Katzengrüne Krabben
Diane, As a former paciirtpant in the ETFT, I'm disappointed in the direction the tour is taking. It is not farms from the eastern triangle they are adding to the tour, rather, new farms that would make the Piedmont tour more crowded. This tour is growing into the Piedmont and not into the east. We are 20 minutes south of Raleigh, and our tour numbers haven't changed in 3 years. Promotion of the event is terrible, thanks to Whole Foods' inaction and lack of imagination. That is why we dropped out of the tour. I don't think highlighting wealthy people who relocate from NYC to farm and take a vow of poverty all while dipping into a gigantic nest egg of money isn't any way to promote sustainable agriculture. Rather, it just highlights the age old question, how do you make a million dollars farming? Start with 2 million. All this feel good, self serving agritourism is a real shame when people like me are working hard to farm and raise a family. Too many foodies are busy ooohing and ahhing over some rich persons goat farm or trendy farm to table restaurant and not paying attention to the hard work and skill that goes into growing real food and the associated costs that go along with it. Until some people wake up, and CFSA wakes up, we will not participate in the tour. Fair weather foodies are the worst thing for sustainable ag. Tom Kumpf