Barry Adler, who participated in the Leap into Local Foods Workshop on February 29th, owns and operates Rain Fresh Harvests, an off-the-grid, self-contained, self-sustaining, zero emissions, micro-carbon footprint, organic fresh food production facility outside Plain City, Ohio.

There are many reasons for us in the Ohio Local Food Systems Collaborative (OLFSC) to care about what Barry is doing with Rain Fresh Harvests. These include:

• adoption of renewable energy technologies
• application of green building materials, designs, and construction techniques
• commercial production of fresh foods in a suburban setting
• utilization of integrated farming and waste management methods
• starting a small business in local organic food production
• landscaping with attention to functional aesthetics

For the purpose of this post, the primary point of interest is in the simple fact that Barry has demonstrated how all the pieces can fit and work together in a holistic and integrated approach to the design and operation of a local food system in a suburban setting with positive environmental impact. Barry has developed and implemented a "solution" to set of primary conditions and principles he considered core when defining the business model of Rain Fresh Harvests. The simple matrix below illustrates how Rain Fresh Harvests (cells with green background) utilizes pots and plots to deliver packaged, fresh greens and herbs to external consumers / customers and provide electricity, heat, and compost to Rain Fresh Harvests as an internal customer.

While there are numerous food producers that deliver packaged, certified-organic, fresh greens and herbs grown in a temperature-controlled greenhouse, the key differentiators for Rain Fresh Harvests are what is done in the categories of "Logistical Considerations" and "Reduced Carbon Footprint". This includes the following:

• tracking product lots during their production-to-consumption cycles
• accounting for inventory in delivery, freshness, and sale to the consumer / customer

• documenting the growing conditions for each lot planted and harvested (the website for Rain Fresh Harvests includes daily recording of greenhouse growing conditions)

• utilizing a combination of solar thermal and PV panels and wind generators for off-the-grid, zero emissions electrical power and heating systems

• incorporating a highly sophisticated Integrated Farming and Waste Management System (IF&WMS) that reuses, restores, and recycles water and waste so there are no damaging effluents or emissions

This comprehensive package raises the bar on what one can demand and expect in markets from local fresh food production systems now and in the future. It poses a challenge for those who are developing technologies and applications in holistic, integrated food production systems similar to Barry's to improve efficiencies, increase productivity, and drive down capital investment and operational costs. Considering viral growth areas like green, LEED-certified structures, renewable energy, IF&WMS, and low-carbon footprint logistics systems, the possibilities for rapid and prolific gains against these metrics are many.

One way to take advantage of these rapid growth areas is to expand the use of the "portfolio and practices matrix". Rain Fresh Harvests is merely an example; it is not the best or only solution. When current or prospective producers use the matrix as a prompt to fill-in the "green boxes" related to their operations as they envision them, the door is opened for more extensive collaborative effort to ensue as we work together to make our visions reality. Here's why.

Currently, it is estimated that 1 - 2% of the total food consumed by Ohioans is from local producers. The goal targeted by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation last year is to raise that to 10% by 2017. To achieve a nearly 10-fold increase in output over a nine-year period will require extraordinary change in where local food production is done, who does it, and how it is done. Suffice it to say there is room for everyone to be a winner! This is one of the main reasons why collaboration is a particularly powerful tool to help make significant headway quickly.

With a commitment to collaboration firmly in hand, the path to achieve success is clearer:

• engage a wider range of potential and current local food producers
• model various solution possibilities
• streamline the process by which more small-scale producers come online in a short period of time
• share experiences and learn from one another
• keep doing what works
• find viable options for those situations where expectations are not being met
• put them into play, post the results, and refine the algorithms
• extend invitations to more people to join

Moving along this collaborative pathway to scale-up Ohio's local food systems to a MUCH higher level of output by 2017 is why the OLFSC was started. It is why you are a participant. It's not the only game in town, but it sure beats what is second best. Besides, we can get it done before 2017!