Weather Channel Crew Visits To Highlight Local Food Efforts

By Debra McCown
Reporter / Bristol Herald Courier
Published: July 23, 2008

ABINGDON, Va. – Efforts to promote and market local food in Southwest Virginia are gaining national attention.

The Weather Channel was here Tuesday to film for a segment on Forecast Earth, a weekend program that focuses on issues of climate change, the environment and green living.

Natalie Allen, anchor for the show, said the processes by which we get our food also affects climate change.

“The Weather Channel sees coverage of climate and environmental issues as an extension of what it does and what it should do,” Allen said. “A lot of the feedback we get is people want to live their lives more green and want to be better stewards of the planet, but they don’t know how.”

She said the show is an effort to show people how, and one way is through consuming locally grown produce that runs up fewer “food miles” or the distance food is transported to reach the consumer.

She learned about the success of local food efforts here from “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle,” a book written by local author Barbara Kingsolver and her family.

“I think a few years ago, local farmers were thinking of giving it up ... and now, all of a sudden, they’re in demand,” Allen said after seeing the new Appalachian Harvest packing facility in Duffield, Va., and other local food landmarks.

“They [people in the region] are apparently buying so many local vegetables, the farms can’t keep up with the demand. ... They want to support and buy and eat what’s homegrown.”

The show focusing on Southwest Virginia is scheduled to air at 5 p.m., 7 p.m., 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. on Aug. 23 and Aug. 24.

Anthony Flaccavento, executive director of Appalachian Sustainable Development, said the Weather Channel crew was particularly excited that local food is finding its way into grocery stores.

He said buying local organic food helps fight climate change in two ways.

First, organic farming processes help the soil to soak up carbon, removing it from the atmosphere “like a sponge,” Flaccavento said.

Second, it saves the fossil fuel that would otherwise be used to transport food from hundreds or even thousands of miles away.

Flaccavento said when shipped across the country in a full tractor-trailer, food comes to the consumer at a rate of about 100 pounds per gallon of diesel fuel.

By contrast, food purchased at a local farmers market arrives at a rate of about 500 pounds per gallon.

“It was a pretty steady five-fold difference, which is major,” Flaccavento said.

The popularity of the farmers market and creation of an organization that markets local products to grocery stores is generating much more economic opportunity for farmers and local food and craft vendors, he said.

“I think it’s a deep trend. I don’t think it’s a fad,” Flaccavento said of the growing demand for locally produced food.

“Fuel prices are high and will stay high and will get higher, and ... people are more health conscious. I think it’s going to change the way we live.”

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