| The big thing the bill does is establish an Office of Urban Ag within the USDA. That Office would encourage growing food in underserved communities, empower communities to eliminate shortages of fresh food, increase local food production and sales, create sustainable food systems (is this the first time a sitting member of Congress used the word "food systems" in a bill?), and link urban ag with food stamps & school lunch. AWESOME!
The bill also authorizes up to $20 million in microloans and grants that would go to organizations working toward urban ag. The only bad news there is that it does not look like it authorizes mandatory funding, which means that until the Appropriations Committee actually appropriates any money, the $20 million is all imaginary.
Then there's help for farmers markets - extra money to the Seniors Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (which gives money to eligible seniors that they can spend at farmers' markets) and loans to help farmers' markets build the infrastructure they need. The bill also requires the Ag Census (which occurs every 5 years) to include data on farmers markets and their economic impact.
Even better, this bill gives extra money to schools who teach kids about gardening or food production if the food they produce is used in meals. Currently, schools get about $2.68 per school lunch (less for breakfast). This bill provides an extra 20% for every meal that includes food from the school garden or other educational program (like ag internships). That's huge!!! Assuming the $2.68 stays the same (even though it will likely go up slightly once the Child Nutrition Reauthorization passes), that would be an extra $.53 per lunch!!!!!!!
Next, the bill calls for a pilot program of "Local Sustainability Grants." These grants would go to food banks or other community feeding programs to produce fresh fruit & veg while showing low income folks how to grow food in their yards or at community gardens; to process and distribut the fruits & veg they grow; and to provide extra food stamps for households who get the fresh fruit & veg. Since this is just a pilot program, it would only provide for 8 grants of up to $300,000 each. The program would be authorized for $2 million a year from 2011-2015, although again I don't think that's real money until the Appropriations Committee appropriates it.
Last, here's the list of co-sponsors:
William Clay [D-MO1]
Elijah Cummings [D-MD7]
Kathleen Dahlkemper [D-PA3]
Danny Davis [D-IL7]
Marcia Fudge [D-OH11]
Phil Hare [D-IL17]
Jesse Jackson [D-IL2]
Paul Kanjorski [D-PA11]
Dale Kildee [D-MI5]
Carolyn Kilpatrick [D-MI13]
Dennis Kucinich [D-OH10]
Barbara Lee [D-CA9]
James McGovern [D-MA3]
Gwen Moore [D-WI4]
Patrick Murphy [D-PA8]
Richard Neal [D-MA2]
Lucille Roybal-Allard [D-CA34]
Bobby Rush [D-IL1]
Timothy Ryan [D-OH17]
Brad Sherman [D-CA27]
Betty Sutton [D-OH13]
Paul Tonko [D-NY21]
Nydia Velázquez [D-NY12] |
