Last week, USDA did a graceful end-run around the Farm Bill, benefiting both SNAP participants and the farmers who sell at farmers’ markets.
As the Farm Bill is being negotiated by the House, Senate, and their respective agriculture committees, the earliest that we can expect resolution on the bill is late July—and that’s a very optimistic estimate. But on Wednesday, May 9, Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced that USDA will fund—to the tune of $4 million—efforts to purchase EBT machines for some of the farmers’ markets that lack them. Read More >
The U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry recently approved the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012, also known as the Farm Bill. Because the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, accounts for the lion’s share of this bill’s budget, representing about two-thirds of 2008 Farm Bill spending, innovation in SNAP could have a tremendous impact in improving the nutritional status of its participants. Last year over 45 million people were enrolled in the program, which combats hunger by providing a monthly benefit to low-income households to purchase food. Read More >
Chicken coop, circa 1939, Florida
Let me begin by saying I would love a mobile chicken coop in my backyard. In fact, I plan to build one this summer, hopefully for less than 100 dollars. I’m lucky enough that with an afternoon of work and a trip or three to the hardware store, I think I can accomplish this. But although it would be wonderful if more people raised healthy egg-shaped protein in their backyards, this isn’t feasible for everyone.
Cue Williams Sonoma’s new “Agrarian” line.
For those less fortunate souls with little time but oodles of money, Williams Sonoma can provide you with a pre-assembled chicken coop for a mere $879.95 (1). Better yet, you can also purchase lettuce seedlings for just $16.95 each! (Yes that is the price for ONE seedling. But of course you’ll probably want 20 so that’s 339 dollars—but they come wrapped in burlap fabric with a cute bow!). Read More >
Yesterday the New York Times ran an article that raised the idea that poor urban neighborhoods are not food deserts. Citing recent studies, the author, Gina Kolata, quoted researchers who found that low-income neighborhoods have plenty of options for buying fresh, healthy food, and that obesity has no correlation to food access.
These studies add another layer of understanding to the complex issue of equitable access to healthy food. Working with the Baltimore Food Policy Initiative, my colleagues and I have re-defined what constitutes a food desert in Baltimore. Here, as in many urban areas, food deserts are not just about supermarkets. Back in 2009, we looked at household income and access to supermarkets. For the 2012 Baltimore City Food Environment Map, we looked at more subtle factors, such as distance to the nearest supermarket, and what kind of transportation options were available in households. Read More >
Carole Morison, independent chicken farmer
Two years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice raised a lot of hopes among contract farmers that they would finally get some help from the federal government in their struggles with corporate control of the livestock industries.
The department’s Antitrust Division held five workshops around the country that dealt with competition (or the lack of it) in agricultural markets. There were sessions devoted to poultry, dairy and beef/hogs.
At the poultry workshop in Normal, Ala., contract farmers had a forum to vent about their disempowering relationships with corporate integrators. Many spoke out despite fear of reprisals from the industry. DOJ’s antitrust chief, Christine Varney, handed her business card to any farmer who expressed such fears. They could call her directly if industry threatened them with retaliation for speaking out, she said. Read More >
This story by Sarah Rodman and Lainie Rutkow has been cross-posted from Corporations and Health Watch.
In August 2011, the Rhode Island Department of Human Services launched a pilot program in the Providence area that allows some elderly, homeless, and disabled households to buy “hot prepared meals” using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits – but only at Subway sandwich shops. Read More >
Will Allen and Dave Love at CLF Aquaponics Project, 2012
Today, for a change, I will gush.
Why the gushing? Because I’ve been hanging around Will Allen, an urban farming pioneer with nearly cult-hero status among foodies and farmers. He’s an inspiration, an overflowing font of information, and the picture of humility.
The son of a sharecropper, Mr. Allen swore as a young man that he’d never return to farming—now he’s the CEO of a Milwaukee-based community food center that’s doing so many bold things with food systems that it’s hard to keep track of all his good works. (He’s also a former professional basketball player, a MacArthur fellow, and a spokesperson for First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign.) Read More >
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino
Sometimes it’s worth reflecting on where we’ve been, if only to show ourselves that we’ve actually gotten somewhere.
Case in point: Recently, mayors from across the U.S. initiated a Food Policy Task Force to “focus on issues including reducing obesity, increasing access to healthy affordable food in low-income communities, and increasing local food procurement and entrepreneurship in cities.”
This might sound like the normal everyday work of mayors, until you consider how far it is from the policy environment that existed a few decades ago regarding food issues. Read More >
Not knowing what is “enough,” says Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin, is a recipe for spiritual disaster.
Tuesday morning began the study series entitled, Enoughness: How Shall We Live on God’s Earth? Co-hosted by the Center for Livable Future (through the Baltimore Food & Faith Project) and the Institute for Jewish & Christian Studies, the main topic of conversation on Tuesday was that of sufficiency, and, in particular, how does one define “enough”—and then, once defined, how does one go about trying to live within the bounds of what “enough” is? Read More >
This November, the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future joined with fellow members of the Healthy Farms, Healthy People coalition steering committee to officially launch the Healthy Farms, Healthy People coalition—“a broad-based collaboration of organizations committed to achieving a healthier nation in tandem with a strong farm economy through policy reform at the local, state and national level.”
The Coalition will work on short-term targeted policy efforts, as well as long-term goals centered on policy change and information-sharing across sectors. The Coalition brings together stakeholders from the health, agricultural, anti-hunger, environmental and economic development communities, whose diverse expertise is necessary to make such reforms to the food system a reality. Read More >
