CSE's Publications

Fresh, Organic and Native Foods of the Four Corners
A Directory of Eco-Regional Food Sustainability

Over 150 local food growers, ranchers, and organizations from the Four Corners region are listed in Fresh, Organic and Native Foods of the Four Corners: A Directory of Eco-Regional Food Sustainability. The third edition, published in October 2003, is now available.

What are Sustainable Food Production Practices?
Ideally, a strategy for food production is considered to advance sustainability when it restores or hardly depletes the local water supplies, soil fertility, biodiversity and human communities which support it. Unfortunately, there is no single indicator or metric that confirms or rejects a farmer or rancher’s contention that their practices are sustainable. “Sustainability” does not merely suggest that organic practices are being utilized, although it may include them in cases. It may also include grass-fed livestock production if vegetation cover and wildlife populations are enhanced by grazing rotations. Someone may claim to be sustainable because they have adapted holistic grazing or biodynamic practices, but if you go to their land and see aggravated erosion, do not purely trust the labels. One reason we promote the purchasing of local and regional foods is so consumers can personally evaluate how their food is grown as well as witness its impact on the land.

In the latest, updated directory that follows, we have requested that food producers “self-declare” what elements of their food production system advance sustainability. For example, the use of heirloom or native crop seeds may help conserve genetic diversity; the use of solar pumps for irrigation may slow the depletion of fossil fuel reserves.

Our hope is that each food producer’s portfolio of sustainable practices will grow through time, particularly if discerning consumers reward those who incrementally implement the most comprehensive approaches to sustainability. Read the “self-declarations” at the end of several of the listings, and then request a tour of their fields, orchards, or pastures. Get to know where your food truly comes from.

Gary Paul Nabhan, Ph.D.
Director, Center for Sustainable Environments

Add/Change Your Listing

Until we have funds to reprint this directory, we regret to say that we will not be able to mail any more out. Check back here for updates to the online database and information on reprinted directories.
 

This directory is a collaborative project of the Center for Sustainable Environments at Northern Arizona University, Southwest Marketing Network, Wolfberry Farm of Prescott College, and the Alta-Arizona Convivium of Slow Foods.

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