Since West Virginia farms are small in size 50 percent are less than 100 acres many farmers need help getting their goods to consumers and to the table.

"We also see this as a way to help our small farm families survive and thrive," he said. "West Virginia farmers are eager to hear that market demand already exists for specialty crops at premium prices such as fresh herbs, game and farm-raised fish."

Once data starts filtering in, the new Web site will help establish a dependable supply of farm products with consistent quality, quantity and reliable delivery, Arnold said.

Right now, though, the site is a clean slate, kind of like an empty library waiting for the first shipment of books to get on its shelves.

"In order for this Web site to work, farmers in the community and towns in West Virginia have to register, then input the data requested, such as where they are, what they sell, etc., while chefs must do the same," Arnold said. "It won't work at all if these two (groups) don't register on the Web site."

Funds from the Claude Benedum Foundation and grants from the West Virginia Department of Agriculture have helped pay for the formation of the site.

The group has already sponsored two promotional events cast-iron cookoffs that required chefs to cook using those implements and ingredients found in West Virginia to create new recipes.

The group's other initiatives focus on attracting tourists to restaurants that use West Virginia products and to county fairs and other events where Appalachian traditions and foods are showcased.

Arnold said the projects are aimed at showing the entire country that West Virginia has places, restaurants and more that are worth the drive to visit.

"We have stories to tell about our rich culture that's built around food. Now we can buy direct from the farmer, sustain the earth and eat healthier in the process," Arnold said.

He said the Web site could evolve to be a "one-stop shop" for everybody.

"It will allow West Virginians to get to the farmers," Arnold said. "It's dynamic, it's continuous and it's always current because the farmers have an opportunity to keep it current.

"Our organization wants the site to be a very powerful vehicle for growing the agriculture economy in the state," he said.

Arnold said he believes the Web site is the first in the nation that will attempt to directly connect farmers and restaurant chefs.

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