Posted by Dylan Fitz on December 7, 2005 at 3:01 pm
Categories: Uncategorized
Categories: Uncategorized
Feel free to post comments! The questions in this “BLAST Discussion” category are intended to stimulate discussion. For more info see Dylan’s introductory post.
What are the most important issues for the upcoming 2007 Farm Bill? How will these issues impact your work?
Here’s information about the farm bill at the USDA’s website. Also, here’s information about the last two Farm Bills.
Cadre Policy Blog/discussion
In DC and on the last call we talked about policy issues to consider addressing. Please add more issues if you feel one is missing, and for issues you’d like to see us take on, write a) why that issue is important and would make an impact and b) how the issue is relevant to you.
Farm to Cafeteria [Childhood nutrition act 2004, Farm Bill IV Nutrition]
Competitive grant process offering Seed money for schools to start programs to get local food into cafeteria. Includes nutrition education, garden curricula, school gardens. Adds markets for small farmers.
Set school lunch and production limits to correspond with USDA nutrition guidelines.
Alice –find really appealing because can do in community in microscale and in lifetime can spread to broader international scale
Sarita: great in NYC so much food. Also equalizer for what kinds of food into different communities. Public schools in ENY big buyer – if farmer coming to school would be easier to get them into other markets.
Access to land to new farmers [Farm Bill V Credit]
- expand credit for seed money for people doing urban and suburban agriculture. (change loan qualifications – could you get loan for commodity farm as start-up money for CSA).
- Local qualification to give startup money to beginning farmers (number of years working on a farm, apprentice, not farm operator)
- Loans for farmers to go to school [farm bill VII research ]
- Loans and land indigenous peoples – including Hawaiians.
Sarita: farmers markets more popular but not enough farmers in NY-NJ-CT to serve markets
Important: get more new farmers on land, keep land in community. average age of farmers is 65!
Promoting urban/suburban ag & community gardens [depends]
- Farmers market nutrition program?
- Credit – access to urban/suburban land?
- control sprawl – limit ag land sold into development.
Direct marketing [?]
farmers markets, helping farmers find connections to reliable markets – institutions, stores, restaurants – federal “green pages”, a listing of farms who sell wholesale or directly to public.
Farmers markets [FMNP: farm bill IV Nutrition, child nutrition 04]
encouraging & supporting more farmers markets in low income areas, advertising when accept WIC/food stamps ‡ Farmers market nutrition program, Farmers market promotion program.
Promoting/incentivizing sustainable methods [farm bill II conservation & X Miscellaneous]
soil conservation, land, water, pesticide, antibiotic use. And animal treatment: promoting responsible animal husbandry, livestock practices
Procurement/ Using food assistance programs to promote local ag & heathy eating [Farm bill IV Nutrition& X miscellaneous, Child nutrition 04]
Whenever an institution (school, universities, military, prisons, WIC – whenever federal government has power to say what you can buy with its money) buys something they have to buy some % HFL – healthy fresh, local food. “Spend it here campaign” (in state/within 100 miles). When disaster occurs, purchase food within x miles.
Access to solar, alternative fuel to farmers [farm bill energy?]
Through loans, Technical assistance? cheaper when farms are distant.
Require retrofits for food transit [farm bill – energy?]
require clean forms of transport for food (as 20% of all vehicle traffic)
Waste – encouraging compost: [farm bill – energy?]
Example: greencycle boston – group that picks up leaves around the city, composts them and sells to farmers
new homestead act [Farm bill VI rural development]
provide incentives for people to locate into rural ag communities hit hard by ag/natural resource sectors that resulted in depopulation. includes loan forgiveness for college debt, if start business (including farm) in those areas, incentives to draw people back. Learn more about it here:
urban sprawl/development taking over agricultural land [farm bill II conservation/states]
Sarita: In NY – taxes supposed to be retroactively collected on ag land sold into development weren’t being collected.
concentration and subsidies [farm bill I commodity provisions]
Sarita: people on food assistance eat processed food because corn, commodities cheap. We need to change the subsidies, not just give people on food assistance more money if we want them to eat healthier.
brian – subsidies helped to fuel concentration, and concentration helps to maintain status quo of subsidies by concentrating power.
Ben –subsidize food that’s good for people.
Labeling: Organic, nutrition, origin? [farm bill X miscellaneous]
Kanoe –important in hawai’I – most food imported from somewhere else.
Sarita – most supermarkets, local food rarely an option so labeling what’s local won’t change buying habits. people want labels for GMO’s, wax.
Brian – concentration is reason we don’t have labeling – COOL legislation passed in 2002 farm bill, should’ve been implemented by now, but big meat packers went back and got it repealed.