ON MY PLATE - EdibleChesapeake.com's Online-Only "Op-Ed" Forum
As the local food movement gains traction, new issues related to food policy and legislation arise and need to be addressed. Edible Chesapeake’s online column “On My Plate” provides both “experts” and “ordinary” people a forum for adding their opinions to the conversation about laws and policies related to food and agriculture.
By Liz Reitzig, President of the Maryland Independent Consumers and Farmers Association When I recently had my fourth child, friends surrounded me, and many of them brought me a gift of a meal. Similarly, a few days ago, I took a home-cooked meal to a dear friend who had just given birth to her third baby. Providing nourishment to families when a new baby arrives—or when there’s a death in the family, or a special occasion—is not a new concept; rather it epitomizes the community support that has carried our species forward.
As we all know, there is no government involvement in this kind of neighbor-to-neighbor transaction. Government does, however, step into many neighbor-to-neighbor food transactions—when they involve a sale instead of a gift. The government regulates such food transactions at the expense of small farmers and the communities that depend on them: regulations that inappropriately criminalize farmers and squelch the small-scale businesses that are the basis of our country’s prosperity. (click here to read more)
By Larry Yee, University of California Cooperative Extension, and Fred Kirschenmann, Iowa State University When a system that is essential to our lives, one upon which most of us are dependent, becomes unhealthy, secretive, and unbalanced, not to mention, centralized, consolidated and subsidized beyond all reasonable measure, it easily becomes the target of investigative reporting and film documentaries. And as some might conclude, we’re not referring to our financial, energy or health care systems here, but rather to our food system, the one most frequently taken for granted. Now out in theaters across the country, Food Inc., the film, is one of a growing collection of exposés and documentaries to inform an unsuspecting public, the great mass of food consumers everywhere, where their food really comes from and what’s behind all those well-stocked grocery shelves. Produced and directed by Robert Kenner, Food Inc. received encouragement and support from Eric Schlosser, who wrote Fast Food Nation. The film began as a rather routine investigation of industrial food, but during the process Kenner was foiled by corporation after corporation, trying to get a candid look at what goes on behind the doors of slaughterhouses, processing plants, and factory farms. As a result, Kenner realized that what he was really investigating was the concentration of corporate power, profit, and the suppression of the truth in our industrial food system. Is this beginning to sound all too familiar? (click here to read more)
Health Care Reform Starts at School
Josh Viertel, President, Slow Food USA
There is a bill on Congress’ agenda this year that has the potential to dramatically reduce health care costs, but you probably haven’t heard it mentioned very often this summer. It’s called the Child Nutrition Act, and since 1946 versions of it have governed the food that most American children eat for lunch every school day. A provision in the bill gives Congress the opportunity to update it every four to five years, and this year happens to be one of them. Though the bill affects the lives of 30 million American children, Congress usually passes it very quietly, in pretty much the same form as it previously did. This year, we can’t let that happen. Not while the CDC is telling us that one in four children are overweight or obese, and one in three will develop diabetes in his or her lifetime. Not while obesity now costs the nation $147 billion per year, about half of that in the form of Medicaid and Medicare, paid for by taxpayers. We can’t reign in health care costs while the obesity epidemic continues to spiral out of control, and we can’t prevent obesity while our schools continue to feed kids fast food and junk food for lunch. (click here to read more)
By Adam Borden, Executive Director, Marylanders for Better Beer & Wine Laws Maryland wineries resemble other agricultural operations in so many ways: Many of them grow their own grapes; they are overseen by the Department of Agriculture; and like other small farms, they manufacture their product for sale to consumers rather than to industrial users. What sets Maryland wineries apart from other farms, however, is that it is a felony for them to ship any of their products directly to you. For all the times you might want to give a gift of Maryland wine or subscribe to a monthly delivery like with CSAs for other farms, Maryland makes it illegal. Direct wine shipping is very much an issue of small-scale agriculture because of the way the restrictions disproportionately affect small wineries. Most small wineries depend heavily on direct sales, either at the winery or via direct shipping. (click to read more)
A Message to Public Officials on Food Safety Brian Snyder, Executive Director
Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA)  It seems everyone in elected office these days wants to do something about food safety. Who can blame them, given that the headlines on any particular day might carry news of the latest food poisoning scare? It is supreme paradox that, while all of us must eat in order to survive, food can also become an instrument of death. As a community of farmers, we must also come to terms with the fact that harmful pathogens occasionally present in food can originate on farms in various ways that at times defy easy explanation. However, before anyone moves ahead too fast with regulations that could have far-reaching, unintended consequences for farmers of all stripes, a little additional perspective may be in order. (click here to read more)
Farming for more than 35 years, I have learned a lot about the land. As a product of the tumultuous 1960’s who lives near the nation’s capital, I also have a lot of experience with political activism. As it turns out, farming and activism make a good match, although far too few farmers see it this way.
At times, cynicism, resignation and anger can seem like our only alternatives. Otherwise, we may just feel overwhelmed or paralyzed into inaction. As farmers, so busy with crops and animals and weather and labor, we often feel we don’t have time for political engagement. Consumers also often assume some government agency is protecting their health and keeping their food supply safe, or that they don’t have any real influence, so their voices don’t matter. Too few of us even know who our elected state and county officials are. (Do you?)
However, activism—community, electoral and spiritual activist involvement—is a better option. (click here to read more)
by Kristi Bahrenburg Janzen
Back in January, journalist Jane Black wrote an article in the Washington Post that really got me thinking. In it, she lauded "foodies" for raising awareness about local food. But she also called on them to take it further and push for specific policy changes. The national food policy debate often focuses on financial assistance to farmers. But it struck me that the many small-scale, locally oriented farmers whom I meet often list four specific impediments to their business--and they're not at all about financial support. These are not generally the points about local food emphasized by consumers, activists and writers. But the reflections of these small-scale growers amount to a wish-list for change. "Eaters" everywhere, not just "foodies," take note. To ensure we have local food choices, small-scale locally oriented producers need a fair legal regime that allows them to thrive. ( click here to read more) |
