Should Food Stamps Pay for Soda? One Activist Says No

by: Jill Richardson

Tue Jan 18, 2011 at 21:15:31 PM PST

Bob Waldrop, an activist in Oklahoma City, gives a very thoughtful answer to this question as he explains why he thinks food stamps should not pay for pop. You can see the original on his blog here and it is posted below with his permission.

Robbing Food Stamps to Fund School Lunch... You Stay Classy, U.S. Senate!

by: Jill Richardson

Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 13:48:27 PM PDT

UPDATE: See Ezra Klein's analysis of this here

Want a Cook for Good Tour stop in your area?

by: CookforGood

Thu Apr 01, 2010 at 07:52:42 AM PDT

The tour will raise money for the Community Food Security Coalition and other local anti-hunger or environmental groups.

Want a tour stop in your town? Read below for details.

More on Food Stamps for Fast Food

by: Jill Richardson

Fri Feb 19, 2010 at 13:42:58 PM PST

Restaurants in the program include Domino's Pizza, Papa John's, and other pizza places, Subway, El Pollo Loco, Jack in the Box, California Donuts, a number of burger joints, Popeye's Chicken, Church's Chicken, and other fried chicken restaurants, some BBQ restaurants, Denny's, Wendy's, some Chinese restaurants, and really not much else.  

Food Stamps Allowed for Fast Food. WTF??!

by: Jill Richardson

Thu Feb 18, 2010 at 19:17:00 PM PST

Why are they doing this? They told NPR that:

Our goal is to provide healthy meals for the homeless, disabled and elderly participants. Especially the homeless because they don't have space to store food or cook.

I understand the idea of allowing those groups to buy hot meals with food stamps. I know it's something that came up in a recent Congressional hearing on nutrition that specifically focused on food stamps in California. But Jack-in-the-Box? As a bleeding heart liberal, I am outraged for ethical reasons, but as a taxpayer, I am outraged as well. The same group that is eligible for food stamps is often eligible for Medicaid. So, great, go give them diabetes so that we can pay for treating it for the rest of their lives.

House Ag Committee Hearing on Federal Nutrition Programs, Part 2

by: Jill Richardson

Thu Jan 28, 2010 at 22:48:04 PM PST

Panel II:

Guillermo Valenzuela, MD
Arrowhead Regional Medical Center

Webster Wong, MD
Arrowhead Regional Medical Center

Matthew Sharp, Senior Advocate
California Food Policy Advocates, Los Angeles, California

Edie Jessup, Program Development Specialist
Central California Regional Obesity Prevention Project of Central California Center for Health and Human Services, Fresno, California

Mathew Marsom, Director of Public Health Policy and Advocacy
Public Health Institute, Oakland, California

Claudia Page, Co-Director
The Center to Promote HealthCare Access, Oakland, California

House Ag Committee Hearing on Federal Nutrition Programs, Part 1

by: Jill Richardson

Thu Jan 28, 2010 at 17:44:24 PM PST

Panel 1
Lisa Pino, Deputy Administrator
USDA's Food and Nutrition Service

Christine Webb-Curtis, Chief
California Department of Social Services, Food Stamp Branch

Nancy Swanson, Director
Human Services Transitional Assistance Department of San Bernardino, CA

Sampler Platter 12.01.09

by: JayinPortland

Tue Dec 01, 2009 at 05:09:29 AM PST

• Consumer Reports brings us some disturbing news about store-bought chicken. Two-thirds of fresh, whole broilers "harbored salmonella and/or campylobacter".  The amazing thing is that this is actually an improvement over their last survey in 2007.

• It's time for the 2009 Holiday Ale Festival here in Portland!  The event begins tomorrow and goes on through Sunday, Downtown in Pioneer Courthouse Square.  If you come on the right day I might just pour you one myself!  The O brings us a Q&A with one of the event's organizers.

• Go Oakland!  A local blogger writes about a new produce market which recently opened on Telegraph in the city's Temescal neighborhood.

• Staying in Oakland for one more, here's a piece on City Slicker Farms' plans for two small parks in West Oakland.

• Food stamp purchases at New York City's Greenmarkets have increased 125% over the past year.

• Now these are some holiday gift ideas I can support!  "The sweetest gifts of all come from your own kitchen"...

