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A S P E C I A L S E C T I O NYT E1

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2006

By KIM SEVERSON

LIKE most people, Melissa Steineger threw out her

bagged spinach when the nationwide E. coli out-break happened in September.

The contamination, which infected 199 people andkilled 3, was linked recently to infected cattle livingnear the spinach fields in central California and to fe-ral pigs, which might have carried the bacteria to theplants.

But weeks before the source was found, Ms. Stei-neger, a filmmaker and writer in Portland, Ore., de-cided to start eating leafy greens again. Only this timethey were from PastaWorks, a local food store thatbuys its produce from local farmers.

“That’s good enough for me,” she said. Ms. Steineger’s reach for food grown on smaller

farms close to home is part of a larger trend that foodindustry analysts say is gaining ground among con-sumers who are willing to pay a little more for qualityfood. As a result, people who grow food on small farmsor make artisanal cheese or other foods on a more re-gional scale are finding new eaters.

They are also forgoing traditional sales methodsand marketing approaches. Instead of trying to breakinto large distribution chains and fighting for shelfspace, they are finding that smaller is better, partic-ularly if there is a good back story. Produce from anupstate New York farm, for example, reinvigoratedthe image of Great Performances, a Manhattan ca-tering company, earlier this year. In California, a fam-ily that makes olive oil dropped out of many main-stream grocery stores in favor of farmers’ marketsand Internet sales.

And at Tierra Farms, a 20-acre urban farm nearSanta Rosa, Calif., sales are approaching $500,000 witha customer base made up mostly of people who liveless than 30 miles away.

The idea is to appeal to consumers like Ms. Stei-neger, who think that food grown regionally or pro-duced by eco-friendly operations is fresher and tastesbetter. For these consumers, knowing the exact farmwhere food comes from provides comfort about food

Peter DaSilva for The New York Times

FARM FRESH TierraVegetables has acustomer basemade up mostly ofpeople who livewithin 30 miles ofSanta Rosa, Calif.

Continued on Page 6

WhyRoots MatterMore

Health Scares and Mass-Produced Food

Strengthen Demand for Local Growers

ALTERNATE TAKEAn out-of-work actor and his wife build a

business recording weddings, but in the

more flattering (and costly) medium of film

rather than video. By Carol Kino, Page 8.

ON THE WEBnytimes.com/smallbusiness

A TAXWISE TO-DO LISTEnd-of-year advice: sort through retirement

plans, consider donating to charity, and,

above all, call your accountant sooner rather

than later. By Jan M. Rosen, Page 2.

SPREADING THE CARE AROUNDA medical practice in northwestern Michigan

succeeds by tailoring itself to its rural market

and bringing its clinics closer to its patients.

By Keith Schneider, Page 4.

A FEW GOOD PRODUCTSHopeful entrepreneurs brought their prod-

ucts, including greeting cards that hug, to a

search sponsored by QVC, the TV shopping

network. By Corey Kilgannon, Page 9.

BUYING INTO A NICHEHewlett-Packard had no cachet in the world

of customized PCs. Voodoo PC, a builder of

machines for gamers, had plenty. Guess what

happened. By Marty Katz, Page 7.Paul Korver Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times

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