What is the Food and Farm Bill and why does Slow Food care?

Why do we care about the outcome of the current debate? Put starkly, the Food and Farm Bills of the past several decades subsidize farming and ranching that is not good, clean, or fair. The eventual bill will also affect whether some 45 million Americans eat because the largest program — up to 70% of Food and Farm Bill spending — is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), aka food stamps. The current House version of the bill would cut $20 billion out of SNAP and continue subsidies that, as proposed, go disproportionately to a few very wealthy corporations.

By: Charity Kenyon and Ed Yowell, Slow Food USA Regional Governors

Mark Bittman’s recent opinion blog on the Farm Bill inspired us to give the Slow Food perspective on this massive piece of legislation working its way through Congress.

Why do we care about the outcome of the current debate?

Put starkly, the Food and Farm Bills of the past several decades subsidize farming and ranching that is not good, clean, or fair. The eventual bill will also affect whether some 45 million Americans eat because the largest program — up to 70% of Food and Farm Bill spending — is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), aka food stamps. The current House version of the bill would cut $20 billion out of SNAP and continue subsidies that, as proposed, go disproportionately to a few very wealthy corporations.

The best citizen’s guide to this complex legislation may be Food Fight, the Citizens Guide to the Next Food and Farm Bill.

In the current debate, Slow Food USA has taken support positions in favor of amendments to the Food and Farm Bill that would:

• reform the subsidy programs
• support conservation
• support beginning and disadvantaged farmers
• support specialty crops (fruits and vegetables, not commodity corn and soy)
• promote rural development programs

Slow Food USA has opposed amendments that would:

• make drastic cuts to SNAP and other nutrition programs for the very young and elderly
• pre-empt states from requiring labeling of foods containing GE (genetically engineered) ingredients
• subsidize practices that pollute our shared air, soil, and water resources

We know that our individual, informed choices can support a good, clean, and fair food — essentially “voting with our forks.”

We also know that public policy at the federal level — spending billions of dollars — greatly influences what and how food is produced and how it impacts the environment, farmers and ranchers, farmworkers and ranch hands, food chain workers, and eaters. With our food and farm change allies, Slow Food USA advocates for Joy + Justice.

Charity Kenyon, Slow Food USA Governor, Central Valley Region of Californiaand Ed Yowell, Slow Food USA Governor, Northeast (NY, NJ, CT)

The Price of Perfection

It’s tough not being perfect. Everyone who has ever had a bad hair day knows that. And that’s no more true than for those misshapen, oddly sized fruits and vegetables that Mother Nature inevitably produces.

Originally posted by JoAnne Berkenkamp for the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

It’s tough not being perfect. Everyone who has ever had a bad hair day knows that. And that’s no more true than for those misshapen, oddly sized fruits and vegetables that Mother Nature inevitably produces. For them, the price of being imperfect is being consigned to a slow death, rotting in the farm field or the landfill, while their cosmetically perfect brothers and sisters head off to a grocery store near you.

Two fascinating reports from the Natural Resources Defense Council do a deft job of explaining why we should all care about “crop waste”—the widespread loss of otherwise edible fresh and vegetables that never make it past the farm gate or the landfill. One report, Wasted by Dana Gunders, looks at food waste across our food system. The other, Left-Out, looks specifically at fruit and vegetable losses on the farm.

The numbers reported by NRDC are astounding. For instance, from farm to fork, about 40 percent of all the food produced in the United States goes uneaten. That amounts to $165 billion of wasted food every year (a figure which, notably, is in the same ballpark as the annual cost of obesity). More than 6 billion pounds of fresh produce go unharvested or unsold each year, and preliminary data from a cluster of fruit and vegetable growers in California suggests that losses on the farm and in the packing stage range as high as 14–60 percent for a variety of common crops.

