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A couple of articles worth reading.

As featured on the Farm and Dairy.com commentary section, I wanted to direct my readers to a two-part commentary by Susan Crowell about the keys to achieving sustainable agriculture.

Both halves feature some great, simple thoughts about how sustainable agriculture can be a realistic possibility in this country, and she also directs her readers to check out some of the recent statements by the USDA’s Roger Beachy, whose background may be seen as controversial in the hardcore sustainablist’s camp.

Give the articles a read:

Part I

Part II

Beachy Keen Comments

Food 2030: A Sustainability Odyssey

The UK is way ahead of the US when it comes to being mindful of sustainable food sourcing and all that jazz.  Maybe it’s their European sensibilities or funny accents that makes them so.  In any case, the UK’s government has put together a manifesto of sorts, called Food 2030 complete with sofly-lit images of food and farms, which makes me think of a corporate presentation than an official government report.

The report is aggressive in the country’s goals for food production by the year 2030.  They specifically talk about increasing domestic UK food production and lowering greenhouse emissions, and all of the major themes that come to mind when talking about food production.

However, not wanting to let this slip by without a little jabbing, the USDA released the following “report” on the UK document, saying that:

“In general, Food 2030 is considered to be ambitious in its vision, but short in detail about how to achieve that vision. Its strategy very much relies on all stakeholders working together to deliver its aim of a secure and sustainable food supply, and on consumer demand rewarding that investment. That has been the UK government‟s favored approach to food policy of late, and is unlikely to change as competition for ever smaller public funds increases across government departments.”  – USDA GAIN Report, 1/21/2020

Now, it is not an official response or communication from the USDA.  It is merely an assessment of a document that may have effects on US trade. Even still, this type of reaction seems a little harsh, especially coming from the USDA, which has engaged in some equally vague rhetoric about sustainable food production.

Let’s take a little journey back in time, to September of 2009.  The USDA launches the “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” initiative, which has a lot of great ideas, but not too many suggestions on how to get there.  Rather than sweat the details, the USDA posted videos of Willie Nelson talking about farms on YouTube, and set up a whole channel dedicated to sustainable food.  There are certainly a lot of good ideas out there, but there’s been little action on any of these fronts, with the exception of maybe the White House Garden, which is more of a PR play than anything.  The most tangible piece of legislature on the subject could be the Farm Bill, which is still the foundation for most of these programs, and that was passed two years ago (NB, Obama did not vote, but voiced his support).  That bill is surely flawed, but it is basically the only source of any actual funding to help support local farming practices without only using images of little kids picking beets in the country.

But who knows what will happen, since many of the subsidies (including those marked for local farmers) are likely to be cut as part of the 2011 budget.  While I applaud the larger farm subsidies going away (which seems unlikely given the strength of the lobby), it does seem a little misdirected in light of what the government is saying it wants to do.  That makes the “Know Your Farmer” project seem, well, ambitious and short in detail.  Until there is some concrete action, let’s take it easy on the criticism of other countries’ proposed policies.  Sounds a little unfair to me.

On a positive note, the FDA is suggesting some serious changes to packaging and portion size, to help curb the rise in obesity.  Read here.

When Hollywood takes notice…

It was announced earlier this week that Food, Inc, has been nominated for an Oscar for best documentary!  For all of you who have not seen it, the film is a documentary focusing on modern food production and an in-depth look at what it takes to bring food to our tables every day.  It is a sobering look at the realities of industrialized food production that makes one think about moving to a farm and eating sprouts all year-round.  It also has a relatively long featured about the Polyface farm, with which I had been fascinated while reading Omnivore’s Dilemma.  It’s near Charlottesville, where I will be headed next weekend.  Perhaps I will get to indulge in some of their wares.

Contrary to some people, the film did not make me want to give up meat nor did it make me nauseous (similar to how reading The Jungle actually made me have a craving for Chicago hot dogs).  But, it does make you think about changing your ways and what you value as being important.  In my honest opinion, it vilifies big business a bit too much (but you all know my position on that), but directionally I am totally in alignment with what the filmmakers are saying.

In a related note, the midtown farmer’s market is not a sad representation of what it once was.  Apples and potatoes are about all that you get, with the odd head of cabbage here or there.  It makes me feel sad inside.

Ronnybrook still shows up, at least, so that makes me happy.

Can college students live eating only local sustainable food?

