Would "Healthy Schools" Mean More Local Food

by: euclidarms

Sun Dec 13, 2009 at 07:42:43 AM PST

The proposed payment, supplementing funds provided by the federal government to subsidize school meals, would represent a rare instance of a local government kicking in to raise the quality of school food, especially around the idea of locally produced ingredients.

The provision makes a further distinction that would set the District apart from most jurisdictions that have embraced local foods in school meals: it would require that those fruits and vegetables come from farmers engaged in "sustainable practices."

This last requirement is sure to raise some eyebrows on Capitol Hil, where industrial agriculture-an industry heavily reliant on fertilizers and pesticides derived from fossil fuels-enjoys huge support and puts a giant lobbying effort into play. The D.C. "Healthy Schools" proposal, which must ultimately be approved by Congress, defines "sustainable practices" as those that "minimize carbon emissions and other environmental degradation, regenerate soil nutrients through crop rotation or other methods that minimize environmental impact, avoid the use of chemical fertilizers, sythetic pesticides and herbicides,.."

And, in a move that could significantly shift some thinking about how D.C. schools source the meats and dairy products they serve to children-as well as bringing the city more into line with good food advocates-the bill includes under its sustainability umbrella agricultural techniques that "avoid non-therapeutic antibiotics and hormones." Antibiotics and hormones are routinely used to increase production in industrial-scale dairies and feedlot operations, raising concerns and a fierce debate over possible impacts on human health  as well as animal treatment.

Introduced jointly by Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) and Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray, the proposal (read more here and here) could have some immediate impact on the way food service providers source their products for D.C. schools. It states that "public schools shall not enter into food service contracts that prohibit the purchase" of locally and sustainably grown farm products. It also requires food service providers to "identify, disclose, and certify the location where fruits and vegetables are grown and processed and whether growers are engaged in sustainable practices."

The proposed legislation represents a huge gift to advocates of locally and sustainably grown farm products. But it may be more carrot than stick. The bill says that public schools-including charter schools-must serve foods grown locally and sustainably "whenever possible," with a preference for foods "grown or processed" in Maryland or Virginia. Tight food budgets as well as a food distribution network not necessarily geared to locally and sustainably grown products could sorely test the meaning of "whenever possible."

The bill contains other suggestions for increasing the use of local products, and boosting the local farm economy. It calls on schools to "collaborate" with the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, community organizations and food service providers "in teaching students and food service staff about the economic, environmental, and nutritional benefits of purchasing and eating" local foods.

The bill would require the state superintendent of education to issue grants toward developing programs that advance a farm-to-school program, but only "when funds are appropriated." It also calls on schools to adopt programs such as a "local flavor week" or a "harvest of the month" that promote local foods.

In the last year, a D.C. Farm to School Network, organized by the Capitol Area Food Bank, has emerged to encourage farm-to-school practices. It's largest event to date was a highly successful "Local Flavor Week" in September that resulted in cooking demonstrations and other food-related activities in dozens of D.C. schools.

Full disclosure: I am a member of the D.C. Farm to School Network's advisory board and had a hand in writing some of the sustainability language that appears in the "Healthy Schools" legislation.

New D.C. Law Would Embrace Healthy, Sustainable School Food

by: euclidarms

Sun Dec 13, 2009 at 07:34:37 AM PST

I haven't had a chance to digest everything in this 24-page bill, but it places heavy emphasis on schools making meals "whenever possible" with local products grown without artificial fertilizers, pesticides or non-therapeutic antibiotics or growth hormones. It also would phase out styrofoam trays and non-reclycable eating utensils in favor of "sustainable products." It bans from schools all sports drinks, sodas, iced teas and "juices" with minimal actual fruit, except when provided free by parents or sold at sporting and other extra-curricular events. More stringent nutrition standards would be phased in over a four-year period.

The law, which would go into effect in August 2010, would require schools to work with other city agencies to establish school gardens-including taking out asphalt when necessary-and work gardening and good nutrition practices into school curricula.

I could quibble with the legislation's fixation on fat in school meals while still allowing chips, popcorn, doughnuts, cookies and other junk food. School foods would not be permitted to contain more than 35 percent added sugar by weight. I'm not exactly sure if that covers all the candy currently available in school "stores." It also would allow schools to continue serving chocolate and other flavored milk with added sugar. Otherwise, this bill appears to be a wish list for advocates of local, minimally-processed and sustainably grown farm products, of which I am certainly one, and would bring the District of Columbia into the 21st Century where the good food movement is concerned.

In fact, I can say that I played a small hand in recommending some of the standards for what constitutes "local" and "sustainable," and I'm glad that Mary Cheh and Vincent Gray have gone out on a limb to press for foods grown without artificial fertilizers, pesticides, growth hormones, antibiotics. The bill would even require the school system to chip in an extra five cents for school meals built around such products, in addition to the federal subsidies received through the the national school lunch plan. The federal government currently provides $2.68 for school lunches that are fully subsidized.

Schools would still be allowed to serve canned fruits and vegetables, but the legislation sets a limit on the amount of sodium those food may contain. School would not be allowed to offer junk foods as incentives or prizes.

