Nourishing Change - July 2016

July 2016

For Your Consideration

Choosing healthy food over junk food?

There seems to be an assumption that when given the chance the low-income population in America will choose junk food over healthy food. And yet, overall, Americans have begun to eat a healthier diet - consuming more whole grains and fruit and less sugary beverages. And studies show that lack of access to and affordability of healthier foods, even more than insufficient knowledge about nutrition education, is a stronger predictor of who eats healthy and who doesn't. And so-called "food deserts" -- where fresh, healthy food is inaccessible -- makes it so that eating a healthy diet is expensive and, as is the case for too many families, out of reach. Communities of color disproportionately cannot easily access fresh food and now cities such as Philadelphia are enacting laws to tax soda as way to reduce the consumption of excessive sugar. This is just one attempt to enact policy in order to encourage healthier eating in a society where diet-related disease has skyrocketed in the past few decades. If you're not one of the mainstream soda companies, you might not find taxing soda objectionable. In fact, you might find it logical, especially if those taxes are being channeled into programs that will lead to nutritious food becoming ubiquitous. And yet, this is just one example of policies that can be interpreted as shaming and blaming a low-income population that, in many situations, does not have sufficient access to affordable healthy food choices. Take the ever more prevalent policy proposal prohibiting the use of food stamps to buy junk food.

Case in point: Maine's Governor Paul LePage who wants to overhaul food stamps in his state. He wants to stop the state of Maine from administering food stamps if unhealthy food can be legally purchased with SNAP benefits. Citing high levels of diabetes, Governor LePage is threatening to end his state's participation in the SNAP program and is threatening to hand the program over to the federal government if the state does not agree to regulate the kind of food that those benefiting from food stamps can purchase. However, Rep. Charlie Pingree, Maine's first congressional district representative, stated that the federal government doesn't have the authority to run the program in states. Therefore, if Governor LePage ends his state's administration of SNAP, the food stamp program would effectively end, impacting the 190,243 people currently enrolled.

This kind of rhetoric smacks of victim blaming. There are multiple reasons why people may not be able to purchase healthy food with their SNAP benefits. Their communities may not have a grocery store with healthy food or a grocery store at all, especially in a rural state like Maine. Individuals may have to shop at convenience stores, which usually don't stock fresh food. It is simplistic to assume that people who eat unhealthy only do so because they want to. Often, the food system does not serve to meet the communities' needs. If healthy food is harder to access, consuming a healthy diet is more challenging. LePage's manner of thinking fails to recognize the realities of poverty that can lead to unhealthy food composing a fair portion of a poor family's diet. Unhealthy food is cheap and filling. A recent study in JAMA Internal Medicine found a positive correlation with consumption of subsidized foods and obesity. Fruits and vegetables tend to cost more, spoil more quickly than processed food and require time to prepare. If the state wants people to eat healthy, persistent poverty and access to healthy food are just two of the many issues that need to be addressed. While increasing accessing to healthy food is often praised, there are better ways to achieve this objective than taking away federal entitlements and blaming the poor for their dietary choices.

What does the United States GMO Bill mean?

Recently, the Senate and House approved a bill that would create nationwide standards for the labeling of food with GMOs (genetically-modified organisms), joining 64 other nations, including the whole European Union and China. While this is the first national law of this kind, Vermont's GMO labeling bill went into effect on July 1, there are still some questions. Senators felt an urgency to create a national law before too many states took actions into their own hands. As well, almost 90% of Americans think labeling should be required on products involving GMOs.

An interesting aspect of the bill is how companies will have to label their food. With the Vermont law, the company would have had to print on the label whether or not GMOs are in the product. With the Senate's law, there are three different ways to present whether or not GMOs are present. There can be a statement on the package, a website or phone address or a QR code.

While the first two are reasonable and relatively simple, the QR code would require a smart phone with a QR code reader. This poses unfair strain on people who do not own or cannot own smart phones. Unfortunately, other loopholes exist in the bill such as exempting meat and eggs. Senator Jon Tester from Montana, who is also the only farmer in the Senate, spoke out against the bill, stating it helps agribusiness but not family farmers. Fortunately, organic produce will now be able to also display a non-GMO label on their produce, which will increase clarity.

While the bill helps to create a nationwide standard for GMO labeling, it is only the first step. Most notably, the labeling standard should resemble the simplicity of Vermont's labeling standard. Further, farm policy has to be crafted in a way that helps family farmers, not just Big Ag.

