Spotlight: Let's Move and Creating Healthy Communities

Let's Move is an initiative of First Lady Michelle Obama to lower the obesity rate in America's children.  The following is an excerpt from their website about their Healthy Communities program.

"Lack of access to proper nutrition is one reason why many children are not eating the recommended levels of fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

More than 23 million Americans, including 6.5 million children, live in low-income urban and rural neighborhoods that are more than a mile away from a supermarket. These communities, where access to affordable, quality, and nutritious foods is limited, are known as "food deserts."

Hunger among our children is even more widespread. A recent U.S. Department of Agriculture report showed that in 2008, an estimated 49.1 million people, including 16.7 million children, lived in households that experienced food insecurity multiple times throughout the year. Too often, these same school age children are not eating the recommended level of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy products. Let’s Move! is committed to helping ensure that all families have access to healthy, affordable food in their communities.

Get started by initiating a conversation about childhood obesity in your community. Bring together everyone who has a role –parents, city offices, faith-based and community-based organizations, schools, parks and recreation departments, businesses, childcare facilities and hospitals. Then, work together to make neighborhoods healthier by creating opportunities for physical activity and access to healthy, affordable food.

With the conversation started, take the next step and become a Let’s Move! City or Town. Every city and every town is different, and each requires a distinct approach to this issue. Let’s Move Cities and Towns emphasizes the unique ability of communities to solve the challenge locally, aided by the crucial leadership of mayors and elected officials to provoke action."

For more information on Let's Move visit: http://www.letsmove.gov/healthy-communities#



Meatpackers VS. Small Ranchers, The Debate Continues

If one of the only industries left in the United States is our food are we paying a fair price for our local economies?  Are we paying a fair price for our meat? Some of these questions are addressed in Tom Laskawy's article below.

Killing the Competition: Meat Industry Reform Takes a Blow

by Tom Laskawy

published on Grist, November 9, 2011

"One of the least-discussed but most promising attempts at food system reform was dealt a serious blow the other day. The USDA itself eviscerated its proposed reform to a set of rules which would have given a government division with a wonky name–the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyard Administration (GIPSA)–authority to crack down on the way large corporate meatpackers wield power over small and mid-sized ranchers.
To say this was a lost opportunity is a vast understatement. After all, the top four companies control 90 percent of all beef processing. In the case of pork, four companies control 70 percent of the processing, while for poultry it’s nearly 60 percent. When you get that kind of market power,* abuse becomes rampant. Indeed, ranchers all around the country now agree that it’s impossible for them to get a fair price for livestock.

And it’s not just the ranchers who hold that opinion. As hard as it is to believe, back in 2008, a group of farm-state senators inserted language into that year’s Farm Bill that forced the USDA to address the unfairness in livestock markets.

The existing livestock laws date back to 1921–when the government first identified the need to level the playing field for smaller ranchers–but since then it has been observed almost entirely in the breach (i.e. not so much at all). But in 2009, USDA Chief Tom Vilsack called in reform-minded lawyer Dudley Butler to head the division in charge of livestock markets. Butler declared that he was coming to Washington ”to enforce the Packers and Stockyards Act.” Not fix, mind you, enforce. And some would say for the first time.

All of this effort is to halt what has been called the “chickenization” of the rest of the livestock industry. As reporter Stephanie Ogburn explained in an in-depth report for the High Country News, that we ran here at Grist, the poultry industry is run in such a way that allows single companies to own every step of the process (also known as “vertical integration”), while farmers get locked into lose-lose contracts. As Ogburn wrote:

90 percent of all poultry in the U.S. is now raised by growers who don’t own the birds or negotiate basic terms like price per pound …
Many chicken farmers these days are forced, contractually, to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in chicken houses that meet ever-changing packer specifications.

If anything goes wrong, as it often does, it’s the farmer who’s left holding the bag chickens with no recourse from the meatpackers. If things remain as they are, that kind of indentured servitude represents the future for most beef and pork growers. All the power will remain with a handful of massive corporate behemoths, and ranchers will be glorified hired help taking on all the risk and getting little or no reward.

Believe it or not, the USDA’s Vilsack and Butler came through last year with strong new proposed rules to protect smaller producers that would have changed all that. The draft rule garnered support from many quarters — including the typically Big Ag-friendly American Farm Bureau–and prompted the moderate ag lobbying group the National Farmers Union to refer to it approvingly as “the Ranchers Bill of Rights.”

Of course, the rule soon came under withering assault from the meatpacking industry, which commissioned a study designed to prove that the new rule would cost a ludicrous $14 billion and 104,000 jobs. Meanwhile, no mention was made of how many jobs might be saved by the rule–cattle ranching alone has shed 650,000 jobs over the last 30 years, while the number of hog farms dropped by 170,000 between 1992 and 2004, which can only have cost jobs.

The meatpackers also convinced Congress to hold a series of hearings packed with pro-Big Ag witnesses while House Republicans attempted to defund USDA work on the rule entirely (just recently foiled by the Senate). In short, the industry was hell-bent to kill this reform. That alone should tell you how important it was."


