Consumer demand for local foods is growing and Farm to Table, NMDA, and NMSU and University of Arizona Coop Extension are teaming up to offer a series of two workshops that will help farmers and ranchers in the Middle Rio Grande Valley and the Four Corners area to expand their businesses and meet this demand. The theme of the workshops is “Scaling Up: How to grow more, sell more and make more.”

In the first workshops, successful farmers from the area and beyond will present on their experience with:

• Community Supported Agriculture programs (CSAs),
• Selling to restaurants and institutions,
• Season extension for year round production and sales,
• Livestock marketing, and
• Diversifying product mix.

The workshops will also provide farmers and ranchers with the opportunity to meet in small groups with these farmers to think about which production and marketing improvements will work best for their own farms or ranches.

Workshop participants will be eligible to receive free, one-on-one consulting about their farm and ranch business.

The workshops will be held in the following three locations:

FARMINGTON

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

3pm to 8pm

First Presbyterian Church

865 North Dustin Avenue

SHIPROCK

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Shiprock Chapter House

US 64

10 am to 3 pm

BELEN

Saturday, November 14

Belen Public Library

333 Becker Ave

10am to 3pm

A $5 registration fee covers lunch or dinner and refreshments. To eat, YOU MUST RSVP one week before the workshop. For more information or to RSVP, contact Ilana Blankman at (505) 473-1004 x 12 or ilana.blankman@gmail.com.

November 16, 2009
Utah Cultural Celebration Center
West Valley City, Utah

Are you an urban farmer along the Wasatch Front, or are you interested in producing, processing, distributing, buying or supporting local foods along the Wasatch Front? Then join us for an opportunity to network and strategize. Click here for more information and online conference registration. Register today!

Be Well is available free or at low cost online at www.BeWellBook.org, in English and Spanish versions, and through local schools and community centers around the nation. The aim of the book is to make it accessible to any parent who wants to start their children on a healthy path.

“Obesity crosses all socio-economic lines, but the moms featured in Be Well don’t have the resources that many other moms do,” said Susan Dell, co-founder and chairman of the board of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. “What they do possess is the creativity and determination to guide their children toward the healthiest lives possible and show us all that healthy living can be easy and inexpensive. I hope women across the country find a story in this book they can identify with and are inspired to jump-start healthy habits in their own homes, or even share their own personal story on the www.BeWellBook.org Web site.”

“We want to enable parents to take an active role in creating healthy lifestyles for their families, as it is an important piece of the puzzle in the fight against childhood obesity,” said Ginny Ehrlich, executive director of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. “It is our hope that the book will not only inspire families to create a healthier environment for their children at home, but that they will become active in creating healthy communities by joining the Alliance’s Healthy Schools Network.”

The foreword is written by Dr. William H. Dietz, M.D., PhD, Director, Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The moms’ creative strategies in the book map to five levers Dr. Dietz attributes to preventing childhood obesity: 1) decreasing screen time, 2) decreasing high-energy density foods, 3) decreasing sugar-sweetened beverages, 4) increasing physical activity and 5) increasing fruits and vegetables.

A flavor of the moms and tips featured in Be Well: Messages from Moms on Living Healthier Lives:

–Debra in Harlem takes care of not only her own children, but also feeds upwards of 10 children on her own dime to ensure they have access to healthy food. She also finds creative serving techniques like “turkey hotdog necklaces” and “broccoli forests” to make healthy fare appealing to little ones.

–Ashley in Houston runs with her two young sons for at least 60 minutes each night to teach them the importance of physical activity and setting goals. Her eldest son’s grades and behavior improved since starting their nightly routine.

–Jamilia in Oakland had a family history of heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. As a 26-year-old mother of four, she made great efforts to cut out fast food by involving her kids in planning the weekly menu and rides the bus 30 minutes each week to buy fresh produce at a farmer’s market.

–Andrea in Tucson recognized the need to improve her family’s habits but wanted to honor her Mexican heritage and ancestors with her cooking. She adapted her culture’s traditional recipes and makes them healthier without sacrificing taste. Instead of frying beans and meats, she uses a slow cooker. Resources Behind the Book

The book was developed by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. The Dell family foundation advocates the need for childhood obesity prevention strategies to intervene at all levels of a child’s environment, including at the individual level, within families, within schools, and in the community. The foundation’s Health Portfolio reflects the passion of book narrator, Susan Dell, the co-founder and chairman of the board and the driving force behind the foundation. An accomplished athlete, Susan was a member of the President’s Council for Physical Fitness and Sports and is a board member of the Cooper Institute in Dallas. In the U.S. she is specifically focused on encouraging kids to be more physically active and promoting healthy eating. Dell also has four children of her own.

