Open Blog 3

One of my favorite parts of the local food course was visiting the City Roots farm. It was not only an educational experience, but an entertaining one that I probably never would have done without taking the course. I was very impressed by the way City Roots utilizes its space in a sustainable and efficient way. And it was surprising to learn that it is the only farm within city limits. Having a sustainable farm with a variety of crops in such close proximity to the city is beneficial to the community in many ways. For starters, it’s a great source for individuals to get fresh vegetables. It’s also a good resource for local restaurants. Restaurants can buy produce to supply their stores and can use the local ingredients as a selling point for their patrons. Even if it is more expensive, many community members may be willing to pay higher costs as people are becoming more and more concerned with where their food is coming from. There is a larger desire to support local farms like City Roots rather than corporate farms located well outside of the community. I also learned the space is even open to the community to rent out to host events.

Open Blog 2

Mediterranean Eating

A few weeks ago, Patricia Moore-Pastides, President Pastides’ wife, visited our class. She came to discuss healthy eating habits and how a Mediterranean diet can be offer a variety of health benefits. This is because it includes many basic essentials to the human diet that Americans often do not include in theirs. She emphasized the fact that limiting meat consumption is good for one’s diet. People do not need to cut out meat entirely by any means, but it has been proven that Americans consume a much larger portion of meat in their diets than recommended. She also made a great point in saying that a healthy diet does not necessarily constitute an expensive diet. Ingredients such as rice and beans can be purchased at a very low cost and the proteins in them can replace proteins consumed through eating meat. While this is true, it is still difficult for many Americans to abide by a strictly healthy lifestyle. Fruits, vegetables and organic food in general are more expensive than processed food. Educating oneself in making the right decisions while shopping and selecting food is also expensive and time consuming. The most difficult part for some is simply adjusting one’s personal eating habits.

Open Blog #1

Springfest at the Columbia Farmer's Market

For a special projects trip I visited the Soda City market for their Springfest. At the market I was really able to see the way the green ideology incorporates community. The market was not just a place to buy fresh, locally grown food, but it also provided a variety of entertainment for the early afternoon. There were live street performers, a selection of local restaurants and local vendors selling jewelry, clothes and more. It was located in the heart of downtown Columbia, on Main Street, which was beneficial for the businesses located on the blocks it was held as well as surrounding blocks. The businesses took full advantage of the event and were able to bring in farmer’s markets patrons. To me, this trip summed up everything we have learned in the class about an idealistic green community. Its location catered to all classes as it’s a convenient distance for those living in other parts of the greater Columbia area. It’s located very close to bus stops so those without their own transportation can get there easily. And by taking place on a Saturday, it accommodates most peoples’ work schedules, unlike the many farmers markets that are on weekday afternoons.

April 9

Probably the biggest way locally sourced foods in South Carolina has a direct impact on SC’s economy is job production. The bigger agribusiness is in South Carolina, the more jobs are produced. This is vital in a state that struggles increasingly with unemployment. Employment is also the biggest indirect impact that locally sourced foods in South Carolina has on SC’s economy. When food is produced here, we also need people to handle manufacturing needs that come as a result of local farming, such as packaging, and more.

While it is still too early to know for sure whether the money put into the CSCG program is worth it, it potentially can see a high return economically. In terms of sustainability, it is certainly worth it. Identifying what is grown in South Carolina puts knowledge in the hands of the consumer. By allowing them to know where their food is coming from and seeing for themselves the difference between locally grown food and nationally/internationally distributed food they are well on the path to becoming food-literate and therefore knowledgeable about sustainability food-production wise. Giving that understanding to the consumer is probably the most important step toward a more sustainable society.

I was a little lost in understanding the methodology in the comparison between SC, NC and GA, but from what I do understand, the most important farming industry to expand would be tree-nut farming, because that seems to be where the biggest discrepancy lies.

Blog 4/2

Yes, the political influence that Nestle writes about in the “Politics of Dietary Guidance” is (subtly) evident in the MyPlate guidelines. For instance, it never specifically tells you to avoid certain foods. The closest it comes to that is recommending you avoid ‘certain drinks high in sugars’, though it doesn’t specifically name what kind of drinks (soda, etc). It instead leaves it up to you as the consumer to determine what ‘too much sugar’ is and what drinks have too much in them. Specifically, the area that refers to meat appeared to be a direct product of the meat producers mentioned in Nestle’s article. Instead of saying ‘avoid red meat’, ‘stick to lean meats,’ etc, it simply says to ‘vary the meats’ you eat.