Why are losses on the farm so high? There are many contributing factors, but a big one that you and I play a part in is consumer demand for cosmetic perfection—for perfectly shaped peppers and uniform, bright red strawberries that seem to get bigger every year. The whole supply chain, from the farm to the grocery store. is geared toward meeting that expectation. From apples to zucchini, produce has to fit within very specific ranges for size, shape, color and other parameters. Some produce that doesn’t make it goes to a processor for juicing or other uses, but many of the imperfect fruit and vegetables never make it out of the field.

Other factors contribute to high waste rates as well. Contracting practices that are common in the produce industry, as well as the threat of bad weather, pests and price volatility, encourage growers to overplant. Labor shortages that are exacerbated by the sorry state of U.S. immigration policy are a factor too.

What’s more, when prices at the time of harvest are below the cost of getting the crop to market, it can make economic sense for farmers to leave some or all of their production in the field unharvested. Product specifications are also set by entities with enormous market power—such as major retail chains—while most of the risk associated with bad weather, supply gluts that force down prices, and Nature’s imperfections land in the laps of farmers.

And what else is wrong with this picture?

Let’s begin with the waste of food itself. As NRDC points out, reducing overall food waste by just 15 percent would provide enough food to feed more than 25 million Americans every year. Even though “the marketplace” may not want the crops that go to waste every day, current waste levels make no sense when looked at in the context of hunger, obesity, food justice and the impact of poor health on our economy.

Environmentally, crops that don’t make it to market involve significant uses of water, fertilizer, pesticides and other inputs. For instance, NRDC estimated that the unsold broccoli grown in just one county (Monterey County, California) required 2.5 billion gallons of water to grow (yes, that billions with a “b”, in a state where the water wars will only intensify as water becomes more scarce). Chemical fertilizers and pesticides impact farmworkers and the environment whether the product makes it to market or not.

Wasted crops also hold “imbedded carbon.” Carbon is released into the atmosphere when soil is tilled. Diesel fuel powers farm equipment and many agricultural chemicals start out life as crude oil. Further, only 3 percent of the food that is wasted between the farm and the fork is composted. When unsold crops end up in the landfill, they emit methane gas, a greenhouse gas at least 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.

And as noted above, farmers pay the price when they grow a crop only to plow it under or leave the edible-but-imperfect to rot. Farmer incomes are adversely impacted even though our fruit and vegetable producers grow the healthy foods that are needed by an increasingly unhealthy country. The irony is hard to beat.

Fortunately, a number of initiatives hold hope for addressing these issues. For instance, the Los Angeles Food Policy Council recently put out new food procurement guidelines calling on restaurants and institutional buyers to “buy lower on the beauty chain” by purchasing smaller and less aesthetically perfect produce. A commitment by colleges, schools, hospitals and other institutions to purchase such “seconds” could make a real difference back on the farm. Several states in the West provide tax credits to farmers who donate crops to state food banks (providing a more effective incentive than charitable donation deductions). The California Association of Food Banks’ Farm to Family program uses paid, skilled farm labor to harvest unmarketable produce that is then made available to food banks at greatly discounted prices. The European Parliament has even set the aggressive goal of reducing food waste by 50 percent by 2020.

These are steps in the right direction, but overall, food waste largely remains a hidden problem in the U.S., shrouded in a belief that we can afford to be wasteful and that waste doesn’t have real consequences. Alas, we all pay the price for perfection.

Perennial Plate: La Minga

A “Minga” is a traditional form of organization from 600-700 years ago in South America. Today, Nelson Escobar coordinates a large urban farm in order to collectively survive in a competitive society.

The Perennial Plate is a fantastic documentary series that explores socially responsible, sustainable and adventurous eating across the U.S.  Slow Food USA has a video content partnership with Perennial to showcase one of our favorite films every month.

This Month’s Perennial Plate Feature: La Minga

More after the jump

Can Ark of Taste survive Katrina and Isaac?

Lester & Linda L’Hoste have been working to preserve the organic Ark of Taste satsuma on their citrus farm in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and now Isaac.

