~Sir Albert Howard
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO UNR'S MAIN STATION FARM, ANYWAYS?
Does anyone remember three years ago when UNR pushed to rezone the Main Station Field Lab, one of the last remaining irrigated farmlands in the greater Reno area, and a gem of a long-standing farm in the Truckee River floodplains? The co-op and a group of concerned community members fought to keep it from being rezoned, but the university successfully argued that they were only rezoning the farm for it to reflect "the highest and best use" of the land, and not to sell it to developers.
Well, it seems they expected our collective community memory span to last less than three years, because a portion of that iconic and historic farm is up for sale, to commercial developers this time around. It's a 104 acre parcel on sale for
$20 million.
Jerry Snyder, a lawyer and concerned community member, has written an excellent history of the Main Station Field Lab in ThisIsReno, an awesome local news source that publishes in-depth articles about happenings in Northern Nevada.
It's worth a read (seriously, go read it!), as it concisely describes the full history of the land, and lays out exactly how the university is going against the Federal Hatch Act and its own Resolution 81-8 by periodically selling off portions of the farm without benefiting the College of Agriculture.
This particular sale has left Jerry with only one logical conclusion based on the history of the land and University President Marc Johnson's priorities:
"The Board of Regents are now being again asked to go to the Mill Street ATM. This time, rather than sell property for a public purpose, UNR is seeking to sell the 104-acre strip along McCarran to a private developer who will transform the scenic and bucolic agriculture area into strip malls and warehouses."
And all this from the Battle Born State's ONLY Land Grant University. Why do we always have to fight so hard to protect our hardest workers and most important land? Farming is not an economic waste, and farmland is not a means to fund athletic centers - this is nothing less than the basis of our civilization.
Here's a local news report with the university's promise to never sell any more of the farmland. Let's all check back in on this in a few years...
LET'S SAVE THE WORLD!
Many of you have already experienced our new bag policy - instead of giving people a five cent credit for bringing in their own reusable bags, we are now charging five cents for every bag we provide people, including produce and bulk bags. We're so happy to see how many people are adjusting their shopping habits to help us reduce waste, especially plastic waste.
A lot of the news around plastic is depressing - the 250 pieces of plastic PER LIVING HUMAN BEING floating in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, for example. But we're all familiar with such shocking waste, and instead we want to share the really inspiring solutions that creative people are implementing worldwide.
Like The Ocean Cleanup, a group founded by an 18 year old who have used creativity, innovation, and a whole lot of hard work to find real solutions. With their new methods that use ocean currents to concentrate the worst of the waste, they plan on reducing the size of the Great Pacific Garbage patch by 50% (that's HALF!) in five years. That's right, in the time it took some of us to finish high school, this amazing team will remove approximately 40,000 metric tons of plastic from the ocean.
Check out their informative webpage to learn how it's done, and how they're changing the meaning of sustainability and reducing the worst of the damage we have inflicted on our planet.
Meet Thomas - he is one of the amazing people who makes all our delicious prepared foods away from the eyes of the public in our basement kitchen. You might not recognize our basement dwellers, but Thomas is responsible for all the good feelings you get from eating a meal at the co-op, and his enthusiasm for good food is infectious. Just listen to him describe his favorite co-op item, the local braised beef burrito:
"I like the beef burrito because it's a 12 hour braise of local grass-fed beef - it's really saucy and the rice soaks up all the sauce for a great flavor, and the organic cheddar finishes it all perfectly."
We are approaching that time of the year again where members have the opportunity to influence the direction and success of the Coop by becoming a member of the Board Of Directors. To make this happen, we hold an annual election to make this opportunity available to you, our community members.
It would be great if the board membership is representative of the membership population. To that end, women and minorities are encouraged to throw your hat in the ring and run for one of the three board seats that will be up for election this summer. To qualify as a candidate, you must be a member-owner of the coop and you must attend at least one board meeting prior to the election in September. Board meetings are held on the third Monday of every month, at 6PM, at Liberty Food and Wine Exchange on First and Sierra streets in Reno (100 N. Sierra, Reno NV 89501).
It is great to see that your food cooperative is becoming profitable in this very competitive environment where many more players are in the game. One thing that makes us unique is we are the only place that focuses on local organic products from LOCAL farmers and ranchers. These suppliers receive a fair price from the coop which is above any other grocery chain in this business. We are also proud of the fact that we are the only facility that pays our employees a livable wage, $15.00 an hour. The coop is working hard to meet its goals and objectives. Perhaps you have seen the four-year strategic plan. Accomplishing these strategies will only occur with the continued support of you, the member-owners.
One final note, the seedling sale is coming up. Plan on being there early as the seedlings have sold out early the past two years.
Thank you for being a member of the coop. Without your ongoing support, we would not be where we are.
If you have any questions about running for a seat on the board, please email us at , or fill out our board application here.
Earstin Whitten
Board President
A lot of people think we're not afraid to get political at the co-op, but we actually take a lot of care to stay away from discussions that aren't directly affecting food systems or basic human rights. We just end up looking political because there are so many issues regarding food and basic human rights that have become politicized rather than common sense, and to continue feeding people and communities, we have no choice but to take these issues up.
Nothing is more directly tied to BOTH of these issues than the status of farmworkers in America. Many of the Northern Nevada farms we work with are having an increasingly hard time finding farm workers to do the basic work that puts food on our tables. And they aren't alone - New York, California, Texas, in short, most of the country, is experiencing a sharp decline in farm labor.
This is directly due to the low wages (and expectations for cheap food) we pay, the long hours and backbreaking labor we expect (with no overtime), and constant working with dangerous chemicals (and declining worker protections). We rely on immigrants to feed us, and on the whole, Americans are not willing to take on the work ourselves, yet we are quick to break apart families under the false pretense of defending jobs we already are refusing to do. This is not a political issue, no matter how strongly our two main political parties focus on this issue to drive partisanship and anger. This is a human rights issue, this is an issue of protecting families and protecting the humans who feed us, and should bridge any political divide.
Please join us in supporting our nation's immigrant farm workers. You can start by supporting the United Farm Workers, a group supporting the rights of immigrants in America, and by supporting farms you know are supporting fair labor practices.
SEEDLING SALE SAVE THE DATE
EVERYONE IS WELCOME! Open every day from 7:30am-9pm
Our mailing address is:
240 Court St Reno, NV 89501
775.324.6133
info@greatbasinfood.coop
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