Making connections: The processor’s role in keeping food local

In Part 1 and Part 2 of our series on New Jersey’s food system, we examined the loss of federal funding for local food purchasing and the multi-faceted value of community-supported agriculture. In our continued exploration, Part 3 looks at the role of local processors in connecting producers and consumers in the food value chain.

Garden on family farm. Photo credit: Renee Johnston for Public Square Amplified.

Frelinghuysen, NJ – When most people hear the term “food processor,” they picture a small kitchen appliance, but within the food system, a processor is a critical and often unseen link between the producer and the consumer. In the United States, 83 percent of agricultural production lies in the hardworking hands of family farmers and ranchers, but corporate control of the production chain results in those farmers receiving an average of only 15 cents on the retail dollar for their products. Off-farm expenses, i.e., processing, manufacturing, distribution, and wholesale and retail marketing, mean that back on the farm, producers are left without much to put in the coffers or reinvest in their next season’s work. 

Independent, local processors serve to interrupt the corporate food monopoly by offering farmers fairer and more transparent pricing, fostering stronger direct relationships with producers and consumers, strengthening the food economy by keeping more dollars local, and supporting autonomy, freedom of choice, and sovereignty within the food system. Across the country and here in New Jersey, small local processors such as butchers and grain mills are making connections that count, acting as food hubs for local farmers and consumers alike. This trend marks a slow return to local processing as it was before the days of corporatization of the food system. 

Dwindling numbers tell a corporate story

According to the 1900 United States Census, there were over 13,000 flour mills in operation, compared to a scant 338 mills reported in the 2020 census. A handful of large corporations, like General Mills of breakfast cereal fame, control grain milling in the United States, with over 96 percent of the market share going to the top 21 milling companies. Meat processing has seen similar trends; smaller, more regional slaughterhouses and butcheries once ruled the landscape until the rise of the railroad in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was then that larger cities like Chicago became aggregate hubs for larger meat processors. Today, the four largest meat processing companies manage 85 percent of all beef processing, with fewer than 1,000 federally-inspected livestock plants nationwide. 

This didn’t happen overnight

The disappearance of local food processors is directly tied to the corporatization of the national food system, which is a study in the interplay of technology, policy, expanding infrastructure, and consolidation — all to the detriment of the small-scale, local food economy. Following the devastating effects of the Dust Bowl in the 1930s and the industrialization of World War II, agriculture took a decidedly corporate turn in the 1950s and 1960s with the commercial development of new chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides, along with more advanced automation and mechanization. 

In the 1970s, the “Get big or get out” position taken by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and then-Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz, combined with the rise of suburban America, forced small-to-midsize farms out of business, and along with them, the local processors that supported them and furthered the food value chain. As agricultural businesses grew larger, they began to expand their control by edging out other areas of the supply chain, buying up storage, processing, distribution, and transportation assets. 

Infographic: Mandy Coriston for Public Square Amplified

The advent of major supermarket chains and mass market retailers, during which small grocers faced the same force-out as small farmers, meant that every segment of the food supply, from producer to consumer, had been overtaken by corporate dominance and fallen victim to misguided government policies touting that bigger was better, more efficient, more profitable, and more cost-effective. Lax antitrust enforcement in the 1980s further encouraged the growth of these mega-food monopolies. By the mid-1980s, then-President Ronald Reagan’s policies on deregulation intersected with falling commodity prices and predatory lending, leaving many small family farms vulnerable to foreclosure. New Jersey farms alone declined by nearly a third between the 1960s and 1980s before being buoyed by the 1983 creation of the state Farmland Preservation Program, followed by the Jersey Fresh marketing program in 1984. 

Infographic: Mandy Coriston for Public Square Amplified

The paradigm is shifting back 

The return to local food processing is a companion to and a result of the ongoing movement to restore local food sources and local food systems. From the late 1990s into the early 2000s, concerns began to rise over the safety of heavy chemical pesticide usage, leading to growing interest in the organic sector. In 2005, San Francisco chef and author Jessica Prentice coined the term “locavore,” meaning someone who only eats food sourced within 100 miles of their location. While this term has been perceived as a silly fad, its popularity led many to realize what small local farmers and producers have always known — the closer to the source, the more nutritious that food is for the consumer. 

Small producers are tapping into the local food movement with a fierce combination of passion and prudent marketing strategies. Farmers markets in the United States have tripled in number since the 1990s, with New Jersey well ahead of the curve, and models like community-supported agriculture invite consumers to support local growers and producers. In turn, these producers are turning to local processing partners to help them move their goods along the food supply chain or return their processed goods as value-added farm products. One such partner is River Valley Community Grains, based at Marksboro Mills in rural Frelinghuysen, New Jersey, which strives to be a community hub for both farmers and consumers.

Next, Public Square Amplified sits down with miller Larry Mahmarian to discuss what it means to be a local processor trying to disrupt the commercial norms and build relationships amidst an uncertain food system.