Why Food Politics is an activist issue

Sorry for all the gaps between posts - it's been a weird summer. Things should straighten out by October.

In the meantime, the Louisiana Weekly has an interesting article on the Farm Bill and Urban Food Policy. (See the title link for the full article.)

The article states:

The nation's capital leads the nation in childhood obesity, according to a recent U.S. Department of Health and Human Services survey. This fact comes as no surprise to the National Urban League. We studied D.C.'s 8th Ward, where more than one-third of residents live in poverty and more than one-third of its children are obese.

The neighborhood is a classic food desert. Saturated with fast food outlets, it doesn't offer a single full-size chain supermarket, and the three small grocery stores that do business there offer outdated meat and tired-looking produce. Fast food and convenience stores make up 81 percent of food resources. The Food Research and Action Center, a D.C.-based nonprofit working to eradicate hunger in the United States, has even given the neighborhood a grade of "D" for community food security.

This is something I've witnessed first hand. In many parts of DC, there is no major grocery store for 20 mins in any direction. It might sound like a minor inconvenience to suburabanites, but that time and distance really add up - especially if you need to haul groceries on the metro, or ride a crowded city bus with bags at your feet.

The article continues:

As 8th Ward residents struggled to find a decent apple or a non-wilted bunch of collard greens, only one mile away the U.S. House of Representatives was writing its 2007 Farm Bill, the nation's most vital piece of food legislation. Calls for reform in farm-support programs and significant increases in nutrition and conservation spending made little progress. While the House included new programs and increased spending for existing ones, their size and scale simply do not measure up to the scope of the problem.

Over 300 doctors and other health professionals asked Congress to write a farm bill that will improve access to healthy foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, and help to build the infrastructure to get healthy foods to low-income communities.

This is sorely needed as most affluent US kids do not get the nurtition they deserve. What about the kids with no access to health care, dental care, or basic green leafy foods?

With 35 million Americans classified by the USDA as food insecure, the House passed a bill that made only marginal improvements to the Food Stamp Program, the nation's most important defense against hunger. It increased the minimum monthly allotment from $10 per person-where it has been now for over 30 years-to a stingy $18.

That's just pitiful. Think about how much it costs to eat each day. I can blow through $10 at the local deli, on a breakfast sandwich and juice. And someone is trying to survive on that?

Since 1985 the actual price of fruits and vegetables has risen 40 percent, while the price of sugar and fats has fallen as much as 14 percent. These disparities in the cost of healthy and unhealthy food reflect U.S. farm policies that give nearly nothing to fruit and vegetable producers but pass along the lion's share of public support to commodity crop farmers.

Let there be no mistake about it-urban America wants farmers to succeed. We have watched with delight as 4,500 farmers markets have blossomed nationwide. As those farmers have brought their abundance to urban consumers, we have brought our demand for healthy locally grown food. The synergy between city and country has never been so robust and the market opportunities so immense. That is why our farm policies must do more to strengthen the viability of local and regional farming to help meet the surging demand.

Underserved communities cannot be denied access to the same healthy and affordable food that is available to more affluent Americans. With good food and farm policies, we can realistically expect that our future generations will be free of the dietary challenges that now confront them.

Agreed.