Written by Poppy Tooker, former leader of Slow Food New Orleans

On August 29th, exactly seven years from the day that Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the surrounding area, a new storm blew in.  Isaac was not expected to be much of a storm event as it came onshore as a mere category one.

Lester and Linda L’Hoste, organic citrus farmers in Braithwaite, LA and Crescent City Farmers Market vendors did not evacuate.  As lifelong residents of Southern Louisiana, they had ridden out many a storm and believed this one was just going to bring a small amount of wind and rain.

The family enjoyed dinner together and Linda had spent the evening baking cookies before losing power about 10 pm.  At 2 am Lester’s phone rang with the news that the levees were in danger of being overtopped and that they needed to evacuate.  The water was rising quickly as the L’Hostes joined fifty other Braithwaite families trying to get out.  Soon, it became apparent that it was too late as water rushed over the top of the levee reaching the floorboard of the truck, trapping them there.

Many Slow Food USA members will remember the L’Hostes from efforts made after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. At that time, chapters across the country came together in countless ways to help farmers, fishers and chefs of Louisiana rebuild the local food system following Hurricane Katrina’s devastation.  That fall, the U.S. Ark of Taste committee sprang into action boarding several indigenous Gulf Coast foods suddenly endangered in the storm’s aftermath including the satsuma.

More after the jump

Wisdom from a New Generation of Farmers

Thoughts from 2 Colorado farmers looking to help bring down the average age for farmers & open up more opportunities for a new generation of growers.

Written by Aylin Saribudak, Real Time Farms Food Warrior

The average age of the American farmer is currently 57, which worries many who are watching the U.S. food system. Luckily, Remy Van Grack and Maya Osterman, of Lindenmeier Farm, are part of a new generation of farmers determined to roll back that number. They generously share their time with me to offer some of their philosophy, experience, and advice for those interested in how to get started in small-scale agriculture.

Maya feels that farming enables herself and Remy to effect positive change on a personal level. According to Maya, small-scale organic and sustainable agriculture has become increasingly popular over the past few years for many reasons. She feels it is good for the local economy and culture, comparatively positive for the environment and community health, and small-scale agriculture helps with food security. Food security is a serious issue – a handful of multi-national corporations increasingly control the food system.

More after the jump

Perennial Plate: A New Spin on Camp Food

We’ve teamed up with Daniel Klein and the folks over at Perennial Plate to deliver monthly video stories, our second dispatch features a truly unique youth summer camp.

The Perennial Plate is a fantastic documentary series that explores socially responsible, sustainable and adventurous eating across the U.S.  Slow Food USA has a video content partnership with Perennial to showcase one of our favorite films every month.

This Month’s Perennial Plate Feature: Youth Farm

More after the jump

Archive of Taste: The Appalachian Food Storybank

Preserving local food culture is more than just soil & seed. Slow Food Asheville’s Appalachian Food Storybank proves that it’s mainly about people.

Written By Deirdra Stockmann, Slow Food USA volunteer and former leader with Slow Food Huron Valley

The hills of Southern Appalachia and the people who live there have long been shaped by their foodways – the cultural, economic and geographic paths that weave people and land together. And those green hills have listened silently as generations have passed down recipes, farming techniques and stories about growing and eating together. People, of course, have listened to these stories as well, but most of them have never been recorded, some have been lost, and countless tales and tricks of the trade reside only in the minds and memories of the region’s elders.

In 2011, Slow Food Asheville created the Appalachian Food Storybank as a way to “acknowledge, honor, and archive Appalachian heritage foods and foodways in order to promote the preservation of diverse local knowledges, natural resources, and food biodiversity.” In less than two years, the program has established a committed group of volunteers, built partnerships with other organizations, and created an enthusiastic buzz among local media and area residents eager to help preserve their own local history.

More after the jump

Giving Food a Central Role in the ‘Dialogues’

What do “The Central Role of Food”, Slow Money, and “The Food Dialogues” have in common? Stephanie Georgieff went to Los Angeles to find out.

