UM Alumni Spotlight: Kathryn Barr ’22 – Sustainable Food Systems Initiative

UM Alumni Spotlight: Kathryn Barr ’22

What is your current position?

Local Food Systems Outreach Specialist, The Common Market

The Common Market is a non-profit regional food distributor that operates in four regions across the U.S: The Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Texas, and now the Great Lakes. In the Mid-Atlantic chapter, we work to aggregate product from over 80 family farms from New York to DC. We connect this network of local growers directly to anchor institutions such as public schools, universities, hospitals, health care systems, and community organizations to bridge the gap in terms of food access. Anchor institutions have a lot of purchasing power, and can influence food access in the communities they support. In addition, we create viable market opportunities for growers by providing a promised outlet for their products. We can then help growers scale up their operations, and also support getting GAP certification.

What did you study at University of Michigan? When did you graduate?

Behavioral Education and Communication, SEAS 2022

What sparked your interest in sustainable food systems?

Oh, that goes way back! I’ve been obsessed with food, and have been passionate about the environment for a long, long time. What really got me interested in food systems was my undergraduate degree in Environmental Policy. Initially, I thought I was going to be an Environmental Lawyer, but I ended up taking a couple courses in agricultural and urban land use, and that shaped my understanding of the impact that industrialized agriculture has on our environment. I’ve also always had an interest in and passion for cooking, which I learned through my family. During my undergraduate experience, I married these two passions to understand our food system on a deeper level. When I graduated with my undergraduate degree, I immediately went into farming to gain hands-on experience. I wanted to understand what farmers deal with, what barriers they face, and how I could be a better advocate for supporting smaller-scale operations that operate with more sustainable practices.

In my six years of farming, I not only wanted to learn the craft and the trade, and how to grow my own food; but on a deeper level, I also wanted to learn how to enhance people’s relationship to the environment and to farmers. I wanted to understand how to get people to pay attention to who is growing their food, and how to get people to think more critically about what goes into growing food. From there, I realized what I was really looking to understand was actually behavior change. In order to get people to think more critically about their food and food system, I wanted to learn how people form values and make decisions, and how they then act on those values. I wanted to understand how to shift people’s perspectives towards purchasing more sustainably grown foods, and how to shift people’s understanding of the importance of forging relationships with local growers so we can enhance more sustainable agricultural practices.

What does the intersection of behavioral psychology and the development of regional and local food systems mean to you?

Understanding how people make every-day decisions is essential to any part of the sustainability field, not just food systems. It’s understanding how people form values and then act on those values and make decisions. It’s about asking not just what people are purchasing, but for what reason. Are they supporting certain causes because they really and truly have a passion for it? Or is it because someone told them to? There are so many different factors and elements that go into the things we do. Ultimately, what behavioral psychology is to me is understanding that we have agency over those every-day choices, and we have the ability to shift perspectives so people can be more well informed about important issues that will have a positive impact, like developing regional and local food systems. Behavioral psychology is the core of everything we do, so learning how people think and act, how they prioritize certain issues over others can help us to create a more sustainable food system, and a more sustainable world.

What have you learned from studying this?

Oh I’ve learned so much, but the one thing I really took away from my academic experiences is that you can’t convince anyone of anything, only they can do that for themselves. That’s been the most interesting thing for me to understand. In all my classes we would ask our professors, “How do you change people’s minds”? And they would always reply, “You can’t!” That realization felt incredibly frustrating at the time, but I’ve since learned that it’s not about changing minds, it’s about creating environments that allow people to feel confident in shifting their own perspectives. This involves not just providing information, but also offering tangible, procedural knowledge. Information alone is never enough. 

For example, while at Michigan, I conducted a study on dining halls on college campuses. We wanted to understand how these dining halls could prioritize more plant-based meals and reduce food waste. One popular intervention we studied is shifting the physical space of a cafeteria to put plant-based items first, and meat-based options towards the back. People have to walk through the section with plant-based items to get to the meat in the back. As a result, people are more likely to stop at a plant-based section first, if not to try it then to at least check it out. The same thing can be achieved with printed menus: if you put the plant-based items first, and the meat later, people are more likely to choose the plant-based option because it’s the first thing they encounter. This intervention highlights how the physical orientation of a space can influence our decisions.

In my Master’s project with Argus Farm Stop, part of what I wanted to understand was how communities interact with these stores. I wanted to understand what impact these stores had on people’s perspectives of local food systems. My work showed that not only was Argus able to provide education around the importance of supporting local food economies, but they also provided a tangible way for people to participate in generating a local food economy. By purchasing food at a place that consistently promotes and supports local food as part of their mission, people felt they had agency, and that they were making a contribution to their community. 

You can tell someone something until you’re blue in the face and they either take it or they don’t. What they need alongside that piece of education is some sort of procedural knowledge, some way to act on that information. That’s a level of empowerment that gives you that agency to say “I’m supporting this organization because I now align with it and feel I am contributing to it.”

How did your time working with Argus go to writing a book?

The reason I targeted Argus was because as a farmer, when I first walked into Argus I thought “How can a place like this exist and why aren’t there more of them.” I wanted to know how it works and how to replicate it. I ended up writing a book because I didn’t want to just write a thesis or capstone paper and have it sit on the shelf somewhere. Like I said, to shift people’s perspectives and priorities towards more sustainable choices, you have to provide people with procedural knowledge. I wrote a book on how to create Farm Stops so people would have the procedural knowledge to feel comfortable and confident in reproducing that model. I wanted it to be available to a broader audience. 