 I think a few bullet points on the MyPlate guidelines are helpful, but no, they are not specific and informative enough to affect people’s diets. I was kind of surprised by the bullet point that says ‘Enjoy your food, but eat less.’ What? That makes no sense to me. It assumes the reader is over-eating, first of all, and even if they are, they shouldn’t necessarily eat less. They likely just need to make better choices about what they are eating.

New research on the soil-health connection for the food system imply that attention to soil quality is equally important as attention to crop quality, and that many nutrients come from the soil. This would affect farming because large-scale, year-round farming can be very destructive to soil quality. Farmers would need more land would need to do more to protect and nourish the soil.

Blog for 3/31

First two articles

I am unsurprised that HFCS is now linked to obesity, or that the authors of this article were accurate in their assertions of its poor nutritional value. I think it was even eerily accurate in referring to HFCS as an ‘epidemic’, being that our country’s obesity problem has also been labeled as such. From what we saw in Food, Inc., it seems that corporations have been playing a part in ‘playing down’ the consequences of HFCS.

I wholly agree with the article about the non-effectiveness of ‘downstream’ nutrition education. In fact, the argument in favor of it is barbaric and hypocritical to me. The FDA strictly regulates the drugs we are and are not allowed to put into our body. So in that regard, it is handled in an ‘upstream’ fashion. Yet with food, which is also considered a drug and also controlled by the FDA, there is little regulation. HFCS is proven to be bad, but it is left entirely up to the consumer to recognize this and make the decision to try to avoid it as much as they can.

Why to Eat Like a Greek:

I am Greek, and while I don’t strictly follow a Mediterranean diet (unless you count binge-eating Greek dishes on holidays, and occasionally getting a gyro at 2 am…) , I’ve grown up witnessing my yiayia’s (grandmother’s) strict adherence to a Greek diet. She’s 87 years old and while she has experienced some health problems, is overall very healthy. She carefully portions all of her meals, which always consist of some type of bread or pasta, sometimes meat (typically lean meat or fish), and always a vegetable. And there is always olive oil. Always. I’m not sure how this compares better with the diets of other places, but many of the meals do strike me as being much more varied, controlled and leaner than others.

Blog 3/26

FOOD MATTERS ARTICLE:

The article cites ‘farmers, ranchers, anti-hunger activists, nutritionists, environmentalists, public health educators, and city planners’ as being the pioneers of the Community Food Security movement. I think creating a social justice framework around food insecurity issues in alliance with both a health/nutritional approach and a legislative/regulatory approach is necessary. Many variables contribute to the lack of food security in some Americans and if we ignore even one we can’t be wholly successful in making positive changes. Speaking from the Social Justice standpoint, I think we need to promote the ideology that Americans who may not be as financially secure as others or live in an area that does not provide an abundance and variety of foods, are still entitled to a certain amount of food security and certain quality food that they may not be getting.  With the Missoula County case study, findings showed that cultural beliefs and level of education greatly affect the community food system.

SNAP/DOUBLE BUCKS READING:

 My first concern is how educated people are about the snap/double bucks program. Do people even know about double bucks? How in-depth is their understanding of the program? Until the class, this is something I’d never heard of, which is a little disconcerting as someone who has grown up in South Carolina. It seems like work needs to be done on making ‘double bucks’ as wide a household term as some other government-assistance programs are. Secondly, to whom does double bucks benefit in South Carolina, and how can we expand this? We talked about how in S.C. it mostly exists farmers markets.  How accessible are those farmers markets? Could this be expanded into supermarkets like in other states?

Blog 3/19

I was surprised that the majority of people who visit the farmers market are people split between people coming for the first time and people who come every single week. I wonder if most of the people who came for the first time end up coming every week, or if there is some way to at least get them to come back once a month. I was also surprised that so many people purchased baked goods. At many farmers markets I go to, I think of fruits, veggies, jams, honeys and crafts being sold, but I don’t think I’ve seen baked goods that often.

Many people, according to the survey, shop at the farmers market for convenience. I think this is something that our downtown farmer’s market can learn from this by amending the market to make it more convenient for potential customers. Right now, many people have to go out of their way to get to the farmers market. Something they could do is extend the time until later in the afternoon to accommodate people who may get lunch and then go to the market.

One benefit of farmers’ markets extending their times into being a year-round market is that they can then accommodate all kinds of crops, rather than just summer crops, etc.  A negative effect is that by making it year-round, it increases the overhead cost.

