La Vida Locavore is the blog for anyone whose crazy life includes planting, growing, weeding, fertilizing, raising, picking, harvesting, processing, cooking, baking, making, serving, buying, selling, distributing, transporting, composting, organizing around, lobbying about, writing about, thinking about, talking about, playing with, and eating food!
Agriculture
Chair: Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
- Max Baucus (D-MT)
- Michael Bennet (D-CO)
- Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
- Bob Casey (D-PA)
- Kent Conrad (D-ND)
- Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
- Tom Harkin (D-IA)
- Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
- Pat Leahy (D-VT)
- Ben Nelson (D-NE)
- Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
- Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
- Thad Cochran (R-MS)
- John Cornyn (R-TX)
- Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
- Mike Johanns (R-NE)
- Dick Lugar (R-IN)
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Pat Roberts (R-KS)
- John R. Thune (R-SD)
Appropriations
Chair: Daniel Inouye (D-HI) Ag Sub-Committee
Chair: Herb Kohl (D-WI)
- Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
- Dick Durbin (D-IL)
- Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
- Tom Harkin (D-IA)
- Tim Johnson (D-SD)
- Ben Nelson (D-NE)
- Jack Reed (D-RI)
- Robert Bennett (R-UT)
- Christopher Bond (R-MO)
- Sam Brownback (R-KS)
- Thad Cochran (R-MS)
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Arlen Specter (R-PA)
Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions
- Chris Dodd (D-CT)
Agriculture
Chair: B Collin Peterson (D-MN)
V. Chair: B Tim Holden (D-PA)
B Joe Baca (D-CA)
- John Boccieri (D-OH)
B* Leonard Boswell (D-IA)
- Bobby Bright (D-AL)
B* Dennis Cardoza (D-CA)
- Travis Childers (D-MS)
B Jim Costa (D-CA)
- Henry Cuellar (D-TX)
- Kathy Dahlkemper (D-PA)
B Brad Ellsworth (D-IN)
- Debbie Halvorson (D-IL)
B Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD)
- Steve Kagen (D-WI)
- Larry Kissell (D-NC)
B Frank Kratovil (D-MD)
- Betsy Markey (D-CO)
B Jim Marshall (D-GA)
P Eric Massa (D-NY)
B Mike McIntyre (D-NC)
- Walt Minnick (D-ID)
B Earl Pomeroy (D-ND)
- Mark Schauer (D-MI)
- Kurt Schrader (D-OR)
B David Scott (D-GA)
B Zachary Space (D-OH)
- Timothy Walz (D-MN)
- Frank Lucas (R-OK)
- Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
- K. Michael Conaway (R-TX)
- Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE)
- Virginia Foxx (R-NC)
- Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)
- Sam Graves (R-MO)
- Timothy Johnson (R-IL)
- Steve King (R-IA)
- Robert Latta (R-OH)
- Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO)
- Cynthia Lummis (R-WY)
- Jerry Moran (R-KS)
- Randy Neugebauer (R-TX)
- Phil Roe (R-TN)
- Mike Rogers (R-AL)
- Jean Schmidt (R-OH)
- Adrian Smith (R-NE)
- Glenn Thompson (R-PA) *=House Organic Caucus member B=Blue Dog Democrat
Appropriations
Chair: Dave Obey (D-WI) Ag Sub-Committee
Chair: P Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)
- Sanford Bishop (D-GA)
* Allen Boyd (D-FL)
- Lincoln Davis (D-TN)
*P Sam Farr (D-CA)
*P Maurice D. Hinchey (D-NY)
P Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)
P Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
- Jack Kingston (R-GA)
- Rodney Alexander (R-LA)
- Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO)
* Tom Latham (R-IA) *=House Organic Caucus member
P=Congressional Progressive Caucus
Education and Labor
P Chair: George Miller (D-CA)
- Jason Altmire (D-PA)
- Robert Andrews (D-NJ)
- Timothy Bishop (D-NY)
P Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
- Joe Courtney (D-CT)
- Susan Davis (D-CA)
P Marcia Fudge (D-OH)
P Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)
P Phil Hare (D-IL)
- Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX)
P Mazie Hirono (D-HI)
- Rush Holt (D-NJ)
- Dale Kildee (D-MI)
P Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
P Dave Loebsack (D-IA)
- Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY)
P Donald Payne (D-NJ)
- Jared Polis (D-CO)
