Farm to School
As farmers struggle to mitigate the increasing cost of transporting produce from farm to store and schools face smaller budgets and increasing concerns over the nutritional content of school lunches, some schools opt to bring the farm to the lunch table.
The concern over the nutritional value of school lunches isn’t unwarranted: 15% of children ages 6-19 are considered overweight, according to a recent study conducted by CDC epidemiologist Cynthia Ogden, PhD. Between pre-packaged, highly processed lunches and vending machines loaded with sugary snacks and sodas, it is little wonder parents also worry about fueling their kids’ minds. Many are asking the schools to do more, pointing out that the National School Lunch Program isn’t passing muster.
Nearly half of the children in the U.S. who attend private and public schools participate in the NSLP, a federally assisted meal program that dates back to 1946. While the NSLP does provide a low-cost (and in some cases, free) means of delivering lunch through subsidies to schools, the program has been widely criticized in recent years for contributing to America’s obesity epidemic. According to the Sustainable Table, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public about the problems with our food supply, our children are not meeting the RDA of vitamins and nutrients under the current NSLP guidelines. Couple that with the skyrocketing price of food, which extends beyond the family table to the school cafeterias as well. Forced to consider lower-priced alternatives to fresh foods, many schools have no alternative but to rely on the cheaper, less healthy fare. A number of districts across the country are taking matters into their own hands and breaking the mold. Instead of doling out sodium and fat-laden chicken nuggets for lunch, they are opting to assist local farmers and provide healthier, locally grown foods to students…
charles:
Harvest time
By Shea Howell
The Michigan Citizen
Amidst the deepening economic collapse and the frenzy of the last days of the presidential election, it is easy to forget that there are much deeper rhythms to our world. This is harvest time.
The harvest season is no longer confined to small towns and rural areas. Instead, in cities across the country, urban gardeners are bringing in the last of the tomatoes, waiting for the first frost to sweeten the greens, collecting honey, and preparing to put vegetable patches to rest. These efforts have much to teach us. Every gardener knows that we reap what we sow. Every gardener knows that soil must be cared for first.
So with our economy.
This economic crisis cannot be fixed by pouring money into large financial institutions. Since the hotly debated bailout of AIG, that firm, by mid October, had borrowed $90.3 billion from the Federal Reserve to pay off bad debts. That’s up from the $83 billion it borrowed the week before and the $68 billion the week before that.
31 October 2008, 5:21 pmhttp://www.michigancitizen.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=1&twindow=&mad=&sdetail=6640&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=1070&hn=michigancitizen&he=.com
Stan Moore:
It has been very interesting to watch some of the dynamics of farming, agriculture, and diet in the rural areas north of San Francisco, California for the past few years. There are many Latino immigrant farm workers in vineyards and dairy farms and other agricultural operations. These include legal and illegal immigrants.
Many of the resident (non-immigrant) children are middle class or affluent. I have noticed in my own observations that young people in my area tend to be diet-conscious. Many, and I do mean many, are vegetarians. They won’t even think of eating a hamburger unless it is a tofu burger. Many are indoctrinated on animal rights issues and see animal husbandry in farming operations as harmful to the welfare of the animals. This includes the raising of chickens for meat, the husbandry and slaughter of veal and beef cattle, and to some extent, even the husbandry of dairy cattle in conditions of muck and crowding on an ongoing basis. Many white kids deplore animal abuses and rather than legislate an end to the mistreatment of agricultural animals by any standard one would want to name, these people just make themselves feel better by deciding not to eat the animals or partake of foodstuffs, such as cheese and dairy obtained from them.
On the other hand, the immigrant farm worker children are not so sensitive in dietary matters. And what I have noticed in particular in the past five to ten years is how fat immigrant children have become. And rural convenience stores, which used to be the equivalent of 7-11 stores featuring beer, sodas, pastries, chips and fast foods have in large numbers switched to special brands targeting Latino consumers. The old fashioned “Hostess” brand cupcakes and twinkies and other junk foods are largely gone altogether and replaced by “Bimbo” and other brands of highly sugary sweets made especially for Spanish-speaking kids.
And the kids are getting fatter and fatter and fatter. I joked once on Jay Hanson’s listserver that it seemed as if people were being fattened up for slaughter or perhaps for boiling to render down for their lard.
How paradoxical that farm-raised youth, especially the children of the farm labor workers are the fattest and least well-fed children in the entire Bay Area. The skinny white affluent kids from Ross and San Anselmo, who go to school with the kids of Sean Penn and other celebrities are socially conscious and trendy. But the animals involved may not benefit from that social consciousness because just because Sean Penn’s kids may not eat beef does not mean that Jose Jimenez’ or Joe Blow’s kids don’t and those livestock do find their way to market no matter how many vegetarians are eating tofu.
It seems to me that a better solution would be to legislate humane care of livestock and educate people on diet as an issue for human health and not just for animal welfare. Maybe then the Latino children could get healthy meals and the market demand for Bimbo sweets would evaporate.
