The Origins of Collaborative Consumption: A Journey Through Food Production

My brother's introduction to cooking at the age of 14 sparked a journey that would take me, a young 8-year-old at the time, to the farmers market. This experience taught me about the importance of building relationships with the people growing our food and interacting with the butchers. As I grew older, my career path in technology and business development led me to explore the concept of collaborative consumption. I realized that this principle could be applied to food production, creating a platform where farmers, consumers, and producers could come together.

One such example is the grass-fed beef farm, White Clover, which has about 45 head of cattle and race pasture pigs on pasture. The farm spans 60 acres of pasture, with the remaining land consisting of woods, swamps, and other natural features. The farm's approach to production is more traditional, with calves being born on the farm, raised on grass for close to a year, and then shipped to feedlots that use large amounts of grains, antibiotics, and other substances.

In contrast, White Clover's method is considered "old-fashioned" or "retro-farming." This approach has several benefits, including its positive impact on soil health, the environment, and human health. However, it also presents challenges for small-scale farmers, who often struggle to supply large restaurants with consistent quantities of fresh produce. The farm's executive chef, Kevin Lasacco, highlights the difficulties faced by small-scale operators in meeting the demands of larger restaurants.

Lasacco notes that restaurants like his need suppliers who can provide consistent quantities of high-quality products. However, small-scale farmers have a hard time meeting these demands due to their limited resources and lack of infrastructure. The chef believes that creating a platform for collaborative consumption could help address this issue, allowing chefs to connect directly with farmers and access a wider range of products.

One potential solution is an app or platform that connects restaurants with local farmers, enabling them to order products more efficiently. Lasacco suggests that such platforms are essential for scaling up the use of small-scale, local farming practices. He believes that this approach will become increasingly important as consumers demand more locally sourced and organic food options.

Lasacco's goal is not only to connect chefs with local farmers but also to shift control from large corporations and industrial agriculture systems to smaller, community-based farms. By creating transparency in the food system, Lasacco hopes to empower consumers and foster a more democratic approach to food production. He envisions a future where 40% of the food produced is sourced from small-scale, local farms, and 60% comes from larger commercial operations.

The Kansas City Community: A Hub for Entrepreneurship

Lasacco attributes his success in launching a business to the supportive community in Kansas City. The city's unique cultural landscape, with its strong sense of community and access to resources, has enabled entrepreneurs like Lasacco to thrive. He notes that the city's Midwestern roots have created an environment where people are more willing to collaborate and support one another.

Lasacco recalls his decision to start a company being facilitated by a small group of friends who provided advice, connections, and funding. This community support was instrumental in his success, demonstrating the importance of networking and collaboration in entrepreneurship. Lasacco believes that this approach is essential for scaling up business models like his, which rely on building relationships with farmers and consumers.

The Future of Food Systems: Policy Changes and Technological Advancements

Lasacco emphasizes the need for policy changes to support small-scale, local farming practices. He suggests that subsidies and regulations must be revised to prioritize transparency, sustainability, and community-based approaches to food production. By putting control back in the hands of farmers and consumers, Lasacco hopes to create a more equitable and democratic food system.

Lasacco also highlights the importance of technological advancements in making collaborative consumption a reality. He notes that apps and platforms are essential for connecting restaurants with local farmers, enabling them to order products more efficiently. As consumers increasingly demand more locally sourced and organic food options, Lasacco believes that technology will play a crucial role in scaling up small-scale farming practices.