Written by Stephanie Georgieff, President and Co Founder of Slow Food Redlands, California

I was recently invited to attend an event hosted by the newly formed US Farmers and Ranchers Alliance(USFRA) entitled “The Food Dialogues”. As I made my way down to Los Angeles, where the event was being held, I could help but think of the dialogues that I had recently had within my Slow Food Chapter during our monthly book discussion group. The topic of discussion we chose was Slow Money by Woody Tasch, a passionate plea for reorienting the economy in terms of what is good for food, farms and fertility. This, coupled with the release of a document from Carlo Petrini and Slow Food International entitled “The Central Role of Food,” which was recently sent to Slow Food leaders from around the globe and is designed to promote a major world debate outside and inside the Slow Food and Terra Madre network ahead of the World Congress on October 27 – 29, 2012. These topics, along with the massive event I was about to attend, had me thinking, more than ever, about the role food plays in every aspect of our lives.

Our hosts for the event, USFRA is an alliance consisting of a wide range of prominent famer and rancher led organizations and agricultural partners. “The Food Dialogues” was their second attempt to intersect with popular culture to create awareness around how our food is produced. To their credit, the four panels were populated with representatives from the full spectrum of food interests. Small organic farmers, growers for large corporations, representatives from major food interests, scientists, members of the media and non profits were live streamed in webinar format to anyone who desired to participate. I met representatives from the National Corn Growers Association, the American Soybean Association and the National Pork Board.

More after the jump

Growing More Than Just Food at Growing Home

A plot of land for $1?! A small investment by Chicago’s Growing home has been transformed into a full-scale organic urban farm & helped transform the neighborhood as well.

Written by Michelle Stearn, Real Time Farms Food Warrior

What can you buy with a dollar? An apple, a small fry from McDonald’s, 4 gumballs, a Coke, or… a plot of land fit to bloom into a revolutionary urban farm on Chicago’s South Side. Yep, it’s true. Six years ago, the City of Chicago sold the 2/3 acre plot in Englewood to Growing Home for one measly buck. And now, not only has the land transformed into a full-scale organic farm, but it has helped transform the neighborhood as well. Their mission is to utilize organic agriculture as a vehicle for job training, employment, and community development. In other words, they are uplifting Chicago’s neighborhoods, one vegetable at a time. All of this is made possible with the hard work of interns seeking transitional employment – many of whom had troubles finding a job, sometimes due to former incarceration, a history of homelessness or substance abuse, or even simply a lack of education.

You might be thinking… This will never work. How will the harvest ever get picked? Those people are not trained in gardening – they have no experience as farmers. Well, consider this: in 2010, Growing Home’s Wood St. Urban Farm (the one I visited) grew and sold over 11,000 pounds of organic produce and brought in over $45,000 as income for the interns! They sell CSA Shares to community members, have a weekly market on Wood St., market their goods at Green City Market, and even sell their goods to Chicago restaurants like Big Bowl. If that’s enough to change your mind about the effectiveness of the program, you can stop reading now. But you probably shouldn’t, because there are so many other things that Growing Home is doing to help the community, it’s mind-boggling.

More after the jump

Perennial Plate’s American Food Trip

We’ve teamed up with Daniel Klein and the folks over at Perennial Plate to deliver monthly video stories, our first dispatch features highlights from An American Food (Road)Trip.

Nearly two-and-half years ago, Daniel Klein and his colleague Mirra Fine over at Perennial Plate set out to tell the stories of real food in the United States.  In their first two seasons, they filmed several terabytes of coverage and more than 100 episodes in nearly every state.  This season, they will embark on a bold new journey—telling the story of food culture internationally! Beginning this month, we’ll by teaming up with Perennial Plate, as a video content partner, for a regular monthly feature here on the Slow Food USA blog, lifting up new and interesting food stories told through video.  Over the next few months, we’ll be looking back at some of our combined highlights.  So without further ado, here’s one of their season recaps.  And don’t forget to tune in next month for more fun from the road!