450 Gather in Santa Fe to Explore Slow Money and the Resurgence of Local Food

Woody Tasch

“Our situation is truly unprecedented,” remarked founder Woody Tasch in his opening address to the first national gathering in September of the Slow Money Alliance, a new national organization dedicated to redirecting investment capital for the regeneration of local food systems.

The statistics back him up. Peak oil has arrived at a moment when our heavily industrialized agricultural system uses an average of 10 calories of fossil fuels to produce and transport 1 calorie of food energy an average of 1,500 miles from farm to plate.

Carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere are over 385 parts per million and rising while scientists around the world generally agree that 350 parts per million is the limit to avoid climate catastrophe.

And we are currently in the midst of an financial crisis that, according to the New York Times, many investors and economists are predicting, “if the industry’s systemic risks are not addressed, they could cause an even bigger crisis — in years, not decades. Next time, they say, the credit of the United States government may be at risk.” (“A Year After Cataclysm, Little Change on Wall Street,” September 11, 2009)

In the midst of tremendous danger and uncertainty, in steps Slow Money with a simple, yet profound, response: “We must bring money back down to earth.” Reciting poetry, cracking jokes, and rambling all over the economic landscape, Woody seems at first an unlikely hero, but that is not the case. He is a former treasurer of the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation and founding chairman of the Community Development Venture Capital Alliance. For ten years, he was chairman of the Investors’ Circle, a network of angel investors, family offices, and social purpose funds and foundations that invested $133 million in 200 early stage sustainability-promoting ventures and venture funds. In short, Woody has the talent and experience to make something big happen for local food.

The Slow Money movement started last year as a vague idea, with the publication of Woody’s rhapsodic book, Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money: Investing as if Food, Farms, and Fertility Mattered, published by Chelsea Green. What a difference a year makes. This first national gathering, September 9 – 11 in Santa Fe, was attended by approximately 450 investors, NGOs, government representatives, farmers, and small-food entrepreneurs from 34 states and 6 countries, all energized to make Slow Money a reality.

One of the many notable guests was a representative from New Mexico Senator Tom Udall’s office, who was there to deliver an encouraging message. Through a written statement, the senator spoke of his recent experience hosting town hall meetings throughout the country: “There were three areas of concern that I heard over and over again: health care, the economy, and global climate change. If your conference only addressed one of these issues, that would be impressive, but the work you are doing here addresses all three.”

Other participants included Ann Wright, Deputy Under Secretary at the USDA, Tom Miller, former head of Program Related Investing at the Ford Foundation, David Orr, Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies at Oberlin College, Judy Wicks, co-founder of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, George Siemon, founder and CEO of Organic Valley, and Paolo Di Croce, Executive Director of Slow Food International, just to name a few.

When asked to comment on the relevance of Slow Money to national agricultural policy, Deputy Under Secretary Wright said, “I think what you are going to see is a real focus on supporting the growth of regional and local food systems.” Truly, we were witnessing a sea change occurring right before our eyes. You could feel it in the room.

Towards the end of the second day of the conference, $75,000 was raised on the spot to create a new staff position at the Slow Money Alliance, and individuals stood up to coordinate Slow Money efforts in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, South, Midwest, Pacific Northwest, Southwest, and Texas and California. In Colorado alone, six people volunteered to start Slow Money chapters in their communities.

Although Woody admitted at the very beginning of the gathering, “I would be lying if I said the path ahead is obvious. There are still many moving parts,” he has a tremendous amount of momentum behind him and his audacious goals. By the end of 2010, the Slow Money Alliance intends to have 1,000,000 signatories to the Slow Money Principles that are listed on their website, and to have raised $25,000,000 in matching funds for local chapters. If this conference was any indication, they are well on their way.

On the Saturday immediately following the conference, over 100 members of the Slow Money Alliance packed a room in the Hotel Santa Fe for a special strategy session. In that meeting, Woody posed the question: how will we spend the first $1,000,000? His suggestion was to use that money to expand Community Supported Agriculture subscriptions nationally. An alternative proposal that was made was to divide up the money between the 25 small food entrepreneurs that participated in the Entrepreneur Showcase Thursday night.

Nevertheless, Slow Money is about more than just redirecting investment capital to local food systems. It is also about changing culture. Towards the very end of  that final meeting, Woody quoted a participant from a Slow Money Institute he had held a few months earlier in Madison. Although Woody decided not to give her name, he mentioned that this was a member of one of the richest families in America. She said: “Where there is no beauty, there is great danger.” Woody’s answer to her was: “Our job is to create a beautiful economy.” Now that’s something to work towards!

Don Hall is the former Education and Outreach Coordinator for Transition Colorado, a non-profit organization that serves as a hub for local Transition Initiatives throughout the state. He is a graduate of the Environmental Leadership Master's Program at Naropa University, and a certified Permaculture Designer and Consultant. Don is also a co-founder of the Transition Naropa University Initiative, one of the first of its kind in the world.