Imagine Collinsville, Texas as a vibrant town with a web of agricultural producers, large and small, that create a diversified food ecosystem that helps drive local food security, deep community life and economic development AND creates an engine of sustainable growth while holding on to our roots and small-town charm.
Imagine backyard gardeners and chicken keepers collaborating with farmers and ranchers. There is a bustling farmers market (Collinsville Harvest Exchange) that defies the stereotypes where goods are sold AND bartered.
There are community gardens providing food for those who need a little help on the grocery bill, to help stock our local food pantries, and for those who want to learn to grow food.
There are local restaurants that incorporate as much of the local production as possible in the menu options. Those same restaurants become places where the local harvests are preserved through canning, freeze-drying and pickling, selling the excess to benefit the producer and restaurant owners.
Imagine if our city government began to take initiative toward creating a sustainable local agriculture that can mitigate the complexities of the global food system by coalescing a thriving agricultural ecosystem that is #hyperlocal, sustainable and minimally (within reason) regulated?
Imagine money spent on food stays in the local economy, circulating between neighbors, local processors and small business owners. Some of the proceeds fund our Collinsville schools with agricultural, home economics and entrepreneurship programs that create incentives for our young people to stay local and help build Collinsville’s future.
Imagine Collinsville, Texas receiving travelers who come from all over to experience agricultural tours, local restaurants and businesses and a unique farmers market. They are loved and embraced by a town that takes hospitality seriously and creates a sense of belonging that draws them back time and time again.
You might say, “Joseph, you’ve lost your mind. Your vision has overtaken our ability to make this happen.” Others of you are moved deeply and sensing the opportunities that these ideas present. I say to both groups, “Let’s step into this together, give our ideas, make decisions and roll up our sleeves to build Collinsville into greater prosperity than it has ever experienced.”
Joseph Cartwright loves Jesus, family, Texas... in that order. He is chairman of the Collinsville Economic Development Corporation.