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.