Sandi Kronick is founder and CEO of Eastern Carolina Organics (ECO), an innovative food hub company that connects medium-scale organic farmers with local and far-flung markets. Located in Durham, NC, ECO is part of a new breed of mission-driven for-profit companies looking to help us eat better within a capitalist framework.
ECO is farmer-owned, and serves as broker, business agent, and storage and delivery department for many small and mid-size organic and sustainable farms in the North Carolina Triangle.
Sandi and I spoke about ECO’s mission, why it’s necessary, and how it helps address some of the problems in our broken food system. We recorded in her office, during a typically busy day for her, so I got right down to business and didn’t go into some of the “what’s your journey” questions that I usually begin with.
- We covered:
- why organic food has been hard to get into supermarkets and onto consumers’ tables
- the benefits of USDA organic certification - and the serious limitations
- the key element of true organic farming: soil fertility
- why not all farms can benefit from farmers’ markets
- the challenges of fitting seasonal growing into mass markets
- corporate vs family farming
- the vital importance of pastoral landscapes to our ecological and mental health
- why sustainability must include relationships as well as agricultural systems
- “the grandkids are growing up on the farm” - how to keep the next generation from moving to the city
- the need to reduce competition and infighting in the organic world
- cabbage and potatoes - and arugula
- key metric: the average age of the farmer
- light commercial processing: the missing economic link for many small farms
and much more…