The 2018 Farm Bill: Highlights in Fewer than 500 words by the New Food Economy
Photo from American Agriculturist from recent article titled “Criticism of House GOP Farm Bill”
Everything has changed with Trump’s administration pushing for rollbacks and deregulating industries that impact conservation efforts. Not to mention the denial (yes, it’s real) happening with regard to climate change and the subsequent and severe consequences for families and communities of color. Read this succinct report from the New Food Economy of what exactly is the Farm Bill(?!) and why is it so important to us, especially for this upcoming year.
An Indigenous Corn Makes a Comeback by Civil Eats
“In New York, the Iroquois White Corn Project is reviving an ancient and sacred variety of white corn in hopes of improving Native nutrition and health. Inside an antique farmhouse at the Ganondagan State Historic Site just east of Rochester, New York, a stainless steel coffee roaster hums as it parches Iroquois White Corn with heat, increasing its digestibility. Once the process is complete, after about 20 minutes, Iroquois Corn Project volunteers and staff will use a stone grinder to create corn flour they then sell to the public.” Read full article online here.
Get out this Spring to your local nature sweet spots! 🙂 Sweetbriar Nature Center is a Long Island natural science education center which engages in native wildlife rehabilitation services.
If you’re passionate about social justice, then consider supporting farmers near you who understand the importance of fair working wages and clean conditions, and who aim to uplift communities of color and diversity. One particular organization that I believe is doing great work with indigenous communities, which I choose to support is Soul Fire Farm. I had Amani Olugbala, who is the the program manager of Soul Fire Farm on my radio show back in January, sharing with us their many great programs!
Also, Orkestai Farms, at the Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay, is having their opening day on May 5th! Find more details on my events page and the Orkestai website.
Healthy Teachers Programs and Campus Food Pantries Growing Nationwide
What do our children eat? If we start to consider what’s on their plates, at home and away from our kitchen table, then we can make a correlation between what their eating and how it effects their health. Our kids need to eat at school, and education institutions are a fertile ground for role modeling healthy eating, or poor eating. Unfortunately, often we are role modeling poor eating by serving sub-standard foods. Just imagine what we would be teaching them, if we were to role model and serve high quality, nutritious foods! It’s not good that chronic heart disease, diabetes and obesity are increasing among our youth, at jaw-dropping rates.
Fortunately, with programs like the Edible Schoolyard, pioneered by Alice Waters, and the expansion of school gardens at many schools across the country, the farm-to-school movement is gaining momentum! Led by organizations like Slow Food and the Whole Kids Foundation, along with advocates aiming to raise consciousness about our U.S. food system, we’ve been able to foster outreach and change policies about purchasing local, sustainable agriculture. Another part of our growing ‘Good Food’ movement, is a program that I am currently participating in, called the Healthy Teachers Program, sponsored by the Whole Kids Foundation. This program offers free healthy cooking classes to both teachers and staff, in order to provide them with skills and knowledge about cooking a whole foods, plant based diet, so that they can be good role models for their students. The Healthy Teacher’s Program is a great opportunity to develop an overall awareness of healthy eating for yourself and to share with others. If you are interested in bringing this wonderful program to your school, check out their website. If you happen to be in the NY tri-state area, you can contact me directly, and I’ll set it up!
Last week, I attended a luncheon with many other moms from a local school district, who are working together to expand a school garden program, and are trying to get healthier foods into their school cafeteria. Having been on similar committees throughout my life, I shared their frustration about the policies that keep our children’s school food unhealthy. However, there has been some progress, and we just have to keep working to push for policies that will improve school food. Unfortunately, for many children in this country, the food they get at school is the only food they get all day, and that is making them sick! We need to work on the inequities not only in our food system, but in our society as a whole!
“A report published this month by a lab at the University of Wisconsin found 36 percent of 43,000 students attending two- and four-year colleges who were surveyed in 20 states had trouble getting enough to eat, threatening the academic success that’s key to overcoming poverty.” –Associated Press
This is a huge issue, because many students who are struggling financially, end up dropping out of school, not because they don’t want to finish school, but because they need to get a job in order to eat!! And we all know that getting that degree might be their ticket out of poverty, but the system is flawed and makes every step of the process difficult!
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