- Robert Scott (D-VA)
- Joe Sestak (D-PA)
- Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH)
P John Tierney (D-MA)
- Dina Titus (D-NV)
- Paul Tonko (D-NY)
P Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)
- David Wu (D-OR)
- Buck McKeon (R-CA)
- Judy Biggert (R-IL)
- Rob Bishop (R-UT)
- Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
- Michael Castle (R-DE)
- Vernon Ehlers (R-MI)
- Luis F Fortuno (R-PR)
- Brett Guthrie (R-KY)
- Peter Hoekstra (R-MI)
- Duncan D. Hunter (R-CA)
- John Kline (R-MN)
- Kenny Marchant (R-TX)
- Tom McClintock (R-CA)
- Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)
- Thomas Petri (R-WI)
- Phil Roe (R-TN)
- Todd Russell Platts (R-PA)
- Tom Price (R-GA)
- Mark Souder (R-IN)
- GT Thompson (R-PA)
- Joe Wilson (R-SC) P=Congressional Progressive Caucus
Note that it requires the free application Google Earth, which I would recommend to anyone who doesn't already have it. It's quite fun to zoom in and out to different farms, facilities, and distribution services in a nonlinear, interactive exploration of their food network. It's a bit dated (2008), but is probably still a good way to get a feel for how diverse and (not completely) local such networks can be.
For a related article, see this discussion of Green Colleges:
This reminds me of the quote "It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the air force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber." It is cross-posted with permission from the author from Huffington Post.
State of the Union's School Lunch: Nutrition as National Defense and Fiscal Health
by Debra Eschmeyer
Don't make us tighten our belts on child nutrition programs while the girth of the nation grows. The government spends $1 million per soldier in Afghanistan, yet barely spends $1 on the food in a school lunch.
The Children's Fruit and Vegetable Act was introduced by Sam Farr with 15 co-sponsors. While the text is not yet online, the bill intends to increase the availability of (you guessed it) fresh fruits and veggies in school cafeterias - including $50 million in mandatory funding for the Farm to School Program. This bill now sits in the rather progressive House Education and Labor Committee and the not-so-progressive Agriculture Committee.
And - as it turns out - that's just one bill of two that provides $50 million in mandatory funding to Farm to School. The other is a soon-to-be-introduced bill by Rep. Rush Holt. Stay tuned and I will post details about these bills here as they become available.
Last year, [Multnomah County Sustainability Manager Kat] West discovered that public agencies in Oregon had not made a great effort to buy local goods, primarily because they were not supposed to. What they were supposed to do was find and accept the lowest responsive bid. If the prison system can get apples cheaper from New Zealand than from Hood River, those were the apples prison purchasing staff were supposed to buy.
[...]
So, working with the Portland / Multnomah Food Policy Council, a citizens advisory panel, West last year decided to take on the state purchasing code. The result was House Bill 2763, which takes effect in January.
The law allows public purchasing agencies to give preference to local food products if the price difference is as much as 10%, or in some cases slightly more, over the lowest bidder from outside of Oregon. The bill, however, does not actually require agencies to do so... and the article goes on to mention that since no extra state funds will be allocated (for now) towards these purchases, we still have a ways to go on this issue. Hopefully we can touch it up a bit, right along with again fighting for Oregon Farm-to-School (which unfortunately failed to pass again this year) in the next legislative session.
We've got friends in Salem, and we're close. Rep. Brian Clem (D-Salem), who introduced HB 2800, the Oregon Farm-to-School bill, also tried earlier this year to introduce a companion bill to require local purchasing, but his attempts there met resistance from the Oregon Department of Administrative Services.