Distribution #1 -- Blog for 3/17

Zambia

Zambia’s food system is similar to the US industrial food system in that both systems overproduce an extreme amount of maize. Moreover the low market prices of the maize often keep farmers from making any money. One way to improve the Zambian food system and make it more sustainable both ecologically and economically is to implement mixed farming. Mixed farming would include integrating farm animals such as cows into the fields. The animals would fertilize the soil and therefore raise the soil fertility.

Wisconsin

The biggest challenge I saw from the case studies is capital. This is a problem we have already discussed in class. Small-scale growers typically are unable to grow yields that compete with bigger, industrial growers and keep up with regional demand for crops. This is because they lack access to the infrastructure and machinery necessary to make this possible. The most innovative solution suggested in the reading was to cultivate relationships with investors. Investors might be anyone who supports the grower’s long-term development.

Real Food Challenge / FoodCorps

The Real Food Challenge engages students to become activists within their community and encourage their universities to shift some of their food budgets away from large-scale, industrial food distributors and towards local, humanely grown food. They hope to shift $1 billion overall by 2020. FoodCorps enlists members to spend a year teaching children about food and health, building and supporting small school gardens and bringing high-quality local food into cafeterias. I do not think that one approach is greater than the other because though they both target young people, they have different but equally important goals. The Real Food Challenge pushes for large-scale change within universities. By shifting budgets towards local/community grown food at these large universities, The Real Food Challenge is making a real economic impact within local communities. On the other hand, FoodCorps is changing the individual perspectives that children have on food, where food comes from and what to eat. This is serves less of an economic purpose and more of an educational one.

SNAP and Double Bucks Program Blog Questions- For 3/5/14

Blog Assignment:

Evaluate the pros and cons of the SNAP and Double Bucks initiatives at Farmer’s Markets (particularly in the context of South Carolina). What are the system’s advantages, and what are its current weaknesses?

There's a big advantage to using SNAP and Double Bucks South Carolina, and that is that it encourages community members to eat more healthy, which in turn contributes to making a healthier society. It helps allow fruit and vegetables to compete with less healthy foods, as unhealthy food are typically much cheaper than fresh fruits and vegetables. It also increases profits for the local farmers themselves. For instance, when a double bucks deal was implemented at a farmer's market in Orangeburg, SC, consumers spent more money on fruits and vegetables, and profits were higher for small farmers in the area. In the long-run , money spent on SNAP and Double Bucks by the state can be offset by reduced spending on obesity. According to the Double Bucks Initiatives SC article, over a billion dollars is spent each year by the state on costs incurred due to our population's obesity. It has been proven that fruit and vegetable consumption helps with weight management and that currently, half of adult South Carolinians typically eat less than one serving of these a day. We can therefore infer that by increasing the consumption of fruits and vegetables , we can decrease obesity. Right now, the biggest issues the programs face are ensuring that farmers are able to accept SNAP as forms of payment and increasing awareness that SNAP and Double Bucks are accepted at farmers markets.

Were there any ideations that you found surprising about food security?

I was most surprised by the article linking the loss of arable land due to development to the increased usage of emergency food programs in the US. However, this assertion did not seem to be immediately be backed up by any kind of data. The article merely suggested that one must consider all potential variables in a situation.

Blog #9 Farm Bill Reauthorization

(1) What sections of the bill do you feel limit progress and change in creating a local food market?

The farm bill continues to provide large subsidies to big farmers. Meanwhile, some small farmers receive absolutely nothing. This is because the commodity payments are only given out to certain crops, such as corn. In addition to this money being unfairly distributed to big, corporate farmers, it also encourages these farmers to produce these crops in ever-increasing amounts, driving the price down so far that small farmers cannot compete. There is no regulation about the method of vertical integration that is used by these big farmers, including no rules about conflict of interests, etc.

(2) Despite that the food stamp program is taking on major cutbacks, 80 percent of the $96 billion annually will still go to food stamps. 15 percent of the money goes to farm subsidies and crop insurance.  What’s left will go to conservation, rural development, renewable energy, and other farm programs.  Is this a good way to distribute the farm bill money, should it be more “evenly” spread, or should it focus largely on a different area?