News

2016 World Social Forum: Another World Is Needed, Together It's Possible!

WhyHunger is excited/honored to be participating in the upcoming World Social Forum (WSF) in Montreal from August 9th to the 14th. Since it's beginning in 2001, this year marks the first time the WSF will take place in the Americas. The goal of the WSF 2016 is to gather tens of thousands of people from groups in civil society, organizations and social movements who want to build a sustainable and inclusive world, where every person and every people has its place and can make its voice heard.

One of the unique aspects of social forums is their methodology. A social forum is not just a conference, it is a convergence. Social Forums prioritize the knowledge that grassroots organizations and the working people have - knowledge based on their perspectives for justice, knowledge of their communities and how to organize them, and knowledge of solutions to their own problems.

We'll come together in roundtables to discuss and strategize on issues such as the food system, solidarity, environment, human rights, etc., and WhyHunger will be facilitating two roundtables.

1. The Right to Food in the US

This panel will highlight the perspectives of farmworkers, farmers and scholars around the issue of food as a human right in the US.

2. The People's Agrarian Reform: What does it mean in the current political and economic context of North America?

This panel will gives us the opportunity to hear from farmers, farmworkers and allies in North America about the meaning of the People's Agrarian Reform in the context of the global struggle for food sovereignty and climate justice and discuss the challenges and opportunities.

If you're attending, let us know and we will see you there! The WSF is going to be a great opportunity for us to build new relationships and strategize with partners and allies from around the world about critical issues that affect us all. We hope to share learnings, pictures, stories and actions with you about our WSF takeaways, so stay tuned!

What We're Reading Now

"Food, Farming & the 2016 Election: A Conversation with Marion Nestle"

In this bizarre election season, the food system has not been a large topic in political debates. Since food intersects most issues - healthcare, the economy, racial justice, climate change, among just a few -- there is an urgent need to get the candidates to care about the health of the food system now more than ever. So Modern Farmer is calling on important "voices in the food movement for insight into why the food system, even though it has clearly captured the country's cultural imagination in recent years, has barely registered in mainstream political consciousness." The series starts with Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University. Read the conversation here.

"2015 Was a Deadly Year for Environmental Activists"

Many have dedicated their lives to environmental protection and are directly harmed by the crimes against nature. 2015 was the worst year on record for killings of land and environmental defenders - people struggling to protect their land, forests and rivers. The number of confirmed killings-185 activists across 16 countries-increased by 59 percent from 2014, according to Global Witness. Sadly, this can help draw attention to efforts to protect the health and life of people as well as the environment. The fight for human rights is growing more and more dangerous. And yet the fight for justice is more important than ever. Read more here.

Resources

Report: From Uniformity to Diversity: A paradigm shift from industrial agriculture to diversified agroecological systems

The report "From Uniformity to Diversity: A paradigm shift from industrial agriculture to diversified agroecological systems" explores the potential for a shift to occur from current food systems characterized by industrial modes of agriculture, to systems based on diversified agroecological farming. The report identifies how agroecological systems can succeed where current systems are failing, namely in merging concerns such as food security, environmental protection, nutritional adequacy and social equity. This report also asks what is keeping industrial agriculture in place, and what would be required in order to spark a shift towards diversified agroecological systems. Read more here.

UCSC Farm & Garden Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture

The Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture provides training in the concepts and practices of organic gardening and small-scale farming. This full-time program is held at the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems at the University of California Santa Cruz 30-acre Farm and 3-acre Alan Chadwick Garden on the UCSC campus. The Apprenticeship training program offers 300 hours of classroom instruction and 700 hours of in-field training and hands-on experience in the greenhouses, gardens, orchards, and fields. The UCSC Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems offers a Certificate in Ecological Horticulture upon successful completion of the program.

The apprenticeship program runs from Mid-April to Mid-October. The application deadline is August 15th for international applications and September 30th for US citizens. If you're interested in applying to the 6-month training course, learn more about the application deadlines here.

In This Issue

Choosing healthy food over junk food?

What does the United States GMO Bill mean?

2016 World Social Forum: Another World Is Needed, Together It's Possible!

"Food, Farming & the 2016 Election: A Conversation with Marion Nestle"

"2015 Was a Deadly Year for Environmental Activists"

Report: From Uniformity to Diversity: A paradigm shift from industrial agriculture to diversified agroecological practices

UCSC Farm & Garden Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture

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Contributors: Betty Fermin & Robert McCarthy.