The Oregon Legislature will meet for a short session early in 2010, and one thing Salem Democrats will be pushing for is a move to annual sessions, as opposed to the current every other year (odd-numbered years) legislative sessions. Oregon is currently one of only six states whose legislatures do not meet annually. Here's to hoping they succeed there, for many reasons...
Joshua Segall may be the first ever Farmers' Market Candidate for Congress. He runs a program called Homegrown Alabama that focuses on getting schools to buy their food from farmers.
Joshua was defeated in his first attempt to unseat Bush-Republican Representative Mike Rogers last fall. But this week the rematch was announced.
"It's time for a new direction. I am a fiscal conservative who will work to create and attract 21st Century jobs to east Alabama so that hardworking people can get ahead," said Segall.
"Alabama is suffering under irresponsible policies that bail out greedy executives who created this mess and leave hardworking Alabama families holding the bag. Rogers supported the Wall Street bailout, but did nothing for Main Street Alabama. He voted to send Alabama jobs overseas, when what we needed was a plan to create good jobs at home. It's time to stand up to special interest politics and put Alabama families first once again," said Segall.
The bill that will govern school lunch is called the Child Nutrition Reauthorization. Below, I've included a few things we can ask Congress to put in the bill, as well as some favorite resources for learning more about school lunch.
The number one story yesterday was the new White House garden. The Washington Post gets credit for the best pun, referring to the garden as a shovel-ready project. It will be an 1100 square foot garden on the south lawn with 55 kinds of vegetables. Best of all, school children (and all 4 members of the Obama family) will participate in gardening.
I can't help but get swept up in the excitement over the symbolism of the garden as well as the publicity it will bring to gardening and to eating fresh, local food. However, with Obama's position as the most powerful man in the world, I'd like to see him do more. Five years ago, Congress authorized a National Farm to School Program - but failed to fund it. Five years have gone by with no change. Now a major piece of child nutrition legislation is going through Congress so the timing is perfect. With his garden, Obama will bring change to the few lucky youngsters from Bancroft Elementary, but what about the rest of the nation?
As the clock ticks closer to 2009, it also brings us closer to a MAJOR piece of child nutrition legislation. Of course, in the post-depression era in which many of our federal nutrition programs were first created, "nutrition" basically meant making sure people had enough to eat and that they weren't malnourished. In other words, "nutrition programs" are generally hunger programs. In this context, nutrition programs often aren't controversial - especially when someone besides the hungry are benefiting from them (i.e. agribusiness). Naturally, Conservatives hate anything that resembles a "handout" so it's no surprise when they try to reduce the budgets for these nutrition programs... but on the other hand, they love corporate welfare and they don't mind the aspect of nutrition programs that basically subsidizes agribusiness.
Nowadays we have another problem to deal with as well: obesity. This is a harder sell, politically. For one thing, telling kids to eat less of anything - or making sure that they actually DO eat less - will cut into somebody's profits and most of those somebodies are rich and powerful (i.e. Coca Cola, Grocery Manufacturers of America, McDonalds, National Cattleman's Beef Assocation). Second of all, healthy food costs more than junk, and that means using taxpayer dollars to fund child nutrition programs with more than the absolute bare minimum amount to keep kids from starving. Add to that the issue that schools are already cash-strapped and usually the lunch program is a lower budgetary priority for them than teaching reading and math... in fact, sometimes the lunchroom is seen as an area to make money for the school. It's a difficult argument to make that schools should put more money into food if it means taking it out of education.
I've got a few ideas on specific things we can ask our legislators for when they write the Child Nutrition Reauthorization bill, listed below.
Great article up this morning in The Lake Oswego Review covering the Riverdale School District's meal program -
The 527-student Riverdale School District easily began a new lunch program a year and a half ago since they are not under the USDA's National School Lunch Program, a federally funded meal program, so that they can offer made-from-scratch, organic, local food.
and also brings up some of the obstacles currently facing districts who participate in USDA school meal programs in implementing their own lunch programs featuring more fresh local and seasonal foods. It's a bit encouraging that changes are (slowly...) coming along at the federal level, and really encouraging that many states and local districts are taking an active role in promoting farm-to-school programs at home...
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