Michael S. Carolan - The Food Sharing Revolution: How Start-Ups, Pop-Ups, and Co-Ops are Changing the Way We Eat

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Copyright 2018 Michael S. Carolan

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Keywords: collaborative consumption, platform cooperativism, food sovereignty, food justice, co-op, community supported agriculture (CSA), agribusiness, sustainable agriculture, Uber, Airbnb.

Airports are curious places. People coming and going, nameless faces attached to rushing bodiesrushing, often, so they can be among the first to wait. I was having one of these waits recently at Denver International Airport when I heard my name and felt a hand placed on my arm. I turned, saw a thin arm, and followed it down to a bony wrist, out of which sprang bluish veins beneath papery skin. I looked up and recognized the face that peered back at me. It belonged to someone whom I had interviewed for this book. The manuscript had been written, at least a first draft, so I was able to outline its contents while we waited together, making sure to repeatedly thank her for her earlier willingness to be interviewed.

Most of what I know, I know because people have been incredibly generous with their time. As I like to tell people, I earned my real degree interviewing people, after getting my PhD.

I wish I could express personally my gratitude, punctuated with a handshake or hug, to everyone who gave to this project. Thanks to everyone who donated their time to be interviewed for The Food Sharing Revolution. Time is precious; I realize that. I hope I have respected that gift by accurately recounting your stories.

I owe no less gratitude to Emily Turner. I continue to learn by the grace of your experience and writing wisdom.

Who I am, and why Im interested in food, can be traced directly to my parents and to my very small town (350 people strong!) upbringing. Food and agriculture are issues that have been deeply personal for me for as long as I can remember. Mom and Dad: thanks for that.

Nora, Elena, and Joey. For you, this project meant numerous nights away from Dad and days of Mom having to do the parenting of two. This is really one of those situations where words of thanks just dont do justice. So: thanks. And also: sorry, as I realize I cant give you those lost hours back. I might have been away, but you were always with me.

I also want to thank the following institutions and professional networks that supported this project in their own unique ways: Colorado State University (United States); Korea University (Korea); the Australasian Agri-Food Research Network; Otago University (New Zealand); the University of Auckland (New Zealand), the University of Toronto (Canada), and the Toronto Food Policy Council (Canada).

Parts of this project were supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (grant number COL00725) and by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2016S1A3A2924243).

You know its hot when you can see it. Standing alongside a field just off Route 2 in Massachusetts, I was mesmerized by the heat rising off the road, blurring the horizon far in the distance. The bright midday sun beat down on the top of my head. The thermometer in my rental, a midsize whose air-conditioning made more noise than cold air, read 103.

I was driving to meet Josh, a first-generation dairy farmer on his thousand-plus acres of land. We almost had to cancel because of the heat. Not because Josh was cowed by the triple-digit weather but because one of his giant barn fansa lifesaver on hot daysneeded immediate attention. He managed to get the fan fixed in short order, telling me something about how it needed a new belt. Fortunately, he had plenty in reserve.

I wanted to connect with Josh because his enterprise is an anomaly compared with others in the state. Hes in his early fortiesa young pup in a profession with an average age approaching sixty. And when we talked, he had roughly five years of experience under his belt. The percentage of farms in the United States operated by individuals who have been in the profession less than a decade has been in decline for decades. The figure is now around 20 percent, down from close to 40 percent in 1982.

Josh remarked at one point during our interview, with a tone that sounded both incredulous and profoundly sad, Within another ten years the average farmer is going to be eligible for MedicareMedicare. Josh mentioned land prices repeatedly as he tried to explain why hes the exception and not the rule. In Massachusetts, farmland sells for an average of $10,400 per acre. In its push to support new farmers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture lends them up to $300,000 to get started, sufficient for a couple dozen acres of land or a new tractor. Its not nearly enough, Josh flatly told me.

Josh was lucky, by his own admission, and grateful. While he was telling me how he made it, his face lit up with an ear-to-ear grin, bright even in the blazing sun. Josh doesnt own his land, his seeds, or even all of his equipment. And the cows: not his, either. His business model rests on a mix of sharing and cooperative arrangements. Propertys a burden, he explained, adding, Through sharing, I have more control over my life and business. This remarkable statement, which stands opposed to principles that lie at the core of American democracy, got me thinking.