The Cupcake Economy

Aiding and abetting the flourishment and nourishment of social enterprises should not rely on what I've coined the 'cupcake economy' yet I see a lot of examples of it.  On my personal blog awhile back I ranted on the issue. And just the other day I saw a posting for a part time job in Toronto for a sales representative to do promotion talks for a non-profit urban agriculture garden set up and maintainance service.  The advertisement indicated only that is was part time and didn't say how many hours were to be expected.  That alone was irritating.  After a demanding list of qualifications (previous sales experience being the really relevant bit) I got to the juicy cupcake-y bit:

So let's get this straight, in a city that has up to an 81 minute commute time (one way) I would be the lucky recipient of $20 if I spend a possible 162 minutes in my car and then 60 minutes presenting (or more, especially since you are itching for the $10 bonus that might cover half your gas).  Let's do the hourly wage math on that:  162 minutes + 60 minutes = 222 minutes or approximately 3.7 hours.  If we divide $20  by 3.7 that works out to a whopping $5.41/hour that will help fund the gas/insurance/capital costs of getting to these gigs. If you close the deal you'll bump that to a whopping $8.11/hr which is still 79% of Ontario's minimum wage. Benefits you ask?  We've got publicly funded health care, right? [Click here for the pdf of a thorough 2009 report that debunks the myth that the working poor having adequate health care.]

But hey..as long as your 'passionate about local food' that should make standing in the food bank line up easier and you'll have lots to talk about at the homeless shelter you sometimes shack up in because with those wages you sure aren't gonna be able to have a car, a home, AND food. The job description is pretty clear that the car is your priority if you sign up with these guys.

On a more serious note, the reality of the cupcake economy is large in a world where unemployed youth are scrambling to find meaningful work. The world wide crisis in youth unemployment and a move towards a secular western society (here's a recent American study on the growth of 'unaffiliated') are leaving large societal gaps that struggling new social enterprises are taking advantage of in droves.  If you're passionate about something it is all well and fine to volunteer some time towards the cause but be wary of enterprises that insult you with 'jobs' that are really volunteer positions that offer little to no honorarium (like most internships).

If a job doesn't at least meet a living wage, or if you are not clear about your own non-monetary benefits (as in, it would be good to do this abysmally or non paying job aka internship so I can learn how to promote my own similar social enterprise) - why would you take it? Be very wary. Cupcakes might be delicious but they are basically empty calories.

Our reliance on low paid or non paid work in the social enterprise 'industry' belittles the authority of the social enterprise movement in the long run. So, just like our bodies need good quality calories, our economy needs good quality jobs to move forward.  And just like good food costs more, good jobs do too.  Plan accordingly when mapping out your social enterprise. Ensure that employees receive a living wage from the start. Why should they invest social capital in your social enterprise otherwise?

(As an aside, I personally know the people who posted this job which is why I didn't publicly out them.  I believe they are earnest young social entrepreneurs but I am appalled at their lack of professionalism in the posting and the remuneration scheme.)

Inaugural Harvest Trek 2012 Part I

Installment 1 of Harvest Trek 2012 occurs in Vancouver, BC where our Food Warrior, Orla.Hegarty, is preparing to embark on a cross Canada drive along the Trans Canada Highway. She hopes to explore this years harvest and collect deliciously radish-al Food Stories across Canada. She will be driving from sea to sea in the next few weeks and sharing some of these stories here. Lettuce Connect hopes to publish an anthology of these stories as a collection within a few months of the tour ending (and in time for a similar Scattered Spring Planting trek around Canada in the spring of 2013. Her first story is below. Please leaf feedback since it's nice to know if you give a shitake :)

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This food warrior seems to have a magnet attached that attracts similarly minded folk. Case in point: I got on a crowded double length bus to visit a friend at UBC (University of British Columbia) yesterday and immediately my food warrior ears started twitching. 

Two young lads were discussing their programs: one of them was a land and food systems faculty student  from Sasketchewan and the other was (ready for it?) a young farmer (and UBC student) from Richmond, BC.  My food warrior ears started twitching when I heard the two making introductions and discussing farming and food issues.  The land and food systems student had wanted to be a vet so that he could work on farms (he was not a farmer but wanted towork in the industry).  The young farmer was living on the family farm and was basically just taking interest courses after two years of college and was hoping to major in Cultural Anthropology and Astronomy.

I navigated my way through the crowded bus until I was close enough to introduce myself to these young men.  The lad from Saskechewan wanted to end up in marketing in the farm or agricultural industry.  He got off well before UBC so that allowed me and the young farmer to talk for quite a length of time.

His family's farm was 200 acres and they owned 65 acres of that and leased the rest.  The land is protected by British Columbia legislation in order to ensure that the land remains agrigulturally zoned in perpetuity.  The young farmer (Lucas) told me that no one sells their agriculture land in Richmond due to the fact that everyone recognizes the possibility that the legislation may one day be repealed and then it will be like the lottery since land values anywhere near Vancouver are easily recognized as the most valuable in all of Canada.  I am sitting here typing on a computer in a cafe on a piece of property probably worth more than I can even fathom.

Lucas also told me that medium scale farmers like his family are concerned about new farming endeavours such as urban farming and new immigrant farms.  He said that as a regulated traditional type farmer they have to meet stringent criteria that is set by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.  He had concerns that food safety regulations were not being met.  He gave an example of a new immigrant family in Richmond that is farming pea sprouts on leased land.  He told me that this farm had had eight harvests so far in this season! Even I, as a non-farmer, know that this kind of intensive farming is in no way sustainable and destroys the soil very quickly.  And as a Management Scientist, I also recognized immediately that this intensive farming allowed these farmers to undersell any other pea sprout farmer. This all too familiar imbalance cascades down the supply system and directly into consumer's pocketbooks.  Consumers are not paying the true value of the food if there is even just one farmer managing to harvest 8 times whilst regular farmers harvest much less and with a mind to conserve the value of their soil.

So Lucas' family and other land owners like him have a right to be concerned and frustrated at these new food iniatives springing up like wildflowers across the continent.  The more quickly they sprout the more bureacratic agencies like the Canadian Food Inspection Agency have to run to catch up in order to ensure the safety of the food on our marketplace shelves.

So, after a nice visit with my friend, I was strolling through the demonstration garden/orchard beside the Land and Food System faculty building (pictured below). As I walked and observed this unprotected garden, I was thinking of Lucas and how wise he was about the whole food system thing.  At 20 or 21 years of age, his multigenerational farming family and others like his feel the effects of any changes in the system that allow shysters to take advantage of regulatory loopholes.  At the end of the day, Farmers Feed Cities, but they also have to feed themselves.

UBC's Land and Food System demonstration garden