Stay Local

Is it even possible to grow grains and beans in New York soil? New to the Greenmarket, Cayuga Pure Organics proves the answer is undoubtedly yes. The first vendor selling locally grown grains, beans and flours in New York, Cayuga’s liaison to the world, Tycho Dan talked with me about the business of beans and flour. While I have always considered making bread an art, when the bread baked is made from local Cayuga flour, the creativity starts from the seed.

Tycho, what does Cayuga Pure Organics sell?

Well, we have three categories of products. There are the dry beans, whole grains, and the milled products – polenta, cracked cereals, all-purpose, buckwheat, rye, and whole-wheat flour.

Everything is grown, milled, bagged, and sold in New York State?

Yes, I can confidently say that 99% of the operation is New York based.

Who is the top dog at Cayuga organics? Who’s the boss?

Erick Smith and let me tell you he is the cutest man in existence. You just want to help him out. He is too nice – not a negotiator.

Is that where you come in?

There is a small bunch of us. Erick and Dan are partners. They describe themselves as two old hayseeds about to retire. Then rather than retire they began this organic farm. They combined their old tractor collections, started tinkering around and getting to work. Now they are heroes.

How did they decide to grow organic beans and grains in NY?

Well, I think it was a process, not one conscious decision. The marketplace played a big factor for sure. A very common story is that farmers growing field crops got into conventional corn. Then the corn market fell apart. The bottom fell out and everybody started losing the farm. Growing conventional crops, they could not compete with the big farms. These large farm commodity crops make up ninety percent of agriculture, everything is mechanized, and your average farm is a million acres. Thankfully, New York is a progressive place and was ready for the organic movement to put down its roots. Cayuga Organics is simply a group of smart people who saw an opportunity. That opportunity has begun to pay off.

So there is a collective of growers represented by Cayuga?

Right. It happened quickly. Cayuga is not a cooperative. I think collective is a better word. Cooperative is not the best model for what is happening here. I really think cooperatives require a lot of direct human contact, not just communication but actual physical proximity. Within Cayuga, there are different projects going on. Grant funded or academic projects through Cornell extension and the USDA. Several of our farmers are participating in programs trying to preserve heritage and organic varieties of grains. They are bringing stuff in from the Middle East and Europe, anywhere they can get old strains of grain to propagate here.

How are your products different then what is commonly available?

Well the first thing most people notice about our product when they usually shop in the supermarket is the price difference. I talk about all the good things, but the reality is that the first thing 99 percent of people notice about our products is price.

Do you find yourself explaining to people what they are paying for? Absolutely. I find myself having to remind even existing customers. Education is a constant part of marketing and selling these products. Our main competition in the world of dry beans is China. Organic black beans at most high-end markets are from China. You can buy them off a container ship for sixty cents a pound. We would not be successful if we did not have the best product in the marketplace. People would not pay more otherwise.

How much will your beans cost me?

If you bought ours by the container full, you would be paying at least thirty percent more. If you are a restaurant and you are buying 25-pound bags, you are paying nearly three times as much as a container ship. At the farmers market, you are paying five times as much.

Do you teach your clientele on how to use the product as well?

Yes. We have to show people the distinction as well as how to use our products because we are asking a lot of money. Frekkah, roasted green wheat berries, is a grain many people are unfamiliar with but is now featured on the menus at Northern Spy, Gramercy Tavern, and Eat Café in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Do you think chefs are using Cayuga Organics in their menus because of a sense of terroir, the local heritage, or because they see a difference in quality and find the end product to be superior?

I think it is both. Right now, we are experiencing a tremendous period of growth.

Will you expand into other artisanal flours? Can we expect chickpea flour or chestnut flour?

We have local chestnuts, and could do chestnut flour but it would be very expensive. I don’t think we want to set a vision. We want to work with people. We want to work with producers and manufacturers. We want to work with eaters. We want to create sustainable jobs. The way to create sustainable food businesses and jobs in New York is by focusing on adding value. Find a way that you can add value within the local food chain. You can be a producer or a processor, make the raw material into something else. Be a baker, or sell fine flour.

Do you do prepared foods at Cayuga?

No, but we have a very active sampling program. We make soup every week in the winter and have created the black bean brownie. The samples give people an idea about how to use our product and then they are hooked. They taste those beans and are blown away.

What is your most popular item generally?

I would say the polenta. It is very popular right now.

How has Cayuga Pure Organics grown?

Well, there are many growers now. We are much bigger then the original Cayuga Pure Organics farm. Greenmarket NYC contacted Cayuga in September ’08, and we set up on a freezing cold day in February ‘09. What has happened in the last year is crazy. We got the flour going in May. Now other farmers are getting excited about what we are doing and want to work with us selling beans and flours. It is intense. Everybody thinks that its easy and there’s money in it, but don’t understand marketing, or business. If we grow too fast everybody is going to get screwed. Pricing will get jacked up and then go way down and all the hard work will be destroyed.

You are going to have to study commodities trading…

Yeah exactly. I know what I would do if I wanted to try to be capitalistic in this situation. I would control seed, like Monsanto. I would clean and treat seed. I do think that needs to happen, I just do not want to be in control. We need to find a way of doing this that reflects our values with respect to the social and environmental challenges that are looming in front of us and considers what we are leaving future generations.

So in keeping with the idea of not supporting Monsanto, when can people visit Cayuga Organics and get some of these sustainably produced and processed beans and grains?

Union Square, Wednesdays, 8-5

McCarren Park, Saturdays, 8-3

Grand Army Plaza, Saturdays, 8-5

Cayuga Pure Organics has flours for your Valentine. Stop buy this week. Buy some flours (and beans, which are known to be good for the heart) and support this quickly growing local and organic whole foods business.

And on the web:

http://cporganics.com/live/