The new food crusade

[nosmokes]

I know the farm bill ain't sexy stuff, but it sure is an awful lotta green and the vast majority of it is going to th wrong people in the wrong places. This bill is where real agricultural reform can start and we can start moving away from the disaster that is the industrial mono-cropping with GMOs and transporting food and what passes for food thousands of miles before it hits our plates.
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edited because I thought putting a little bit of th article in the post might be a good idea...

original-sfchronicle

The new food crusade

Organic farming, conservation, healthful food in schools -- the push is on to change the way the nation subsidizes farming

Carol Ness, Chronicle Staff Writer

Tuesday, July 10, 2007
It was almost accidental activism. Acme Bread's Steve Sullivan was on a class trip to Washington, D.C., with his 13-year-old daughter when their flight home was canceled. A scramble to rebook ended with the Berkeley food artisan and his family seated almost across the aisle from California Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

So he handed her a copy of his new favorite book, "Food Fight," by Sonoma County author Daniel Imhoff. The book is a call to arms, urging Congress to use the 2007 farm bill to put more healthful food on people's plates.

The bill, which in recent years has totaled about $70 billion annually, comes up about once every five years. Although the farm bill has far-reaching consequences for the food supply, most people outside the Midwestern Farm Belt, which gets huge farm bill subsidies, have ignored it.

This year, things are different. Sullivan's trip down the aisle, and the book, are part of a wave of populist activism, much of it centered in the Bay Area, that is trying to change how a big chunk of farm bill money is spent.

The short version of the argument -- and nothing is short when it comes to the mind-numbing, complex farm bill -- is that the bill subsidizes the overproduction of corn and soy in the Midwest, which is driving up obesity and diabetes and polluting the land. Instead, they say, the farm bill should put more money into sustainable and organic food production, agricultural conservation and efforts to put a higher priority on fresh, local fruits and vegetables.

Their slogan: It's the food, health and farm bill.






















complete article here

[ThomCat]

1. I'd love to see farm subsidies rewritten

to keep that money out of large agribusiness hands and put it into the hands of actual privately owned farms. Our government should not be in the business of guaranteeing corporate profits.

[Gormy Cuss]

2. I read the article this morning and was struck by this section:

The reformers argue that the subsidies amount to price supports for junk food. They say subsidies encourage commodity growers to plant an oversupply of low-priced corn and soy, which is processed into high-calorie high-fructose corn syrup and soybean oil and fed to feedlot animals bound for burgerville. The result: cheap food full of added sugar and fat.

The retail price of fruits and vegetables doubled from 1985 to 2000, but the cost of added fats and sugars remained the same, according to a paper by University of Washington public health specialist Adam Drewnowski, published June 24 in Epidemiologic Reviews. The paper drew a direct connection between cheap corn- and soy-based food and the obesity and diabetes epidemics.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. I'd like to see a revival of Victory Gardens for anyone lucky enough

to have land to grow organic fruits and vegetables. It is patriotic, economic, and ecologically sound in principle.

[SpiralHawk]

4. If you want clean food for yourself and your family, check out CSA

"Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) offers a way for every human being to be directly involved in the care and healing of the earth, while also ensuring a supply of clean, healthy food for their families and their neighbors."

snip

http://www.chiron-communications.com/farms.html

Good intro, with great links ...