Food Connects' Executive Director, Richard Berkfield, spoke about cultivating change at the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporations Annual Meeting on September 15th, 2022. Below is Richard's full speech.
"I had to chuckle when Adam invited me to speak to you all today about cultivating change. Saying "yes" was a risk I felt I needed to take, and by taking it, I hope to prove one of my points about cultivating change. We need to take calculated risks! I haven't done anything like this in a while!
I sure have experienced a lot of change lately. Yesterday I celebrated the first anniversary of the passing of my wife, Angela Berkfield. Don't worry; I think I cried enough yesterday, and I don't think I've got many tears left for today. But I have certainly learned a lot about change during the past year.
I have learned a lot about "acceptance." Change is inevitable, and it can be challenging even when we are intentionally cultivating it! Change seems to permeate the outlook for our rural economy, demographics, climate, and other issues. In some instances, we have no control over the difference. In others, we can be proactive.
So what exactly is cultivating change"? A quick google search showed me:
"10 principals to cultivate change"
"8 steps"
"4 ways to lead change"
"The 3 C's of change leadership"
And on and on.
Don't get me wrong, I have looked into and practiced some of these concepts. They are valuable, and I bring them up partly in jest because cultivating change is a real opportunity in a challenging and dynamic environment.
I moved here with my wife as "change agents." We had been doing international development work for the previous five years or so. We came to the School for International Training (SIT) to learn skills to become more professional at being change agents. We chose the graduate program because it was only nine months, and we could go back to living abroad. Well, that was 16 years ago.
We studied the art and science of change and how to cultivate change primarily in an international development setting. I found the social change model valuable: learning as much as possible about taking action and reflecting on learning from that action, iterating, and trying again! In the business world, some liken it to "failing fast." For me, there is an essential element of the model: being proactive and open to listening, feedback, learning, and humility.
In late 2012, I co-founded Food Connects with the mission to cultivate healthy food and farm connections in cafeterias, classrooms, and communities. Although the word "change" is not specified in the mission statement, our work centers on cultivating change—specifically, behavior change on an individual and institutional level.
Initially, we focused on schools and community and statewide partnerships. We wanted to make sure kids were learning about and eating good food. Now our Farm to School program works with 30 schools and is seen as a statewide leader.
We spent a lot of time building relationships through the Vermont Farm to Plate Network, where we studied and practiced collective impact and worked on collaborative projects. Lots of learning and building trust!
For me, the social change model has also meant taking bolder and bolder action through continuous learning. It's taking calculated risks.
I will give a quick example to illustrate how we have grown. Food Connects' primary focus is on regional food distribution. Our Food Hub, as we call it, is essentially a wholesale food distributor with a mission. Instead of focusing on paying our vendors less, we are trying to support them as much as possible. I think small and medium-sized farmers and food producers are essential to our regional economy.
We started ultra-local with a small 30-mile radius. We worked with farms that wanted to sell to local schools and hospitals that wanted to buy from farms. One of the main reasons this wasn't happening was complicated ordering and logistics. So, we developed a system using some advanced technology and creative partnership.
Over time, we learned the farmers wanted to sell more, and apparently, Brattleboro wasn't a big enough market! Additionally, our customers wanted products that weren't produced within 30 miles. So we expanded to 50 miles. We kept getting feedback from customers, vendors, and other partners across the river in NH and throughout Vermont. Now we have learned about and embraced a New England regional approach. After all, New England is the same size as Michigan. And Boston is about as far as Burlington.
Not that we haven't ruffled feathers along the way, including our staff and stakeholders. But we understood how the regional food distribution system works (and isn't working!), and we kept learning and adapting, knowing that a better way was not only possible but essential, potentially critical.
Does anyone remember the supply chain disruptions that started in 2020? I can guarantee my team remembers! Our food sales doubled in 2020. Fortunately, we were somewhat prepared to act on a regional level, keep food on the shelves, and keep producers' food moving into the marketplace.
Not that we knew or wanted this to happen, but what we had been learning pointed to the need for our communities to take more control of where our food comes from. And we aren't the only community working towards this goal. What excites me most about our work right now is the connections we are making throughout New England and the east coast.
We are working with partners to change the model of distribution. We are developing what we call food hub networks. We have built relationships and trust with similar enterprises. We sell food to each other. We are transparent with pricing. We support each other with the nuts and bolts of operations. And, yes, sometimes we compete with each other. Sometimes one hub makes out better on a transaction, but for the most part, we are focused on the bigger picture. Aiming for social change, we have found partners open to trying, learning, and adapting.
Our global food system is based on the centralized warehouse model, which is super efficient. But as we learned, it's also not very resilient to disruption and change. So, we are working towards a more decentralized model across a more expansive geography. It's more focused on medium and long-term resilience over short-term efficiency and profit.
Based on our learning, Food Connects is taking our most significant risk! Today is the first day of our new lease at the BDCC Business Park! We are adding 10,000 sq ft of warehouse space to our current ~7,500 sq ft of warehouse and office space! I'm grateful to Adam and the BDCC for working with us over the years to identify new areas and continue supporting our growth.
There is another form of cultivating change I think is essential, and that is looking at ourselves. At Food Connects, we have regular conversations about racism, class, gender, and other issues that impact our interpersonal relations and organizational culture.
Mostly we want to figure out how we are working together and how we can better support each other along the way. Just as I have struggled with personal issues over the past couple of years, many people in our community face challenges inside and outside work. I am super grateful to my team for how they stepped up during my absence and recovery over the past year. We are aiming to build a culture of mutual support while at work. And I hope that it spreads out into the families and communities of the people on our team.
Over the last couple of years, I learned firsthand the power of community to support a family during a crisis. And I have heard stories and seen it in action for others. As we move forward into potentially much more challenging times, I hope we can take these lessons and continue to apply them at the community level.
I have learned over the last year that life is short. And looking at the economic, political, and climate challenges, now is the time to act. We must take some calculated risk at this point.
I hope we can continue to cultivate positive change before a crisis. Accepting that change is inevitable, working on ourselves, building trust and partnerships, listening, learning, taking risks, learning, and trying again.
So I took my risk by saying yes to talking to you on the first day of my second year as a widowed father. I hope that helped prove my point that we can have the courage to take a calculated risk toward what we believe in. And I think we're all here because we care deeply about this place we call home.
I am grateful for all the support from our community and specifically BDCC over the years, and certainly over the last few months, in securing this new space for us. BDCC and many of you here are laying the groundwork for the coming change. We can be leaders and cultivate the change we want to see.
Thanks!"