Four UVA students are determined to see if they can, keeping a blog of their experiences.  Then, James McWilliams over at The Atlantic picked up the story and wrote a nice summation of what’s going on.

The big text call-out in the Atlantic article is “As these refreshingly candid blog entries strongly suggest, a sustainable diet will never go mainstream if costs do not compete with cheap cafeteria crap.”  If you read nothing else, take that point in.  When you talk to anyone about eating locally, the cost is always the first thing to come out of his or her mouth.  Until there are some ways to bring the cost down, whether it’s through new innovations in the space or (dare I say) some help from the government, I don’t see a real change happening any time soon.  As I’ve mentioned before, people are willing to pay more for locally-grown food, but until those that CAN’T pay more can afford to eat locally, we are going to be stuck.

In any case, enjoy the blog and the article.

You can help make a difference.

And all it takes is a Facebook account.  This is too easy to not do.

Rather than re-invent the wheel, I’ll just paste in the latest email from Chefs Collaborative:

We are excited to announce a new partnership with Muir Glen organic tomatoes, a company with a demonstrated commitment to organic and sustainable practices.

Muir Glen is raising up to $40,000 for Chefs Collaborative through a viral campaign on Facebook.  So far over $17,000 has been raised!  You can support this campaign in two ways:

  1. Become a “fan” or “friend” of Muir Glen on Facebook.  For each new “friend” or “fan” acquired now through March 31, 2010, Muir Glen will donate $1 to Chefs Collaborative. If you have a Facebook account, simply search for Muir Glen (in the upper right corner of the screen), then click the button to Become a Fan.

  2. Purchase the 2009 Muir Glen Reserve kit which includes vintage varieties of fresh, hand-picked tomatoes from California’s Yolo Valley.  For each $7 kit sold online now through March 31, 2010, Muir Glen will donate $2 to Chefs Collaborative.

Please feel free to pass along this email to friends and family and help us reach our goal of $40,000!

Thank you for helping us spread the word and for all you do to promote a more sustainable food supply!

Sincerely,

Chefs Collaborative”

It ain't easy being green… WaPo Reports

Great article from the Washington Post highlighting the challenges of sustainability in restaurants, even if the intentions are good.  The article focuses on two case restos in the DC area: Founding Fathers, a 263-seat restaurant promoting a commitment to fresh and local ingredients, and Equinox, a 90-seat (expensive) restaurant basically doing the same thing.

While the challenges are the same for both, the lesser-expensive Founding Fathers often has troubles truly sourcing its local ingredients, citing lack of clear reporting and cost.  And that makes sense; think about three turns in a night, that’s almost 800 meals, and that’s just one daypart.

Talking with restaurateurs around in NYC, this is definitely an issue.  As with most purchase decisions, cost is a/the major factor in choosing one product over another.  Unfortunately, “long term assets” do not include anything about the environment or health concerns (until Google decides that they have a computer algorithm that can model this).  When the rubber hits the road, how can a “good idea” also be a “profitable idea”?  It is clearly a major concern for any business, and the food business is no exception.  Quite simply, it is expensive to source local ingredients, and in the winter months, as any farmer’s market regular will attest, it is difficult to get ingredients that would compose an entire meal.

However, there is light at the end of the tunnel.  A survey sourced from Zagat says that 61% of people are willing to pay more for “green” or “sustainable” food.  A key question that is left out is of course, “how much more,” but let’s hold that thought for a moment.  If this 61% is willing (and able) to shell out a few extra bucks to support farmers truly farming/raising sustainably, then this provides the much-needed money to invest in infrastructure and other needs, which then addresses some of the volume and distribution issues that are the problems in the first place.  Take, for example, the Milk Thistle Farm, a local New York dairy farm in Ghent, NY.  They recently started selling bonds to invest in a new bottle facility on-site.  This will help with their distribution footprint, and will hopefully expand their market share.  And it will bring their costs down (I hope).

This is why I continue to see immense value in partnering with the big food companies in order to effect any real change.  At the same time, those big companies need to learn to partner with the little guys instead of buying them out and changing the rules.  During a meeting in the Lehigh Valley last week, the President talked about the importance of innovation and its longer-term effects on the job market in this country.  If we think about the food industry in the same way, there is plenty of room for innovation, and its benefits go much farther than job creation.

In any case, give the article a read.  And if you’ve got an extra grand, get a Milk Thistle Farm bond.