To obtain a copy of the book, go to www.BeWellBook.org. Parents can also submit their personal stories or the story of someone they know–and help others develop lifelong, healthy habits. Stories submitted may be published on www.BeWellBook.org.

There is no Letter of Intent process, so all applicants must submit a full proposal to be considered for funding. All proposals must be submitted electronically.  If you plan to apply this year and are not already registered with grants.gov, it is important to start that process immediately, since it can take up to two months. More information and technical support contacts are available at: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/funding/electronic.html.

If you are interested in applying for the CFP grant and want some help figuring out if your project is a good candidate and/or need some help putting your proposal together, Farm to Table can help. Contact Ilana Blankman at ilana.blankman@gmail.com or 505-473-1004 x 12.

]]> http://www.farmtotablenm.org/fts/gao-recommendations-could-reduce-risk-of-school-children-eating-contaminated-food/feed/ http://www.farmtotablenm.org/fts/gao-recommendations-could-reduce-risk-of-school-children-eating-contaminated-food/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FTTsFarmToSchool/~3/geOpLIjVBI4/ http://www.farmtotablenm.org/fts/usda%e2%80%99s-know-your-farmer-know-your-food-initiative-launched-last-week/#comments Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:43:56 +0000 FarmToSchool http://www.farmtotablenm.org/fts/?p=180 The Department of Agriculture recently announced a new initiative, “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food,” (KYF2) led by Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan. According to the Department, this initiative “is the focus of a task force with representatives from agencies across USDA who will help better align the Department’s efforts to build stronger local and regional food systems.” This week alone, about $65 million in funding for KYF2 was announced. “Americans are more interested in food and agriculture than at any other time since most families left the farm,” said Merrigan. “‘Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food’ seeks to focus that conversation on supporting local and regional food systems to strengthen American agriculture by promoting sustainable agricultural practices and spurring economic opportunity in rural communities.”

“Living Leopold: Land Ethic and a New Agrarianism”

held at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Albuquerque, NM

Wednesday to Friday, November 4-6, 2009

The event will include pre-conference workshops on Induced Meandering (a way to restore streambed channels) as well as Range School (this year’s focus is the harmony between livestock and wildlife). Conference topics will include land health, conservation, beauty, sustainable agriculture, restoration, and the land ethic.

For more information or to register online, go to www.quiviracoalition.org.

Registration Now Open!

We have a full schedule of workshops, networking meetings, and free time for informal networking with a focus on “good food networks.” See the February SWMN Newsletter for more on this exciting topic.

Click here to register online.

Click here to download the Conference Brochure and Registration Form.

If you wish a hardcopy mailed to you, contact Le Adams.

Common Dreams, February 6, 200

Community-based agriculture has the potential for creating jobs, developing small business entrepreneurships and keeping precious dollars in the community.

“As manufacturing jobs decrease, food jobs are increasing,” said Dr. Kami Pothukuchi, associate professor of urban planning at Wayne State University in Detroit.

This is especially good news for a state like Michigan whose economic engine has been dependent on the declining automobile industry.

Out of a total GDP of $381 billion, agriculture is the state’s second largest industry pulling in $63.7 billion annually compared to $68.4 billion from manufacturing, according to the Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

However, the present “industrialized food system” is made up of a handful of “mega-corporations” that control food production, processing, distribution and preparation, said Pothukuchi. Change to a community-based system is difficult because these corporations have a lot at stake in keeping the current system.

The U.S. industrialized food system was designed in the 1950s to increase production in order to provide the nation with cheap and plentiful food that was easily accessible. As a result, the United States became a top food producer in the world.

A variety of food-related jobs in processing, marketing and distribution also emerged even though the number of farmers declined. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Census (USDA) reported that farms increased in size averaging 155 acres in 1935, a peak year when the country had 6.8 million farms, compared to 2002 when farms averaged 441 acres and numbered 2.1 million farms.

It is important to remember that the industrialized food system was developed at a time when most American businesses were creating systems for mass production and economies of scale. Because volume is critical to the profitability of this system, farming methods developed to support a large-scale, energy-intensive monoculture that uses huge amounts of water and chemicals for herbicides, insecticides, and fertilizers. Tons of animal waste products also accumulate and pollute land, water and air because factory farming methods keep animals indoors and free of disease instead of allowing them to graze in pastures.

Actually, the cost of the industrialized food system outweighs its benefits. For example, most food in the industrialized system ends up in supermarkets after traveling an average 1,300 miles to get there. Fruits and vegetables may spend seven to fourteen days in transit. So freshness and taste are sacrificed for the products’ ability to travel.