The proposed legislation also deals with standards for making schools more environmentally sound, right down to setting a maximum time limit (one minute) that school buses can be left idling.

I can't wait for the public hearings. Meanwhile, I'll be mining these pages for more details.

Riding through Nevada

by: la motocycliste

Thu Oct 01, 2009 at 12:50:50 PM PDT

Eventually, you get tired, and start looking for food, water, a safe place to sleep. In Nevada, most of these amenities are attached to casinos

Balancing Fisheries on the Backs of Workers

by: JayinPortland

Mon Aug 03, 2009 at 09:07:30 AM PDT

With too many boats chasing too few crab, fishermen started going broke. They also -- literally -- started going under. In the scramble to catch as much of the quota as possible, boats frequently sailed into fierce Bering Sea storms, and some never returned. Between 1989 and 2005, 10 crab boats sank in the Sea, taking 51 men with them. Another 34 men were lost overboard or killed.

Let's talk about this below the fold...

Food Insecurities

by: Ellinorianne

Sun Jul 05, 2009 at 23:10:28 PM PDT

I started this journey recently in attempting to change my relationship with food, the issues surrounding food sustainability and our Nation's struggle with obesity.  Just last week the latest numbers showed that obesity continues to increase in all fifty states.  It's not looking pretty.

And now that I've made it partway through David Kessler's book, The End of Overeating I have more to say about the unbearable weight of being obese.  The revelations are startling to say the least.

Sampler Platter: 07.03.2009

by: JayinPortland

Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 16:53:25 PM PDT

• So how long until Monsanto or Dow seek to patent all goats?  From state highway departments to vineyards to city governments, an increase is being seen nationwide in using goats and sheep to control invasives, maintain lawns and clear fire-prone grasses.  Maybe Matt Damon was onto something when he told Robin Williams, "I wanna be a shepherd."  So do I, man.  So do I...

• From Indian Country Today, here's a piece on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation's resource management plan that puts First Foods at the center of their conservation efforts.

  "We're using this to develop curriculum for the tribe's community school and also using it as a framework for developing a diabetes prevention program for the tribe's clinic," [Eric] Quaempts, [director of the CTUIR Department of Natural Resources] said. "The first foods themselves are healthy. The act of going out and acquiring them is healthy."

• At last count (1990) there were over 200,000 Pacific Walruses.  There is some controversy over last week's estimate, but either way it seems their numbers have diminished significantly.  Maybe to as low as 15,164.  As Brendan Cummings, spokesman for the Center for Biological Diversity, says - "You don't need to know if there are 500 passenger or 1,000 passengers on the Titanic. When it hits an iceberg, they're all endangered ".  The final assessment is due in January.

• Are wolverines establishing themselves further south than thought?  Researchers have now caught pictures of a second wolverine on Mount Adams in Southwest Washington, from where the last known wolverine populations were wiped out by trapping in the 1800s.

• A piece from NPR looks at the City of Seattle's decision to stop using soybean-based biofuels for its vehicle fleet.  Also, The Oregonian brings us a piece on how Southern Oregon's Klamath County is adapting for a changing future.

• The feedlot fight is still on in Eastern Washington, where environmental groups and family farmers are suing to prevent a proposed new 30,000-head cattle feedlot from taking advantage of a state law that would allow the operation to draw unlimited water from wells in one of the driest regions of America.

A Follow up to The Unbearable Weight of Being Obese, this is Political

by: Ellinorianne

Wed Jun 03, 2009 at 11:57:09 AM PDT

Yesterday I wrote a diary entitled, The Unbearable Weight of Being Obese and was overwhelmed by the response.  I want to follow it up with some important points I think that are relevant to not only a community diary but to the progressive political movement that many of us here at Daily Kos support.

With the emergence of recent books such as Pollan's, The Omnivores Dilemma and his other book, In Defense of Food we've seen a growing movement for how we relate to our food, it's impact on our environment and the questioning of large AG Business and Corporate influence on our food choices.

Sustainable By Any Other Name...

by: Jill Richardson

Sat May 30, 2009 at 15:20:29 PM PDT

That may be the case, but apparently sustainable by any other name makes you sound like a dirty hippie. And our government doesn't want no stinkin' dirty hippies.

A few weeks ago, Obama Foodorama posted that sustainable is now the USDA's #1 adjective of choice. Well, if they are serious, that's a good thing. But keep in mind that everyone from Coke and Pepsi to pesticide maker DuPont thinks they are sustainable (judging by their attendance at the upcoming Sustainable Brands conference). And there's the Sustainable Agriculture Summit in Chicago with attendees like ConAgra, Sara Lee, and Subway. And don't forget Monsanto, who claims it's also sustainable (just like Fox News is "fair and balanced").

In other words, go ahead and use the word sustainable. It's been adopted, watered down, and all but ruined by the big guys, so nobody is going to think you're actually threatening them with real sustainability. But what if you used the word "agroecology" instead? Rumor has it that that's not so good. I have heard through the grapevine from sustainable agriculture advocates that they have been counseled not to use the term "agroecology" when approaching the U.S. government about their concerns. They got the advice from a well-meaning friend on Capitol Hill who basically let them know that they'd be perceived as radical hippies if they said it. But "sustainable"? That word is OK. Thanks, Monsanto!

