[SusDet Announce] Organic Farmers' Goods Showcased in Restaurant

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Farmers' Goods Showcased in Restaurant
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-farmers-restaurant,0,3687842.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines
By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press Writer

June 7, 2006, 3:55 AM EDT

WASHINGTON -- When several North Dakota farmers asked
a consulting firm to help them figure out how to make
more money on their products, they got a simple
answer: Open an upscale restaurant.

The farmers, members of the North Dakota Farmers
Union, ran with the advice, and Wednesday they are in
Washington opening what they hope is the first of many
restaurants that feature their goods. The producers,
many of whom have had trouble making ends meet, will
now sell their fresh beef, vegetables and specialty
crops directly to lawyers, lobbyists and tourists in
the nation's capital for $20 to $30 an entree.

The unusual restaurant is called Agraria, nestled
beside the Potomac River in the prime real estate of
Georgetown's Washington Harbor. About 90 percent of
the restaurant's investors are farmers from around the
country, and the food comes from farms in 25 states.
About a third of the food is expected to come from
North Dakota, where the idea originated.

Robert Carlson, president of the North Dakota farmers
group and leader of the project, said his group had
two objectives -- to boost farmer profits and to
educate, unobtrusively, about the lives of farmers and
ranchers. He said they targeted Washington because it
never goes out of business and it's home to people
with a lot of disposable income.

"That's one consumer we wanted to reach and educate,"
Carlson said. "A lot of these people have been removed
from the farm for several decades."

Carlson and the restaurant's managers say they know
they can't just educate, they must entertain as well.

One of the city's top design firms created a chic,
sleek space that covers 14,000 square feet and is
decorated in soft, neutral browns and greens to evoke
life on the farm. It cost between $2 million and $4
million to develop, said project manager Tom Prescott.

The menu features beef from North Dakota, Montana and
Texas, organic greens and chicken from Pennsylvania,
and fish from Hawaii and Alaska. Edible flowers adorn
some dishes. Many of the wines are from small wineries
that practice sustainable viticulture, and a martini
cocktail features cranberry bog honey from growers in
Cape Cod.

"We wanted to make sure there's a consistent theme,
and we are looking out for where the stuff comes
from," says Derek Brown, the restaurant's sommelier
and manager.

Jeff LaFleur, director of the Cape Cod Cranberry
Growers Association, which sells to the restaurant,
said Agraria has great potential for all farmers.

"In many cases the farmers are just breaking even
because there are so many middlemen," he said.

The managers say it's a major logistical challenge to
organize delivery from the many farmers and ranchers
that are distributing directly to the restaurant, and
they must be flexible enough to change the menu if
certain ingredients don't arrive. But it pays off,
Prescott says, because the food is so much fresher.

"We've literally shaved days off the delivery time,"
he said.

The restaurant world isn't without it's challenges,
however. The chef quit about 10 days ago, and the
staff has been interviewing replacements in the days
before the opening.

Mark Watne, a farmer from Velva, N.D., whose family
has invested more than $10,000 in the project, says it
won't necessarily be easy to keep Agraria open.

"We still have to have proper management, good food
and quality service," he said. "The concept only goes
so far." 

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