• After massive and high-profile failures in Texas and Indiana, the federal government is warning states not to privatize food stamps.  Now if only they would use their power to do more to dissuade same besides simply writing "strongly worded letters"...

• Are urban hunting clubs the next step in the local foods movement?

• A new video shot by Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife officials confirms the existence of a pack of at least 10 gray wolves in Eastern Oregon.

There's this little girl

by: Youffraita

Mon Aug 31, 2009 at 16:23:23 PM PDT

Portland-Area Farmers' Markets Seek to Draw in More Poor

by: JayinPortland

Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 05:24:12 AM PDT

So the Lents International Farmers' Market in Portland has commissioned a bus to offer free rides to residents of four low-income housing projects. The Forest Grove Farmers' Market is offering a class on how to shop at the market on a budget.

The manager of the Oregon City Farmers' Market goes door to door in a low-income public housing project, trying to persuade residents to give the market a try. And this fall, a "micro market" will open in Portland's Cully neighborhood, run by market officials from wealthier Hollywood.

It's a long process, and the article goes on to mention some of the early struggles and setbacks encountered thus far, but it's still encouraging to see these efforts and ideas spreading, and that those involved are maintaining their enthusiasm.  It's especially important to reach out and disabuse people of the false notion that farmers' markets are some preserve of the elite, and it's great to see that some markets are literally taking that message door-to-door.  

Despite the fact that we still have a ways to go, here's one sign that these efforts are already paying off: Oregon Trail (EBT) card usage is up over 100% from last year at many markets in the region, and the article claims that usage is up 1,000% at the Oregon City market alone this year.  I'd be interested to see how the opinions of food stamp recipients towards farmers' markets have changed since (pdf) this 2005 OFMA study, which came out just one year after the first Portland farmers' market EBT pilot program launched in 2004.  Since then almost two-thirds of Portland-area farmers' markets now have the machines required to accept the cards, and new markets are receiving them every year.

Sampler Platter

by: Jill Richardson

Sat Jul 25, 2009 at 06:00:00 AM PDT

• What happens when a cropduster gets too close to an organic farm? Nothing good.

• Wanna take some action against NAIS? Click on the link and send an email to the USDA.

• Why are artisan producers so important? Read this article on a local salumi company and you'll begin to understand. From the age, breed, and feed of the pigs to the lack of nitrates to the unique recipes, Knight Salumi produces a product that just cannot be obtained through our corporate food system.

• "Three wise men" made a pilgrimage to DC last week: Wes Jackson, Wendell Berry, and Fred Kirschanmann. Here's a Q&A with the trio. I sure hope the politicians who met with them valued their input.

• Organics grew 118% (by acreage) worldwide between 2000 and 2007. Organics are still less than 1% of global agriculture, however. 97% of spending on organics occurs in the U.S. and E.U. I think this is probably only looking at CERTIFIED organics - who knows how much uncertified land is managed organically in developing countries by people who never converted to industrial techniques.

• ACTION: Re-examine our trade agreements. The TRADE Act looks like a great bill to support.

• A Pennsylvania school board didn't want to hear the consequences of allowing a CAFO to locate near where the school buses are parked. You can see the presentation they WOULD have seen at the link.

• Here's a great article on bogus "local" campaigns by major corporations who are anything but.

• Hillary Clinton thinks Indian farmer suicides are due to a need for loans. Well, sort of. If you want to take a really shallow view of it, then yes. But there's a lot more to the story than just that, and I doubt Hillary wants to "go there" because it might involve questioning free trade and industrial agriculture.

• Food stamps are getting easier to use at farmers' markets, says the NYT. GOOD. This is a very hot topic near where I live. We had no markets that took food stamps a little over a year ago. Now we have several, and it really wasn't that difficult to set up (so I'm told). Yet, most markets around here STILL don't take food stamps, because those in charge haven't taken the steps to do so (and presumably either haven't thought about it or don't want to).

• What's going on in California's Central Valley? Well, it's not good. As the water dried up, so did the paychecks. This article calls Fresno "California's Detroit."

• A new study smacks down Monsanto. From the abstract:

  Chronic health effects are increasing in the world such as cancers, hormonal, reproductive, nervous, or immune diseases, even in young people. During regulatory toxicological subchronic tests to prevent these on mammalian health, prior commercialization of chemicals, including pesticides and drugs, or GMOs, some statistically significant findings may be revealed. This discussion is about the need to investigate the relevant criteria to consider those as biologically significant. The sex differences and the non linear dose or time related effects should be considered in contrast to the claims of a Monsanto-supported expert panel about a GMO, the MON 863 Bt maize, but also for pesticides or drugs, in particular to reveal hormone-dependent diseases and first signs of toxicities.