Continue reading the full article article at Grist
http://www.grist.org/factory-farms/2011-11-09-killing-the-competition-meat-industry-reform-takes-a-blow

You and Your Bird

If you don't want to know how your Thanksgiving bird was raised, do not read the following. But, there are alternatives to tradition. Contemplate a buying a turkey from a local farmer for your meal either this or next year. A great site to start looking for Thanksgiving bird or Christmas ham is Local Harvest.

Heritage Turkeys For A New Breed of Eaters

by bmazurek

"“Heritage” has become a buzzword for discriminating home cooks wondering what bird should grace their Thanksgiving dinner table this season. But while conventional supermarket turkeys cost about $1.50 per pound, heritage turkeys can fetch up to $10 per pound, a considerable price difference that raises eyebrows for many shoppers. So, what’s all the fuss about?

Bill and Nicolette Hahn Niman of BN Ranch in Bolinas, California, have made a point of educating eaters about the value of heritage turkeys, as well as the hidden costs of commodity turkey farming. “I want people to understand the difference and why it costs more,” says Nicolette Hahn Niman, who is also an environmental lawyer and author of the book Righteous Porkchop. “Obviously, they can make their own choice, but it’s an informed choice.”

To understand why heritage birds command a higher price, you have to know that it’s not just a different breed you’re paying for. It’s the additional time and care they take to raise and the fact that heritage turkeys tend to be raised more humanely than conventional turkeys, with space to roam and access to pasture.

According to the USDA, Americans eat about 45 million turkeys for Thanksgiving each year, 99 percent of which are Broad Breasted Whites. These birds have been bred for a heavy breast and rapid growth. As a result, they experience a myriad of health and mobility issues as they mature, including the inability to fly and, in some cases, walk. They cannot mate naturally, so breeders must use artificial insemination for reproduction. In short, if left to nature, the modern turkey would not survive.

Your typical Thanksgiving turkey is raised in a high-density confinement facility, in which it endures overcrowding, poor sanitation, and lack of access to outdoor space. The waste from these industrial operations places a heavy environmental toll on the surrounding landscape. But a growing number of ranchers are raising birds in a more sustainable way."

To continue reading about Heritage Turkeys, follow this link to the Civil Eats blog.
http://civileats.com/2011/11/17/heritage-turkeys-for-a-new-breed-of-eaters/

If you would really love to learn more about the treatment of your bird.  Read this article from Civil Eats blog. http://civileats.com/2011/11/10/the-truth-about-turkey/ 

USDA: 'Locally Grown' Food A $4.8 Billion Business

We may have seen a downturn in our local economies but our local food economies are continuing to grow.  As posted by The Associated Press, locally grown food is a 4.8 billion dollar business.  We all know the value of keeping our dollar in our communities so go out and support your local farmers by buying at Farmers Markets, CSAs (Community Support Agriculture) and Co-ops. It may be winter in the States but  many farmers have adapted hoop houses and winter harvesting/ storage methods in order to keep their produce in your market. Do a quick internet search for indoor farmers markets in your area, try Local Harvest; and if that produces no results call your city/ town's chamber of commerce for help in finding local farmers and businesses who could use your patronage.

"A new U.S. Department of Agriculture report says sales of "local foods," whether sold direct to consumers at farmers markets or through intermediaries such as grocers or restaurants, amounted to $4.8 billion in 2008. That's a number several times greater than earlier estimates, and the department predicts locally grown foods will generate $7 billion in sales this year.

While there's plenty of evidence local food sales have been growing, it has been hard to say by how much because governments, companies, consumers and food markets disagree on what qualifies as local. The USDA report included sales to intermediaries, such as local grocers and restaurants, as well as directly to consumers through farmers markets, roadside stands and the like.

It found that farm sales to people like Anderson have just about doubled in the past two decades, from about $650 million, adjusted for inflation, in the early 1990s to about $1.2 billion these days. The much bigger, $4.8 billion figure came when sales to local restaurants, retailers and regional food distributors were added in."

For the full article, visit: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=142294661

7 Most Powerful Foodies

Fordes article names the world's seven most powerful foodies.  

 “Though still quite young, the movement to reform the American food system, from farm to diet, is one of the most hopeful social movements of our time,” says Michael Pollan. ”It had its roots in the 1970s with Francis Moore Lappe’s “Diet for a Small Planet” and Wendell Berry’s “The Unsettling of America.” The issue returned with Eric Schlosser’s landmark investigation, “Fast Food Nation.” Here are the movement’s most powerful voices.”

#1 Michelle Obama, First Lady, U.S.