Some Unintentional Humor from the Biotech Industry

by: Jill Richardson

Mon May 18, 2009 at 11:47:07 AM PDT

Sustainability is more than just a buzzword; it is increasingly the benchmark by which consumers, investors and governments evaluate products and technologies. The challenges of population growth and global climate change will require sustainable and creative solutions to meet increasing demands for food and fuel.

Today, BIO has assembled top executives from British Petroleum, Coco-Cola, DuPont, McKinsey & Company and Burrill & Company, government and policy leaders from the Center for Environmental Leadership in Business and National Corn Growers Association, and Andrew Young Jr., Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations to examine the question of future sustainability.

I've replied to the email asking for more information, since I can't make it to Atlanta for the event. But I am dying to hear what Coca-Cola and DuPont have to contribute to sustainability.

Could Food Shortages End our Civilization as we Know it?

by: Ellinorianne

Thu Apr 23, 2009 at 09:55:54 AM PDT

That's the question that Lester R. Brown asks in his fascinating piece for Scientific American, Could Food Shortages Bring Down Civilization?.  And it's a valid question, especially since those of us in America who have a vast abundance of over processed and cheap food could never even consider this a problem.

For many years I have studied global agricultural, population, environmental and economic trends and their interactions. The combined effects of those trends and the political tensions they generate point to the breakdown of governments and societies. Yet I, too, have resisted the idea that food shortages could bring down not only individual governments but also our global civilization.

I can no longer ignore that risk. Our continuing failure to deal with the environmental declines that are undermining the world food economy-most important, falling water tables, eroding soils and rising temperatures-forces me to conclude that such a collapse is possible.

Delving into the Food Sustainability Issues

by: Ellinorianne

Fri Apr 17, 2009 at 14:29:18 PM PDT

Mother Jones held a MoJo Forum: Is Organic and Local So 2008? with some dissenting voices to respond to Paul Roberts declaration that, well, Organic and the Locavore movement is Spoiled.

Our industrial food system is rotten to the core. Heirloom arugula won't save us. Here's what will.

Wes Jackson and Wendell Berry: "A 50-Year Farm Bill"

by: JayinPortland

Mon Jan 05, 2009 at 01:13:54 AM PST

The extraordinary rainstorms last June caused catastrophic soil erosion in the grain lands of Iowa, where there were gullies 200 feet wide. But even worse damage is done over the long term under normal rainfall - by the little rills and sheets of erosion on incompletely covered or denuded cropland, and by various degradations resulting from industrial procedures and technologies alien to both agriculture and nature.

Soil that is used and abused in this way is as nonrenewable as (and far more valuable than) oil. Unlike oil, it has no technological substitute - and no powerful friends in the halls of government.

There isn't really much I can add.  An absolute must-read from two of the strongest voices out there in support of sustainable agriculture.

For 50 or 60 years, we have let ourselves believe that as long as we have money we will have food. That is a mistake. If we continue our offenses against the land and the labor by which we are fed, the food supply will decline, and we will have a problem far more complex than the failure of our paper economy. The government will bring forth no food by providing hundreds of billons of dollars to the agribusiness corporations.

Tell USDA: 30 Days Not Long Enough To Decide The Future Of Family Farms

by: JayinPortland

Sun Nov 30, 2008 at 00:38:56 AM PST

Problem is, they also took the opportunity at the same time to rewrite the existing organic livestock standards; and only allowed a 60-day public comment period on these complex, sweeping new proposals...which said period also happens to coincide with the Fall Harvest and the busy Thanksgiving and December holiday season.  Many of these changes will affect small family farmers who don't have teams of lawyers on staff full-time, and the organizations doing their best to represent them have needed the past month just to fully understand the effects of these proposed changes.

Local First This Holiday Season

by: JayinPortland

Thu Nov 27, 2008 at 21:33:52 PM PST

I'm not gonna think that I can influence the shopping habits of America with one blog post, but I am going to ask you the favor of at least considering what I have to say.  If you're gonna shop tomorrow, at least consider our neighbors and our neighborhoods.  America is in the late stages of a serious disease, but fortunately there's a cure...

De-Paving Our Way Back to Workable Cities

by: JayinPortland

Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 05:56:22 AM PDT

This is one of the few neighborhoods in Portland I'd say qualifies as a food desert, and probably the only one in our inner city core that would qualify as same.  The only food stores within walking distance are two corner markets which sell almost exclusively snacks, soda and beer...and a gas station c-store 6 blocks over on MLK which sells the same.  The largest food retailer in the area?  The "Hostess / Wonder Bread Factory Warehouse Store" on N. Vancouver, one block up and over from the Fargo Garden site.  And of course, the sole reason for that place's existence is to sell nutritionally bankrupt 'food' items like white bread and Twinkies.  Would it surprise you to also find out that this neighborhood has historically been one of Portland's very few majority African-American neighborhoods?

Below the fold, more words and a look at other successful examples of reworking cities to the advantage of people over machines...