I think it should be more evenly spread. According to familyfarmer.org, the new bill does little to increase wetlands protection, and permits unlimited logging by the Forest Service. It also no longer includes direct lending programs, something many small farmers rely on. It even almost entirely phases out research. I think that by leaving such a small amount of money to cover conservation, rural development, renewable energy and other farm programs, we are both neglecting to invest in the future, and neglecting to support the small farmer. By reducing the amount of money we spend on farm subsidies and redirecting that money into the aforementioned areas, we can begin to support these two fundamental components of farming (the small farmer, and the future of farming), and also begin to change the culture of a government that caters to corporate farms.

Blog #13

A big way the success of farm to school program success is measured is by gauging the amount of students who adapt their diet via the programs. A big initiative of farm to school is to introduce more variety into the diet of young people. More variety typically means more fruit and vegetables which means a healthier diet. In most farm to school programs observed, students did in fact begin to add more variety into their diet. This also occurs through the education portion of farm-to-school. When students are taught more about where food comes from they are more likely to enjoy a bigger variety of vegetables. Farm to school is still relatively small but is growing rapidly. 

Farm-to-school programs increase the amount of local food served at schools. This is positive because it allows schools to bolster local farmers and vice versa. In addition, in many cases local foods are perceived as fresher as well as safer, thanks to media-attention-grabbing outbreaks of food borne illnesses attributed to the industrialized food process. Educational opportunities that tie-in the local food are abundant as well. If students are given the opportunity to visit the actual farm that produces the food they are served at lunch, it will give them a unique perspective about food production and possibly inspire them to continue to be curious as opposed to passive and ignorant regarding their own diet and nutrition.

Blog #11

Some regulations require expensive upgrades in infrastructure, land or machinery that small and medium sized farms simply cannot afford. For example, Berry says in Kentucky recently, local slaughterhouses were required to make expensive alterations. Most could not afford them and were forced out of business. According ot the Food Safety and Modernization Act, however, new plans are being implemented to better cater to small and midsized farms.

It was hard for me to choose a side in this dilemma with the information I was provided. On one hand, it seems like there should most definitely be more regulations in all areas of food production- even if it drives the cost of food higher as Berry argues (the cost of food being relatively low anyways). But are these regulations meant to help the consumer, or to cater to big corporations? Berry’s examples seemed to vague for me to tell for sure, but what I can tell is that there must definitely exist some kind of middle ground regulation-wise that keeps small and midsized farms running in a way that is up to par with government standards, without driving them out of business. Even if that means that consumers need to start paying more for their food, I believe it is worth it.

Blog #8

One example of a class-action lawsuit brought against the USDA is when women farmers sued it in 2001. They claimed there to be gender discrimination within the delegation of farm loan programs. I think the plaintiffs in these lawsuits were justified. For instance, when one Floridian woman farmer tried to apply for a loan to start a farm, she was told that there were no applications available. Her husband, on the other hand, was easily able to access an application. This does not undoubtedly point to gender discrimination, but it certainly implies that there could be. Later, when she was specifically told by an FSA loan officer that women cannot run farms is when it becomes clear that there exists blatant gender discrimination. This situation happened to her not once, but twice.

One potential solution is that there could be better screening and hiring regarding the employees that possess the power to process these loan applications. According to this case study there seem to be too many disturbingly sexist men at the helm. By making sure these officers are less discriminatory there will be less discrimination.

The attacks against the USDA are most certainly justified. It’s incredible that the comments being made by the employees were being made in the past 30 years.

Blog #7

Darcy Freedman & Bethany Bell, “Access to Healthful Foods among an Urban Food Insecure Population: Perceptions versus Reality” 

Little has been done to gauge nutritional education, but from the statistics that Freedman and Bell have looked at, it is seems as though people have a very accurate perception of what kind of access to healthy food they have. Both the perceived reality and the actual reality is that people living in low-income areas do not have the same kind of access to healthy food as those living in higher-income areas. Part of this reason is because low-income areas are more likely to be populated by convenience stores and small markets as opposed to big chain grocery stores. Big chain grocery stores contain a much healthier variety of food than the aforementioned stores. 

Carrie Draper & Darcy Freedman, “Review and Analysis of the Benefits, Purposes, and Motivations Associated with Community Gardening in the United States”

Firstly, the resurgence of community gardens will encourage those in the community to have direct knowledge and experience about how food is produced. This will lead people to be more inquisitive about where the food they purchase in stores comes from. By producing fruits and vegetables, community garden participants consume more of these as well, according to the text. In addition, in youth-oriented gardening programs, youth participants have a more varied preference for different types of vegetables than those youth that were not participants. Community-wise, these gardens also function as a ‘safe space’. They are safe areas in the community and even encourage communication between members of the community that normally may not communicate with one another.