#2 Marion Nestle, Professor, New York University

#3 Josh Viertel, President, Slow Food USA

#4 Will Allen, Urban Farmer, Growing Power

#5 Jack Sinclair, Head of Grocery, Wal-Mart

#6 Ken Cook, Executive Director, Environmental Working Group

#7 Mark Bittman, Columnist, The New York Times

 

Source: Forbes.com
http://www.forbes.com/sites/nicoleperlroth/2011/11/02/michael-pollan-the-worlds-7-most-powerful-foodies/

Good Food Film Countdown

If you are a foodie and movie lover, this contest is for you. Good Food Film Countdown


1. Visit the Good Food Film page on Snagfilms.com.

2. Click "Go" to sign in and vote for your favorite documentary and fictional film!

3. After November 28, the best film from each category will be announced!

The top 5  feature and documentary food films are:

Feature Film 

Ratatouille 

Chocolat  

Julie and Julia 

Fried Green Tomatoes  

Like Water for Chocolate 

  

Documentary

Food Inc.  

Supersize Me  

King Corn  

The Future of Food 

Kings of Pastry 

Film and food fans who vote for their top documentary and feature food film will be entered to win free food and environmentally safe products for a year from signature sponsors including Applegate, Stonyfield, Organic Valley, Nature's Path Organic, Earth Friendly Products, and a burrito party for 50 from Chipotle!

From now until November 28, 2011, you have the chance to pick the best documentary and feature food film of all time and win!

Additional sponsors for the Good Food Film Countdown include Whole Foods Market, Beanfields, Bon Appetit, Nutiva and FrogTV. A selection of food films are currently available for free streaming online via SnagFilms.com.

Information reprinted from Family Farmed e-mail blast.

Federal Contradiction?

Thanks to Parke Wilde and the U.S. Food Policy blog  Another food policy contradiction uncovered. This time the McRib is back and full of un-healthy surprises...

Federal policy and the McRib

"The McRib stands for the proposition that the federal government should help the pork industry promote any product, no matter how contrary to the government's own dietary guidance efforts in the midst of an epidemic of overweight and chronic disease."

Parke Wilde's insight raises a good point.  Whose interest is in the government's hands? Capitalism or Health?

Farm Bill - Addressing Food Deserts & Expanding Farmers Markets

The following are two additional pieces of legislation that address problems in our food systems.  


Please call your your state Senators and Representative in support of these Acts.  Once their administrative assistant answers the phone all you need to tell them is what bill you are calling about (include the number and name) and that you are in favor.  Most likely they will also ask for your zip code and/ or address.


The Community Agriculture Development and Jobs Act (H.R. 3225)  
Representative Marcy Kaptur (OH)

This bill would create an Office of Community Agriculture, specifically tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that existing USDA programs address the root causes of food deserts and food insecurity.


The Expanding Access to Farmers Markets Act (S. 1593)  
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (NY)

This bill designed to help SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps) participants use their benefits to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables by providing wireless EBT technology to farmers markets and other local food enterprises.

Diversity, Market Competition and the Farm Bill

You many wonder why the Farm Bill is important to you.  Or why you should support the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Opportunity Act of 2011 [H.R. 3236] and the Local Farms, Food, and Jobs Act of 2011 [S. 1773 and H.R. 3286].  Why support some legislation I know practically nothing about?


There are many beginning farmers starting their long careers in farming who need our assistance.  Since 1935 our country has gone from 6.8 million farms to less than 2 million farms in 1990 (USDA/Economic Research Service reports).  "In spite of the predominance of family farms, there is strong evidence of a trend toward concentration in agricultural production. By 1997, a mere 46,000of the two million farms in this country accounted for 50% of sales of agricultural products (USDA, 1997 Census of Agriculture data). That number was down from almost 62,000 in 1992. (EPA)"


In a country that prides itself on diversity and market competition, this loss of farms is staggering.   Especially when taken into consideration that our world population of 6 billion will grow to 8.3 billion by 2030 (FAO).  Not only do we need new farms for food production, but we need new farmers.  Today, 40% of our farmers in this country are 55 years old or older (Bureau of Labor Statistics).


My husband and I are one of the many who have taken up the call to go back to the land.  We are 34 and 30, respectively, and were not raised on a farm.  In fact we are recipients of the previous farm bill, as the farm business program we are attending, Stateline Farm Beginnings, is indirectly funded by USDA grant monies.


You can find stories of other beginning farmers in this New York Times article, Sheep Lawn Mowers, and Other Go-Getters.


Please support us and other beginning farmers in renewing our farm land.  Call your your state Senators and Representative in support of these Acts.  Once their administrative assistant answers the phone all you need to tell them is what Act you are calling about (include the number and name) and that you are in favor.  Most likely they will also ask for your zip code and/ or address.

Beginning Farmer and Rancher Opportunity Act of 2011 [H.R. 3236]
Link to text of legislation:  http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.R.3236:

• NSAC's webpage devoted to the bill

Local Farms, Food, and Jobs Act of 2011 [S. 1773 and H.R. 3286] 
Link to text of legislation:   http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.R.3286:

• Sen. Brown's press release
• Rep. Pingree's press release
• NSAC's press release
  
• NSAC's blog about the bill introduction
  
• NSAC's action alert on the bill
• NSAC's webpage devoted to the bill