Stan Moore
1 November 2008, 12:46 pmPetaluma, CA
charles:
http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/?q=node/view/494
11 November 2008, 3:00 pmcharles:
RESOLUTION SUPPORTING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A
DETROIT FOOD POLICY COUNCIL
BY COUNCILMEMBER______________________________________________
WHEREAS, Community Food Security can be defined as the condition which exists when all the members of a community have access, in close proximity, to adequate amounts of nutritious, culturally appropriate affordable food, at all times, from sources that are environmentally sound and just; and
WHEREAS, The City of Detroit should be committed to nurturing the development of a food secure city in which all of its citizens are hunger-free, healthy and benefit from the food systems that impact their lives; and
WHEREAS, In March of 2008, the Detroit City Council passed a resolution adopting the Food Security Policy “Creating a Food Secure Detroit” as submitted to the Detroit City Council Neighborhood and Community Services Standing Committee by the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network (DBCFSN); and
WHEREAS, the Policy called for the formation of a Detroit Food Policy Council (DFPC) devoted, in part, to addressing the issues put forth in the Policy; and
WHEREAS, after researching food policy councils across the nation and Canada, as well as providing a forum for community and institutional input, the (DBCFSN) presented recommendations on the establishment, structure and functioning of the Detroit Food Policy Council to the Detroit City Council Neighborhood and Community Services Standing Committee on December 4, 2008; and
WHEREAS, the recommendations for the DFPC include Background, Preamble, Vision, Mission, Goals, Relationships and Functions, Designated Seats, Diversity, Convening Committee, Terms of Office, Officers, Staff and Committees, Decision Making, and Meetings
WHEREAS, the stated mission of the DFPC is commitment to nurturing the development and maintenance of a sustainable, localized, food system and food-secure city of Detroit in which all of its residents are hunger-free, healthy and benefit economically from the food system that impacts their lives, and
WHEREAS, the stated goals of the DFPC include:
1. advocate for urban agriculture and composting being included as part of the strategic development of the City of Detroit;
2. work with various City departments to streamline the processes and approvals required to expand and improve urban agriculture in the city of Detroit including acquisition of land and access to water;
3. review the City of Detroit Food Security Policy and develop an implementation and monitoring plan that identifies priorities, timelines, benchmarks, and human, financial and material resources;
4. produce and disseminate an annual City of Detroit Food System Report that assesses the state of the city’s food system, including activities in production, distribution, consumption, waste generation and composting, nutrition and food assistance program participation and innovative food system programs;
5. recommend new food related policy as the need arises;
6. initiate and coordinated programs to address the food related needs of Detroiters;
7. convene an annual “Powering Up the Local Food System” Conference; and
WHEREAS, the stated function of the DFPC is that of an implementation, monitoring, and advisory body that will issue reports to the Detroit City Council and various other public and private entities about how to improve the local food system, as well as undertake initiatives designed to educate the populace and make improvements in the food system; and
WHEREAS, the DFPC shall have 21 seats drawn from various sectors, as stated in the Policy, including a seat appointed by the Detroit City Council and a seat appointed by the Mayor of the City of Detroit; and
WHEREAS, the policy also states that City government’s role in local policy formation is important, however the community needs to have an independent voice that can hold City government accountable; therefore, it is proposed that the DFPC be initially seated by the Detroit City Council, but after the expiration of initial terms, the members of the DFPC recommend and seat new members as needed, and;
WHEREAS, the DFPC calls for a Convening Committee to receive and review names and qualifications of possible initial DFPC members and recommend to the Detroit City Council Neighborhood and Community Services Standing Committee the names of people to fill seats on the DFPC, draft by-laws and to coordinate that which is necessary for the initial establishment of the DFPC; and
WHEREAS, the following persons are recommended by the DBCFSN to serve on the Convening Committee by appointment of Detroit City Council:
1. Malik Yakini, Detroit Black Community Food Security Network
2. Kathryn Lynch Underwood, City of Detroit City Planning Commission
3. Dan Carmody, Eastern Market Corporation
4. Ashley Atkinson, Greening of Detroit
5. Gloria Rivera, Great Lakes Bioneers
6. Rod Tonye, Agitropolis Project
7. Kami Pothukuchi, Ph.D., Project SEED Wayne
RESOLVED, that the Detroit City Council supports the recommendations of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network for the Establishment, Structure and Functioning of the Detroit Food Policy Council; AND BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED, that the Detroit City Council appoints those persons recommended by the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network to serve on the Convening Committee that will report back to this Council within 90 days of its formation.
^^^^^
Detroit Mayor Ken Cockerel:
“We now realize that those people who were once dismissed as
tree-huggers were actually futurists,” said Cockrel. “They saw what was
coming and they anticipated it and moved to deal with it. And now we’re
all dealing with it, and becoming environmentally conscious.”
see full article:
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/michigan/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1442545
18 December 2008, 11:25 am