Transporting products has been possible through cheap fuel. However, when oil reached over $100 a barrel last spring, the expense incurred over such long distances proved problematic. For example, world food prices averaged an increase of 43 percent over the past year, which inadvertently created a global food crisis that is causing political and economical instability and social unrest in both poor and developed nations.

Unseasonable droughts in grain-producing nations also affects high food prices just as falling stockpiles, the increased use of biofuels in developed countries and increasing demands for meat products in Asia’s middle class, according the BBC (May 2008).

The Consumer Price Index estimates that U.S. retail food prices increased in 2007 by only 4 percent, but this is the largest spike in 17 years-with more expected to come.

Industrial farming practices were developed when world population was only 2 billion. While these practices increased the carrying capacity of the earth then, they are slowly destroying the earth’s long-term carrying capacity for today’s population, which is 6.7 billion and climbing.

Over the past two decades as the industrialized food system has expanded to the global level, concerns over food safety have emerged, like the recent tainted food imports from China.

The industrialized food system has had a detrimental effect on the local economy, said Pothukuchi. Our food system should be a community-based system that revolves around small, polycultural farms that practice sustainable agriculture, preserve regional biodiversity and help build local economies. This is already being done in many ways.

First, local food networks like community gardens, food co-ops, Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA), farmers’ markets, and seed savers groups keep money in the community.

Second, as more people prefer organic food products, organic farming represents a profitable alternative for local economic growth and sustainable agriculture since organic farmers tend to sell to local markets (within 150 miles). More acreage is being dedicated to organic farming. From 1997 to 2005, the number of U.S. certified organic acres grew by 63 percent, while Michigan certified organic farmland increased by 166 percent.

In actuality, the number of industrialized farms converting to organic farming methods remains steady, but small. Michigan’s 45,500 certified organic acres comprise only 0.4 percent of the state’s total farmland and 1 percent of the total 4,000,000 certified organic acres in the country according to the Michigan Organic Farm and Food Alliance (MOFFA). But the potential for growth is there, especially when organic food processors/handlers are figured into the economic mix. The USDA reports that there were over 3,000 organic-certified facilities nationwide in 2004, with 41 percent of those located on the Pacific Coast and almost 800 in California alone.

Local organic food is admittedly more expensive than food from large, industrialized farms, however, organic advocates claim that prices in the industrialized food system are cheap because their true cost omits governmental price supports, direct payments or tax breaks and road infrastructure.

Third, colleges and universities across the country are looking for ways to support sustainable agriculture. One way they are doing it is by supplying their cafeterias with food grown by local farmers. These institutions teach students how to grow backyard and community gardens as well as food-related careers like urban farming. Pothukuchi started an urban gardening program at Wayne State, which is distinguished as the largest inner-city campus with a comprehensive food systems program that is not run by an agriculture school.

Some areas of the state are actively recruiting youth for community-based farming careers through hands-on learning situations. The 4-H Entrepreneurs Club in Kalkaska County has youth pick and buy produce at area farms in order to sell it at five different farmers markets. There are similar programs in Detroit and Monroe County.

Fourth, regions like Grand Traverse in the northwestern lower peninsula, are rebuilding their local economies through agriculture by forming partnerships among businesspeople, economic developers, schools, grocers, restaurateurs and food retailers, reported the Great Lakes Bulletin News Service. As these partnerships work to bring more food-related jobs to the area, they not only support local farmers but they also protect precious income-producing farmlands from being overtaken by urban sprawl.

The Michigan Land Use Institute (MLUI) speculates that the Grand Traverse region could stimulate more job growth and entrepreneurship by supporting its 2,229 farms through cooperative efforts like the Food and Farm Network. Moreover, a 2006 MLUI study found that farms could generate 1,889 new jobs across the state and $187 million in new personal income by selling more fresh produce locally.

Fifth, state programs can provide yet another opportunity for local economic development, like the MDA’s Agricultural Innovation Program. This competitive grant seeks to establish, retain, expand, attract or develop value-added processing and production operations in Michigan through innovative financing assistance to processors, agribusinesses, producers, local units of government and legislatively-authorized commodity boards in Michigan.

All these efforts for change, however, have barely dented the deeply-entrenched industrialized food system. Michigan residents, for example, spend $26 billion on food with only 10 percent from the state’s farmers, according to a 2001 MLUI study.

“Michigan has the second most diverse agriculture in the United States [with 150 crops],” said Pothukuchi. “We could add another $2.6 billion to the state’s economy if we increased production of local food by another 10 percent.”

Olga Bonfiglio is a professor at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and author of Heroes of a Different Stripe: How One Town Responded to t…. She has written for several national magazines on the subjects of social justice and religion. Her website is http://www.olgabonfiglio.com/. Contact her at olgabonfiglio AT yahoo DOT com.

Reprinted from the Organic Consumers Association website.