A goal is a dream with a deadline.
Now we need to make a plan!
In my last post, I shared my small but massive goal of redirecting 1% of the $40B annual food system expenditure in Dallas-Fort Worth, TX, into a local food system.
When I proposed this last week, I did not have a specific plan or methodology in mind for how this would be accomplished. I simply, and somewhat idealistically, stated that I felt it was possible and that I had seen evidence of shifts in the general public and restaurant industry that supported such a grandiose concept.
I received some significant pushback to this idea. Several people that I have spoken to in the last week and a half have been less than positive about the feasibility of my idea. I have received responses that range from “mildly disbelieving” to outright ridicule and even animosity at my “childish idealism”. Especially when I was questioned on my “plan” to accomplish this, and my explanation was deemed unsatisfying.
Full disclosure — I currently have NO IDEA how I am going to accomplish this goal.
I am not afraid to say this part out loud, and I am not afraid to say that I do not have a plan in mind yet. As I explained to one person, I feel as though I am reaching my hands into the dark while wearing a blindfold. I cannot see what is in front of me, but I know that there is something there. I can feel it. I can’t quite identify the pieces yet, and I don’t fully understand how things fit together or even relate to each other. But, I am sure that the answer is there in front of me. I just need to figure out the pieces.
So that is what I am going to endeavor to do next. I want to talk to more people - farmers, food pantry managers, Chefs, farmers market patrons, City officials, doctors, and really anyone who is involved with any aspect of the Food System. I want to learn about the pieces and what others are doing to address the problems (or parts of problems) that they can see. Perhaps then we can work together to develop solutions that can be actionable and scalable across many communities in this country.
So now comes the first hard part. I have to figure out exactly what I mean with my goal. Who do I want to help? And in what way? How am I going to try to achieve this? And how are we going to be able to measure the impact of these efforts?
These are the questions that I need to work on and come up with some better answers. Because, right now, I am very idealistic and all I have is a dream. Years ago, I had this quote from Napoleon Hill on the wall of my classroom. I would always tell my students that dreams were necessary, but what made them important was the plan behind them. The steps that could be taken to walk the path from where you are today to where you want to be down the line.
Well, I know where I want to be in the future. I want to shift 1% of our $40B expenditure to local farmers. But, I need to build the path. To do that, I need to more clearly define my goal:
I want the value of local farm production (vegetable, fruit, protein, and dairy) to account for 1% of the total annual food expenditure in the DFW metroplex.
I do not have a deadline, because I believe that first I need to find a way to determine the current level of production, and the annual value of it.
So that is my first step. We need to create an atlas of all local food producers in the DFW area that sell produce into the marketplace in any way. In order to determine how to best grow the food system, and to provide needed assistance, we must first be able to define the problem and the challenges ahead of us.
If anyone reading this wants to help me with this project, or to start a similar in their own area. Please leave a comment or send me a message directly. This is going to be one hell of a marathon, but I am ready for it. I have my mission — I want to help grow the local food system by literally growing farmers. Helping existing farmers do more, and helping beginning farmers reach markets and thrive.
To that end, any farmers or those wanting to farm, reading this, are invited to my monthly Innovative Farmer Mastermind group. The goal of this monthly Mastermind meeting is to provide value, information, and most importantly, support for the challenges facing all of us as producers. We need to constantly do more with less, and in less time.
Why am I doing this? Well, I have had several small farms, and like most farmers, we did things every way possible EXCEPT the easiest and most effective manner. So I have some experience in trying to do things by my bootstraps, and with zero budget. I have some tools that I have gathered, and many ideas that I would happily share. I also want to provide a type of space where we, as farmers, can work with each other to build up a community that raises all boats on the rising tide — where we make the pie bigger for each of us, rather than fighting for an ever smaller share of what exists today.
Please feel free to share this invite with anyone and everyone that you think would be interested, whether they are in the DFW / NTX area or not. We are all farmers, and we can all work together to help each other.