Irony

by: Jill Richardson

Fri Jun 26, 2009 at 08:51:43 AM PDT

It was a link to a Boston Public Health Commission site. I looked all over their website for evidence of this program and found nothing. I emailed them and came up with nothing. In the end, we changed the sentence in the book, documented it with a recent Jane Black article describing a similar program in other cities, and left it at that. That was just a few days ago.

So how do you like this? The first thing I saw in my email box this morning was the headline: "Vouchers double value of food stamps at Boston farmers' markets." Aha! It was my elusive footnote!!! It said:

A new city program designed to expanded access to locally grown fruits and vegetables will give people vouchers to double the value of food stamps at 14 farmers' markets in Boston.

The vouchers, dubbed Boston Bounty Bucks, are now available at 14 of the city's roughly 22 farmers' markets. Shoppers will be able to swipe their benefit cards on portable credit card readers at the market to receive up to $20 in vouchers by spending $10 worth of food stamps.

A new program? I swear they did this before. I KNOW I didn't make this up. Even the name Boston Bounty Bucks sounded familiar! Further down the article they admitted that it wasn't entirely new, saying:

Late last summer, a pilot program that involved Boston Bounty Bucks added seven more farmers' markets, but technical hiccups prevented the initiative from fully taking hold, Greene said.

Great. At least I'm not crazy.

Oregon Subscription Farm Cooperative Wins Approval To Accept Food Stamps

by: JayinPortland

Fri May 08, 2009 at 17:55:08 PM PDT

The Siskiyou Sustainable Cooperative, a group of farmers who deliver fresh vegetables and other products to customers weekly on a subscription basis, has won state approval to accept Oregon Trail Cards (food stamps) starting in July.

It was apparently a long and arduous process, but now hopefully this will set a precedent for others who'd like to go down this path.  This can only benefit everybody involved.

Noting the higher cost of organic food and its image as "for the wealthy," Powell said bringing low-income consumers into the loop changes that image and economically strengthens local organic growers.

[...]

Powell said the Oregon Trail Card is helping low-income people eat well in hard economic times. "It's an excellent way for children, the elderly and at-risk families to access food that can nourish them and prevent illness and obesity."

Warrantless Home Searches for Food Stamp Recipients

by: Jill Richardson

Mon Apr 20, 2009 at 10:00:00 AM PDT

The San Diego district attorney adopted a policy in 1997 under which applicants for welfare benefits must agree to a "walk through" of their residence while they are present. The inspectors check on whether the applicant has an eligible dependent child and has the amount of assets claimed. They also check on whether a supposedly "absent" parent lives at the residence. If residents refuse to permit a home visit, they can lose their benefits.

So that's how you get the distinguished title of "lowest food stamp participation rate" in the U.S. And a judge ruled that this is legal because they aren't searching for evidence of a crime. Legal, perhaps - but smart? Definitely not. How many kids are going hungry because of this insane policy?

(Hat tip to Lucas for sending this story my way.)

Monday Evening Sampler Platter

by: JayinPortland

Mon Mar 23, 2009 at 16:00:00 PM PDT

• A new restaurant near the University of Texas at Arlington, which uses locally grown, organic ingredients as much as possible, has a no-set-price policy, and asks customers to discreetly pay (in an envelope) afterwards for what they thought the meal was worth.  The idea is based upon an existing Salt Lake City non-profit community kitchen's model.  Can it work for a commercial establishment?  So far, the restaurant is coming up just short, although it's only two months old and the business itself is always a rough one.

• The City of Berkeley, CA may soon transform all of its parks and open spaces into habitats for bees, in an effort to reverse the recent global decline of pollinators.

• If you're in Kansas, you can vote for the best food in the state from now until March 31.  Unfortunately, restaurants must be at least a decade old in order to be considered, so that rules out Lawrence's Local Burger for at least the next 7 years.  I'm sure there's something else worth considering in Lawrence, though...

• USDA will update its Plant Hardiness Zone Map later this year, for the first time since 1990, to reflect the climate-change induced shifts of planting zones northward.

More below the fold...