French tell Kentuckians how to add value to crops
March 6, 2002 - The Lexington Herald-Leader
PARIS—Imagine the Kentucky State Fair in the middle of Lexington.
That was the scene in Paris last week at the Salon de l’Agriculture, also known as “The Biggest Farm in France.”
For much of the week a delegation from Kentucky—or “ken-too-KEE,” as the French like to say—has been on a whirlwind tour at the salon and in Dijon learning about French agricultural practices and how they can help the changing landscape faced by farmers in Kentucky.
The delegation—people from the University of Kentucky and other agriculture professionals—was eager to understand what makes French farms tick. The Kentuckians spent the week exchanging ideas with the French.
“Our two cultures are at opposite ends of the (farming) spectrum,” said Michael Reed, director of international programs for agriculture at UK. The French farmers are trying to learn how to maintain quality while increasing production, whereas U.S. farmers are attempting to increase quality and maintain production. Reed spoke of the French ability to “brand” a product from the farm to the supper table, whereas U.S. agriculture excels at mass production.
“Our regions and goals are very similar between Kentucky and France,” said Charles Miller, tobacco farmer, chairman of the Kentucky Beef Network, and past president of the Kentucky Cattlemen’s Association. “But people in France are far ahead in adding the value of the farm to their products.”
With this knowledge, Miller hopes Kentucky farmers will be better able to diversify their crops.
“Customers in the U.S. are also taking a more romantic interest in food,” said Curtis Absher, assistant director of the extension for agriculture and natural resources at UK. The delegation has been learning how to extend this feeling beyond the supermarket shelves and out to the farms.
Tobacco farmers have been a high priority for the delegation. As Kentucky’s growers move away from their traditional cash crop, the delegation is finding out how France makes it work for their farmers. “We can’t depend on tobacco anymore,” Absher said.
Bonnie Tanner, assistant director for family and consumer sciences at UK, brings up French farmers’ markets as an example of how the French draw the connection of the product from the farm to the table. Her eyes light up when she speaks about the markets, and their seemingly endless display of food.
“Consumers like the farmers’ markets and having the connection with the people who raise their food,” she said. At the farmers’ markets in Paris, the person selling apples is likely to be the apple grower, and the region where the product is raised is almost always known.
“The food from Burgundy (where the delegation spent the weekend) gets recognized all the way from the farm to the consumer,” added Absher, “and we can learn a lot from that.”
The French simply take it as fact that the best beef comes from Burgundy’s Charolais cattle, the best chicken comes from Bresse, and so on. Each of the hundreds of cheeses comes from a particular region, and the best wine to go with a cheese often comes from a neighboring vineyard.
“We haven’t listened to the consumer as well as the French farmer,” Tanner said “We’re here to learn new ideas on how to market our products, even learn about new crops, and to listen to their farmers.”
Joe Ray is a freelance writer in Paris. He can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
