Jan 24
Check out this great review of Obama’s approach to food policy during his first year in office. Mark Boyer of ChicagoNow.com does a great job of hitting the highs and, of course, the lows.
How do you think Obama has done in terms of food policy during his first year? Has he been the strong advocate for sustainable agriculture that we need?
One Year Later: President Obama’s Food Policy – ChicagoNow.com
Jan 07
Last year the state legislature created a policy group called the N.C. Sustainable Local Food Advisory Council to address, among other things, what foods are served to public schools students, how to encourage community and backyard gardening, making sustainable food available to those on public assistance (food stamps, etc.), and how to overcome regulatory and policy barriers to local and sustainable food producers.
As with most things in government, however, it took until now to name all but one of the members. Andrea Weigl of the News & Observer, broke the news today. Some notable appointees include Roland McReynolds, Executive Director of the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, Nancy Creamer of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems, and Dr. John Ort of the NC Cooperative Extension unit. Check out Andrea’s post for the full list of appointees.
Dec 12
(From Mark Bittman’s blog, Bitten)
If greenhouse gases are a hazard to human health, as the EPA has declared, and the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act authorizes strict regulatory action on substances if there’s a reasonable basis to conclude that there’s “an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment,” and industrially raised livestock causes an estimated 18 percent of greenhouse gas (some estimates are much higher), could there be a legal case for tougher regulation of animal production?
Don’t hold your breath, but in 1964, when the Surgeon General’s report appeared, no one could have predicted the kind of anti-tobacco legislation we’ve seen since then.
Dec 09
The following is an action alert I received recently from Food Democracy Now:
President Obama has found himself with some strange bedfellows lately.
While on the campaign trail in Iowa, Barack Obama boasted, “We’ll tell ConAgra that it’s not the Department of Agribusiness. We’re going to put the people’s interests ahead of the special interests.”1 Despite that promise, it seems that ConAgra’s friends at Monsanto and CropLife are still finding their way into the USDA.
Last month, President Obama nominated two “Big Ag” power brokers–Roger Beachy and Islam Siddiqui–to key agency positions, putting agribusiness executives in charge of our country’s agricultural research and trade policy. Please join us in telling the President that this isn’t the change we voted for. We don’t want Big Ag running the show any more.
Siddiqui’s confirmation hearing is set for next week. Please help us reach our goal of 50,000 signatures to make a real impact.
Dec 08
This past weekend the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association held their 24th Sustainable Agriculture Conference up in Black Mountain, NC. I wasn’t able to attend, but I hear from Will of Ever Laughter Farm that it was a great success. He raved about the keynote address by Timothy LaSalle of the Rodale Institute and sent along this link to a video of his presentation, entitled How To Take CO2 Out of the Sky, given at Climate and Agriculture Summit in California earlier this year. Enjoy!
How To Take CO2 Out of the Sky, Timothy J LaSalle from CA Climate and Agriculture on Vimeo.
Dec 04
(The following is the body of an e-mail I received a couple days ago regarding current legislation in the US Senate – S.510, the Food Safety Modernization Act)
Your Food Safety Calls Made the Difference
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee unanimously approved a revised version of S. 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act last Wednesday. The many calls received by HELP committee members moved the concerns of family farm value added, sustainable and organic farmers to the forefront of the Committee discussion. While there is still work to be done to clarify the kinds of farms that must register with FDA, the bill voted out of Committee includes a number of substantial victories.
The fresh produce section of the bill requires FDA to coordinate with USDA and the National Organic Program and to create rules that:
• are flexible and appropriate to the scale and diversity of the farm,
• take into consideration conservation and environmental standards established federal conservation, wildlife, and environmental agencies,
• not include requirements that conflict or duplicate organic standards,
• prioritize for implementation rules for crops that have been associated with foodborne illness
In the traceability section, the bill limits recordkeeping requirements for produce farms without processing facilities to information about the initial sale to the first purchaser of the crop.
Senators who were supportive of the concerns of family farm value added producers included Harkin (IA), Enzi (WY), Bennet (CO), Bingaman (NM), Brown (OH), Burr (NC), Franken (MN), Merkley (OR), Hagen (NC), Dodd (CT), Gregg (NH), Murray (WA) and Sanders (VT). Please call them and thank them for their leadership. You can reach their offices by calling the capitol switchboard (202) 224-3121. A switchboard operator will connect you directly with the Senate office you request.
There is still work to be done on S. 510. A number of other NSAC proposals were not included in the bill. We will continue to push for a narrowing of the definition of a farm “facility” to exempt farms doing value-added processing of low-risk foods and for a national training program for farms and small processors.
Senate floor action is considered likely early next calendar year, although there is a possibility it could reach the floor in December. The House has already passed its companion bill, so once the full Senate takes action the House and Senate will conference to work out the wide ranging differences between the two.
For more information on S.510 – The Food Safety Modernization Act and how you can help protect small family farms and sustainable agriculture, check out the Carolina Farm Stewards Association’s Action Alert
Sep 18
Charles Duhigg has a great article in yesterday's New York Times about the mounting health problems caused by runoff from the nation's farms.
"MORRISON, Wis. — All it took was an early thaw for the drinking water here to become unsafe.
There
are 41,000 dairy cows in Brown County, which includes Morrison, and
they produce more than 260 million gallons of manure each year, much of
which is spread on nearby grain fields. Other farmers receive fees to
cover their land with slaughterhouse waste and treated sewage…In Morrison, more than 100 wells were polluted by agricultural
runoff within a few months, according to local officials. As parasites
and bacteria seeped into drinking water, residents suffered from
chronic diarrhea, stomach illnesses and severe ear infections.“Sometimes
it smells like a barn coming out of the faucet,” said Lisa Barnard, who
lives a few towns over, and just 15 miles from the city of Green Bay…Tests of her water showed it contained E. coli, coliform bacteria and other contaminants found in manure.
Last year, her 5-year-old son developed ear infections that eventually
required an operation. Her doctor told her they were most likely caused
by bathing in polluted water, she said."
You can find the full article here.
Sep 03
"Imagine an NGO receiving USDA grant money to construct a community
kitchen where farmers drop off produce and families join cooking
classes that teach about healthy eating while everyone prepares fresh
nutritious meals to bring home… Imagine a community using USDA money
to construct an open-sided structure to house a farmers market…
Imagine a school using USDA loan money to set up cold storage as part
of a larger effort to retrofit the school cafeteria to buy produce
directly from farmers and return cooking capacity for school lunch…
Imagine…"
-Deputy Secretary Merrigan, "Harnessing USDA rural development
programs to support local and regional food systems," August 26, 2009
(Thanks to the Organic Consumers Association for reporting on this)