I initially self-published the book as an online, free resource, but the features on the site I initially used were limited and you couldn’t download it. Despite this, I gained a lot of interest from those wanting to establish a Farm Stop in their own communities, and Argus saw heightened interest in their own three-day course that educates people on their operations, so I ended up formally publishing the book with Michigan Publishing a year later. It is now available online as an open-access, downloadable PDF, and in print as well. I’m not making any money off of it either! I formally published the book to ensure it is as accessible to as many people who want or need it.

Link to the book.

At the same time, I also generated and self-published a report that highlights the overall impact these stores have on the communities they serve.

What is a farm stop?

Farm Stops are year-round farmers markets that operate on consignment. They work with a network of local, regional growers, and they give those growers anywhere from 70-80 percent of the retail price. That’s what I found to be so fascinating! That model doesn’t exist anywhere except for maybe antiques or artwork. The catch is that Farm Stops can’t survive on that 20-30 percent commission alone. Instead, they found ways to diversify their revenue streams so that they have a number of different outlets that not only support their bottom line, but also the community, local businesses, and the farmers they work with.

Those different revenue streams could be anything from a cafe or tavern, to incubator spaces like commercial kitchens, to entrepreneurial services, educational classes and activities, CSA-type models for additional food distribution, and mobile markets. They can even pair up with farmers markets too. These revenue streams enable Farm Stops not only to be creative in the ways they interact with their communities, but they also allow these stores to remain flexible and adaptable. This enhances the overall resilience of a community to adverse impacts like pandemics or economic downturns, and this is exactly the kind of model we need in a world that is becoming increasingly more complicated and bogged down by external challenges. We need flexibility and adaptability in our local and regional food systems now more than ever, and that’s why I’m so passionate and fascinated by Farm Stops.

Do you want to write more books?

I’d love to! I’m actually working with a couple of SEAS graduate students right now to unravel a whole section of my Master’s project I never got to finish because I piled on way too much! I interviewed over 40 farmers across four Farm Stops to understand their perspectives on the model, and to gain a sense of how this model has impacted their operations. We’re currently reviewing those interviews, picking out key themes, and eventually, we’ll be able to compile that data into another report.

I’m also in the process of planning the first ever annual Farm Stop Conference with Argus Farm Stop that will take place this spring in Ann Arbor. We’re hoping to gain a whole lot more information about the Farm Stop model and to build momentum around generating more research on the model.

Lastly, as the Farm Stop model gains more traction, I know my book is going to quickly become outdated. In time, as the model grows, I’m hoping to either add onto my existing book, or at least update it as new information becomes available. And of course, I welcome any and all feedback from anyone who has new ideas for the model! My goal is to continue to learn and grow in this space. If I have the honor and opportunity to write something else, whether a book or paper, I would welcome that as well.

Do you have any advice for UM students interested in food systems careers?

Network! Just go out there and talk to people. There’s so many conferences and networking opportunities and it’s a very quickly growing space. I recommend talking to as many people as you can because you never know where those connections will take you. 

I also encourage everyone to explore different parts of the food system! Because this space is so complex, having a level of understanding of multiple aspects of the food system is incredibly useful when seeking out new job opportunities. And there are so many avenues you can go down when engaging in food systems work: try farming for a season, or working in a commercial kitchen, or learning about food hubs and other models of local food distribution. You can work for organizations working to enhance food justice and food sovereignty. You can also volunteer or intern for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition or the National Young Farmers Coalition, or even your local food policy council if you’re interested in influencing policy. Explore as many avenues as you can and see what feels right!

You can also reach out directly to the folks at the North American Food Systems Network! This is a professional networking organization that hosts a beautiful job board for anyone interested in the food systems space. They also have educational webinars, a book club, community resources, and other programming to get people engaged and interested in food systems careers. They are a wonderful resource! 

[Check out Katie’s resources at the end of this interview.]

Which authors, articles or documentaries had a significant impact on you?

The first thing that comes to mind and the reason I got into environmental sustainability at all was in AP environmental science in high school. We watched the documentary “Earth 2100,” which I’m not sure if anyone has ever heard of or seen. I remember just sitting there and getting enraged because it essentially highlighted an individual’s life from the year 2000 to the year 2100. It highlighted all of the worst case scenarios of what would happen socially, culturally, politically and economically as a result of the climate crisis. It went into resource wars, environmental protests, and it was very depressing. I remember thinking, we can’t let the world get to this point! The documentary just got me really fired up and sent me on the path of wanting to support our environment in whatever way I can. That road led me to working in the sustainable food systems space.

Another book I love is “Rebuilding the Food Shed” by Philip Ackerman-Leist. It’s a fantastic book that really digs into some of the most pressing challenges of developing local, regional and sustainable food systems. Of course, I’ll recommend anything written by Michael Pollan. Another book I’ll recommend is “All We Can Save”. It’s not necessarily food systems related, but it is a really uplifting resource for anyone working to make the world a more sustainable place. “Letters to a Young Farmer” is another one to check out that really encourages younger generations to learn how to farm, and I so appreciate their words of encouragement.

If anyone has questions or wants to reach out I am happy to be a resource!
Email: katbarr@umich.edu

Resources:

Podcasts

Websites and Other Resources (for those interested in engaging more in the sustainable food system space!)

Interviewer: Kimmy VanDeWege, SFSI Coordinator
November 16th, 2023

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