Blog #6

Q1: What do you think are the most feasible means of changing industrial meat production like CAFOs to align with green principals?

This is a difficult question to think about feasibly because it seems as though industrial meat production needs a complete overhaul. The research on CAFOs reminded me of a statistic I read recently, that American's simply eat way too much meat. Specifically, about 50% more than the recommended daily amount, and about twice as much as people in other countries. (source: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/08/13/too-much-protein-diets-_n_1772987.html) Simply, we can (and, according to those statistics, should!) produce less meat and consume less meat as well. 

What I found particularly alarming that was discussed in both the reading and the documentary we watched last week was the manner in which meat production has been vertically integrated. The generally poor treatment of animals in this industry is a sad, but well-known fact, but many humans pay a toll in this process as well. I think meat producers should subsidize more of the costs that are incurred by CAFOs so those people can earn a living rather than amassing more and more debt. This could be accomplished through government regulation. Regulation could also require corporations to give farm owners a little more say in the way their farms are run, but this would be more difficult to make happen.

Again, though, what really needs to happen is for the meat production industry to be completely changed. 

Q2:   Of the types of farms in the reading, which are the most green and why? 

Doko Farm's animal pasture seemed to be particularly green, mostly because my reading of it was juxtaposed with reading about CAFOs. Animals at Doko Farm are not loaded with antibiotics, and are allowed to roam free outside rather than being cramped in lightless, crowded stalls. 

Doko also acknowledges residential areas around it. It prides itself on managing itself in a way so that nearby residents are not bombarded with dangerous and overwhelming smells from the farm.

Doki

Blog #3

A green learning community, from the impression I got from the reading, seems to be a community that highly values knowledge and awareness. Members of a green community should take initiative to become better informed about their environment and the effects that all components of the environment have on each other. They should do this by reading well-reputed authors and scientists, and by spending time in nature. In addition, they should encourage other members of the community, especially the children, to take part in and discover nature. 

         A green learning community should not only encourage one’s awareness to what’s going on in the world around them, but also the ability to analyze and question elements of it and encourage change when necessary.

         I would know a green community if I saw a community with an emphasis on education, ecological literacy and service. It would encourage sustainability and ethical practices. Its members would understand aspects of food distribution and all of the variables that affect it. Its members would also possess a ‘can-do’ attitude that does not accept the general ignorance or the blind acceptance of the treatment of the environment that our society as a whole seems to. Most of all, the community would be one that values the first-hand experience of nature and one that realizes not all learning takes place indoors.

Blog #2 / Profile

My name is Jen and I'm in my fourth year studying broadcast journalism at USC. I grew up here in Columbia and after I graduate I hope to move elsewhere to work. I like spending time with friends, listening to music and watching movies. I don't like birds, middle schoolers, and going to sleep early.


Here is a picture of some place that I like:

Blog #1

  I decided to take this course because I needed a political science credit and this course seemed to be interesting. I want to learn more about the difference between the way food is regulated here in the US and in other countries. I'm looking forward to being in a service learning class because it is structured so differently than any other class I have taken so far at Carolina. I also like how much this course studies and incorporates the region and local businesses, practices and programs within it.
   I disagree largely with the assertion that social hierarchies are 'unnatural, undesirable and avoidable.' In many different species, not just humans, there exists some kind of social hierarchy, and in most species there is at the least some kind of competition for domination. It is in no way 'unnatural.' Nor is it undesirable- most people prefer someone to lead them. There are many social hierarchies in place that are undesirable, but this does not mean they are all unnecessary. I would argue that government is certainly a type of social hierarchy. Without government there would be anarchy which I believe to be more undesirable.
  I agree with the green value demanding nature to be respected. I think this value is especially important because it is one that is dangerously forsaken. People and businesses treat nature as if it is another endlessly abundant and unlimited resource and abuse it extensively. We get our food from the earth, and in doing so green values are very often not respected.
  What surprised me most about the readings how much of an ideology being 'green' really is. When I think about local food and green values, I picture only a few industries being involved, but the reading showed that it is actually an entire lifestyle. I think that the green ideology has many important and morally sound facets, but like any other ideology, it is difficult to achieve this successfully. In the US, where capitalism dominates the market, little government is encouraged, and bare-minimum over head costs are intrinsic to most business models, it seems improbable for consumerism to be less valued and for quality and ethical practices for food production to be more widespread.