New Resources Online Help Oklahomans Find Farmers and Farm-Fresh Foods

You know your doctor. You know your dentist. But do you know your farmer?

Agriculture is an $8 billion a year industry in the state, but as Oklahoma has become more urban, the personal connection that many Oklahomans once had to the land and to the farm has been broken.

Three new online resources from the Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture in Poteau are designed to restore that connection.

“We want to make it easy to “find a farmer” and find fresh, locally-grown foods,” says Maura McDermott, spokeswoman for the center.

The Oklahoma Food Connection is an online food directory where consumers can locate farms who sell directly to the public. The Oklahoma Farmers’ Speakers Bureau is a list of farmers available to speak at schools or willing to show schoolkids around their farms. Closer to Home is a centennial report that profiles innovative farmers in the state and tells readers how to connect with them.

All are available free on the Kerr Center website, www.kerrcenter.com.

The Oklahoma Food Connection lists farms by county. Each entry also includes the nearest town, the name of the farmer and contact information, the crops grown on the farm, and whether or not it is an organic farm.

The directory also lists farms that have web pages and includes information about Oklahoma's farmers' markets.

Section two is a catalog of crops from A-Z. The 80 item list includes fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy, eggs, herbs, honey, mushrooms, jams/jellies and grains such as wheat and products made from wheat.

Under each crop are the farms that grow it. Also included in this section is a harvest calendar of fruits and vegetables grown in Oklahoma.

The directory is the first of its kind in Oklahoma and the most extensive, says McDermott. Farms are listed free and farmers can update their information online.

The Oklahoma Farmers’ Speakers Bureau is also the first such entity in the state, says Doug Walton of the center, who organized the bureau. Thirty-five farmers, from all across Oklahoma, are listed along with contact information.

Many of the farmer-speakers grow fruits and vegetables; some have dairy cows, or chickens and eggs. One is a mushroom farm.

“Small farms in Oklahoma grow a surprising variety of produce,” says Walton, who is also president of the Muskogee farmers’ market.

He points out that The Oklahoma Food Connection not only lists many farms that grow common summer fare such as watermelons, tomatoes and hot peppers, but includes those who grow harder-to-find crops such as blueberries, Brussels sprouts, plums and pears, to name just a few.

The third resource available online to read or download is Closer to Home: Healthier Food, Farms and Families in Oklahoma.

This just-published book explores how Oklahoma agriculture is changing and talks to the innovative farmers driving that change—new, young farmers selling fresh produce in their communities as well as seasoned farmers and ranchers trying new crops and new markets “closer to home.”

Farm-based businesses creating food products are also covered.

The book is made up of 25 magazine-style articles. Alongside each profile is an “issue piece.” For example, along with a profile of Peach Crest Farms in Stratford is an exploration of the moneymaking potential of local markets.

“We wanted to highlight the many positive efforts being made to reconnect Oklahomans of all income levels with nutritious, farm-fresh foods,” says McDermott, who edited the report, which was funded by the USDA’s Community Foods Program.

The Kerr Center is a non-profit educational foundation created in 1965 by the family of Oklahoma senator Robert S. Kerr. The center works with farmers as well as consumer groups.

For more information visit www.kerrcenter.com or call 918.647.9123.