In conclusion, Kevin Lasacco's journey through collaborative consumption has taken him from the farmers market to the world of food production. His experiences have shaped his approach to building relationships with farmers, consumers, and producers, highlighting the importance of community-based approaches to food production. By shifting control back to local farmers and consumers, Lasacco envisions a future where transparency and democracy create a more sustainable and equitable food system.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enmy brother he got into cooking uh 14 15 years old and he would take me and here I was this little seven you know 8-year-old going with him to uh the farmers market you'd get a relationship with the people growing your food and that included the meat as well The Butchers would be there with the farmers my career um has been in Tech technology around Business Development and I just saw from working in technology and working around startups they had these plays around collaborative consumption and my thought was why couldn't collaborative consumption also be applied to food production creating a platform where there could be collaborative consumption for the farmers white clover is is um a 100% grass-fed beef Farm we have about 45 head of cattle we also race pasture pigs on pasture we have about 60 Acres of pasture that's right the rest of woods some swamp about 125 total we had some friends they got their first three pigs and they named them ham sausage and bacon the traditional beef production is uh is basically you have ranchers that uh have cow calf operations on large ranches and usually the calfs are born there they're on grass for you know somewhere close to a year and then they're shipped to feed Lots they see these huge feed Lots where they're felt a lot of grains antibiotics so on so forth this is kind of more sort of oldfashioned or retr farming and uh it's good for the soil it's good for the environment it's good for uh People's Health so uh the hope is that we're making a contribution and make things a little better my name is Kevin lasasco I'm executive chef of Park Avenue summer autumn winter and spring uh we need suppliers who are consistent which is very difficult to do with small farmers you can't you can't tell them pick the tomatoes if they're not ready you know so that's kind of why especially large scale operations are very difficult to run opposed to like a smaller 30 or 40 SE restaurant whereas this restaurant's 180 seats we're serving 500 people some nights we're selling you know F minan we need 8090 orders of that and small scale Farmers have a tough time producing that if I walk into a restaurant and I said oh this is what we're doing we're Co-op of you know beef producers what do you want to do you can you work with us and they're like well we want hanger steaks well guys there's one hanger per animal you know I how am I going to supply you with hangers you know I'm not a feed lot with you know 10,000 10,000 animals to get you your hangers every week these huge companies buy everything and you can't the farmers just have to sell out in the end if I'm a farmer today you know I need some qualified demand I'm a very specific type of operator I'm an a operator you know I'm not going to be somebody who has a lot of time to you know set up a really a sophisticated Business Development or sales infrastructure for my farm ad local can come in and create that qualified demand that only exists in the commodity channel uh and provide also some you know some light infrastructure to be able to service that they are creating the the the infrastructure necessary to house all the information meaning that you know this way there's there's one Central spot where all the farmers can have their products listed and chefs can go on there and know exactly what's available and have descriptions of the products and it's something we could never do I mean we would never have the budget for something like that in addition we're small I mean we really couldn't Supply a restaurant ourselves it's it's a whole new infrastructure from from the way things were done for the most part you know Midwestern cities have been left out of this uh te technology startup kind of story over the last 20 years until recently and I think a lot of that has to do with the access uh to technology it's cheaper to start companies now um there's more free flowing Capital now and there's just a better education and awareness um that has been uh opened up for people that want to found companies what I think is great about Kansas City is that like it's very very communal in a certain way um whereas like in most big cities now you wouldn't know who your neighbor is in Kansas City it's like you know all your neighbors you know everyone around you immediately when I decided to start the company I had you know like a small community of like 10 or 15 people that were just like giving me advice connecting me to funders and all that happened for me in Kansas City so I think it's like it speaks to something where uh I think entrepreneurship is more accessible GE geographically as well now for our business model to grow one of these things will have to catch everyone wants to eat local and everyone wants to eat organic or you know flavorful Foods I think that these apps and new platforms are going to make it much easier for restaurants to order that way things are changing for the better there still is a very long way to go right now it's probably 90% to 10% and to get it to 6040 you know 40% small local farmers and 60% commercialized food that would I think that's definitely going to happen in the next 10 years or so a lot of this has to also happen and and and Washington our policies have to change everything from subsidies to the way the Food Systems regulated I what I'm trying to do is put the control of the system put the control of the power back in the hands of the people who want control of the system to create transparency because transparency creates democracy and if we're successful we will change the way that the world Works in a certain way\n"