Duncan Hilchey
Cornell University
216 Warren Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
(607) 255-4413, (607) 254-2896 fax

Maine wild blueberries, Cape Cod cranberries, Minnesota wild rice, Hatch Valley (NM) chilies…these are but a few place-based heritage food and agricultural products from around the United States. The rich histories, cultures and traditions surrounding these places hold untapped potential for community, economic and natural resource development. Place-based development is emerging as a way to thwart negative effects of globalization by building on a community’s unique characteristics and opportunities. It could be argued that food and agriculture together may constitute the ultimate expression of place. For it is in the combination of local landscape and human labor that distinct foods and cuisine are created that reflect the cultural uniqueness of places.

However, there are issues and concerns about tapping these potentials: does every community have heritage harvest areas? What strategies can a community employ to evaluate these potentials? Are there industrialized commodities that have potential for artisanal or craft-scale production? What organizations both contribute to and benefit from the development heritage harvest areas? Based on his heritage development work in the Concord Grape Belt of western New York and Pennsylvania (the Concord grape juice capital of the world), Mr. Hilchey will address these and other questions and will suggest new ways of thinking about developing the identity of traditional commodity producing regions.

The objective of this session is to develop a network of individuals who understand the principles of place-based food and agriculture development (heritage harvests), and who are familiar with some of the tools for exploring this approach in their own communities.