The growing farm-to-table movement seems like it would be a win-win for Louisiana. Farmers get to sell and spotlight their products on local restaurant menus. Chefs get to work with the freshest local ingredients. Customers get to support and learn more about local agriculture.
But the movement hasn't given Louisiana farmers the financial backing they'd like.
They say farm-to-table is a buzzword that does little more than market their product. And in some cases, restaurant owners even falsely advertise that they are serving goods from area farms that the restaurants aren't purchasing.
"How has the farm-to-table movement impacted us?" asks Acadiana farmer Brian Gotreaux. "I can't say that it has a whole lot."
Located in Scott just outside of Lafayette, Gotreaux Family Farms has grown during the past 15 years from a small operation meant to provide organic, nutrient-dense food for Gotreaux and his family into one that anchors the Hub City Farmers Market and provides fresh produce and meat to many in Acadiana.
Gotreaux grows 167 varieties of produce and is known for his grass-fed, pasture-raised chickens. He also produces tilapia, lamb, beef, goat, eggs and honey on the farm.
On this chilly Wednesday afternoon, he is preparing an order for Lafayette restaurant Dark Roux, which opened Dec. 29.
Restaurant owner Ryan Trahan picks up 120 pounds of chicken, 80 pounds of turkey, 40 tilapia filets, 20 dozen eggs and about 100 pounds of fresh winter produce – enough food to last the restaurant about two days.
"We've been seeing the Gotreauxs pretty much daily since we opened," Trahan said.
Trahan uses Gotreaux and other local vendors to populate his always-changing menu, which consists wholly of local foods except for three items he has not been able source locally: flour, onions and the heirloom corn used in the stone-ground grits.
Dark Roux is one of only a few truly farm-to-table restaurants in Acadiana, according to Gotreaux.
Gotreaux says there are many more restaurants who purchase a handful of veggies from a farmers market to use in a dinner special so they can increase their business through the buzzword "farm-to-table." Other restaurants will actually use local producers' names on menu items that are not coming from the sources cited.
"There's a lot of chefs who say they're using our products," Gotreaux said. "There's a lot of chefs just using the buzzword for market share."
Farm-to-table isn't even a description Gotreaux likes to use.
McDonald's or Burger King could be considered farm-to-table restaurants, he reasons, since they source their food from some kind of a farm and it ends up on a table.
Trahan agrees.
"All food really comes from a farm, whether it be a commercial farm or a local farm or whatever," Trahan said. "All food comes from a farm, and it all in some way ends up on a table. Everything can be farm-to-table."
So if not farm-to-table, then what?
"We support local foods," Trahan said. "We're a community food-based restaurant."
No matter how it's phrased, the business local farmers such as Gotreaux receive from restaurants focusing on local foods isn't enough to really impact earnings.
"I can't say one way or another that it would make or break us," Gotreaux said. "It's a small movement here in Lafayette. A lot of people think it's bigger than it really is."
Farmers in other parts of the state are saying the same thing.
Based in Farmerville in north Louisiana, Anthony Yakaboski grows a few hundred acres of peaches, purple hull peas, melon, okra and other local produce on his farm. He got into the business about 18 years ago because of his love for growing.
While his customer base has grown through the years, he says he does not see any real difference in business from the local foods movement.
"Everybody says local, fresh is the way to go," Yakaboski says, "but they don't really practice what they preach."
What Yakaboski is seeing is that individual customers and restaurants are seeking convenience above all else. Customers used to pick their own fruits and vegetables from his farm, but now they want it washed and packaged at farmers markets. Most restaurants have moved from working with a handful of local vendors to using large supply companies where they can be guaranteed to get the products they want.
Even so, everybody wants a piece of that local foods market share.
"If you're not careful, you'll find a lot of people who will actually lie to you and try to say that they are but they're not actually promoting fresh, local stuff," Yakaboski said.
Again and again, that is the story farmers are telling in Louisiana. Many promote local, but few actually purchase local.
Marguerite Constantine, who owns WesMar Family Farms in Moreauville, echoes the sentiment. Sitting on only about 2 acres of land, her farm consists primarily of goats – about 70 dairy and meat – but also includes seasonal produce.
"We've been very disappointed in some of the restaurants that we thought would embrace the ability to purchase locally," Constantine says.
Like Gotreaux and Yakaboski, Constantine did not inherit her farm but instead began raising goats about 15 years ago because she could not find sources for the goat milk and cheese she grew to love during her time spent traveling abroad.
Part of her mission with the farm has been not only to make ends meet but to educate people, including her children and grandchildren, on where food comes from. She is certified as a zoo just so she can allow the public to tour the farm.
"I want the restaurant owners and their staff to com visit, come taste, come see, come pet the goats," Constantine said. "And it's amazing they have."
Constantine has seen a slow but steady increase in business through the years, although she says the farm-to-table movement isn't necessarily why.
More than a steady revenue stream, the restaurants have provided an awareness about local foods.
"Louisiana is starting to get it," Constantine said. "I think that our business has gotten stronger because of that awareness."
What exactly is farm-to-table, anyway?
Farm-to-table is a movement concerned with producing food locally and delivering it directly to local consumers. It is closely linked to the local food movement and is promoted by those in the agriculture, food service and restaurant communities who are concerned with sustainable agriculture. According to Google Trends, the term farm-to-table first trended in 2006 and has seen slow but steady growth ever since, seeing record use in August 2014. The term is forecast to become even more popular this year.
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