By Hillary Gavan
For StatelineBusiness

BELOIT -- Agriculture's broken, according to Ron Doetch, executive director of the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute.

If state agricultural clusters such as Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois, don't band together and create regional and sustainable food systems, global food companies will take over. Having global food conglomerates in control, Doetch said, results in lower grain quality, less profitability and negative impacts on the environment.

"Global food companies are poison ready to take over authentic regional food systems," Doetch said.

Doetch spoke about achieving sustainable agriculture at Vision Beloit on March 13. The discussion was part of the City Seminar Series, hosted by Vision Beloit and the Beloit College Department of Economics.

Doetch said the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute strives to revitalize farming through research, education, technical assistance and public policy. Through education and research, the Michael Fields Institute seeks to help both urban and rural populations meet common problems. Doetch defined sustainable agriculture as being economically, environmentally and socially responsible.

One way to improve agriculture is nesting strategies. Because different regions in the three states produce different products, such as cabbage, cranberries and potatoes, farmers have to somehow band together in networks so the food can remain circulating in the region.

Currently only 2 to 3 percent of food is produced and consumed within the region. Doetch hopes that number will grow to 10 percent of food being consumed within the region.

The danger of importing food from far away is that it becomes anonymous. The further food is shipped, the more preservatives will have to be added to it to maintain freshness. When global food conglomerates have control of food production, the food is often infused with more corn syrup, Monosodium glutamate (MSG), and other additives to preserve the it and drive down the costs of storing, processing and transporting it.

One of the challenges to local food production is logistics. A chef, for example, told Doetch that it takes food from five counties to make a meal. It's simply too costly for restaurants to only use food within 30 miles from them.

Other barriers to local production include state lines and the inability of local suppliers and food processors to connect with each other. It's usually easier, for example, for a food processing company to call for carrots out of California as opposed to getting smaller amounts of them from nearby.

Doetch encourages farmers to start growing some vegetables in addition to their corn and soybeans. The problem is that farmers are so swamped with work and the usual challenges that they have little time to market their vegetables to buyers. That's why Doetch suggests forming businesses and networks that take care of the marketing and selling of vegetables for local farmers.

The good news is that there are many opportunities for small businesses to get involved with local food production. With increasing technology, foods can bare labels tracking which farm they were produced on and how far they traveled.

Doetch said he's often considered a career running a van on a route to pick up produce from local farmers and deliver it to restaurants.

Grocery stores can offer catering services and earn high profits on selling produce, salads and prepared foods from local farmers.

Doetch has years of experience in food technology. He has worked with the food division of Itochu, a large Japanese trading company, for the past eight years designing origination programs to connect the Japanese consumer to the American farmer. This "expansion" plan involved both organic and commercial grain. 

He has been directly involved in four sustainable agriculture projects since 1996. These efforts have resulted in a significant increase of small grains production in the upper Midwest, mainly hard red winter wheat.

Vision Beloit and the Beloit College Department of Economics are hosting a City Center Seminar Series at Vision Beloit, 500 Public Ave. on the second Thursday of each month. These seminars are free and open to the public.