The Acadiana Food Alliance and Eat Lafayette are teaming up to launch the inaugural South Louisiana Food Summit.
Anyone can get a tour of local farms and learn more about the challenges in the food economy.
Cattle farmer, Bob Blanchet advocates local and sustainable farming for many reasons.
“Grass-fed farming and any sustainable agriculture is better for the environment than conventional AG practices whether its conventional cattle, where they’re all in one pasture together or whether its conventional row crop farming instead of no-till agriculture,” Blanchet said.
His cows graze open pastures in Abbeville, maturing at a natural pace. It makes things easy on the farmer while producing a healthy product for consumers.
“For the farmer, it’s good because the less you spend the more you make. For the consumer, it’s good because everything is more natural,” Blanchet said.
The benefits of this practice stretch beyond just this cattle farm.
“Anytime a local restaurant buys products from a local vendor its better for the economy,” Blanchet said.
Blanchet says he’s looking forward to discussing all of this and more at the Food Summit.
