Eat your arugula

David Goldstein, former colleague at the KC Star now Washington correspondent for McClatchy (the Star’s latest parent company), reported on the complaints of Roberts and fellow lovers-of-all-things-industrial-ag about Know Your Farmer. From the story:

Sens. Pat Roberts of Kansas , John McCain of Arizona and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia complained in a recent letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack that his agency spent $65 million last year on a program “aimed at small, hobbyist and organic producers whose customers generally consist of affluent patrons at urban farmers markets.”

Maybe someone should tell them about the soaring use of SNAP benefits (aka food stamps) at farmers markets. The market here in Lawrence, Kansas, for instance, saw SNAP usage double last year, and it’s on track to double again this year. Maybe poor people recognize good, healthy food when they eat it too?

And what a slap at the farmers who grow food for direct sale to people who eat it. Roberts evidently doesn’t know how much hard work those growers put into their growing and marketing efforts if he thinks it’s a hobby.

No crumbs for little guys

Anyway, Goldstein spoke with Bruce Babcock, an economist and the director of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development at Iowa State University. The money quote (emphasis added by me):

[Babcock] said it was “ironic” that the senators and others objected to the USDA spending $65 million on Know Your Farmer when commodity producers received $5 billion during the past two years, and the crop insurance industry received $7 billion.

Sounds a bit as though Roberts wants his friends to get all the money, not just 99% of it. Roberts, as you may recall, opposed a cap on support payments to commodity farmers.

An aside: At OpenSecrets.org you will find that industrial ag contributors figure large in Roberts’ current campaign coffers. And if you look at his donors across his career, they’re at the top. Roberts has received more than $1 million from various ag services and processors in his career. (No doubt contributions poured in faster when he chaired the House Agriculture Committee.)

Dan Nagengast of the Kansas Rural Center told Goldstein, “Generally, he’s (Roberts) got better judgment than to gratuitously dismiss something the health industry, environmental industry, rural development industry and people in small towns are interested in.”

Bring on a new candidate

Alas, Dan’s giving the senator too much credit, because Kansans have reflexively voted for the GOP’s man for years. Maybe we’ll get lucky and he won’t run again, but whether he does or not, Kansans need to be looking hard for a candidate who recognizes the value of small farms, local food and rural culture. That candidate certainly isn’t Roberts.

Addendum

Off topic: While I’m griping, let me add that it galls me that Goldstein’s story came to be via a Google Alert, not in my local newspaper or in the Kansas City Star, for which he ostensibly is a correspondent. It was online on Friday and in newspapers across the country. It showed up on Saturday in the Wichita Eagle (and Saturday’s generally a poorly read paper). I’m going to give the Star the benefit of the doubt and suppose it’s holding it for the larger circulation Sunday paper. But still. Would somebody please remind me why I subscribe, beyond hoping to keep a few of my friends employed? Grrr.

They made their move about the time Gopal K. Singh and others reported that Kansas has the dubious distinction of seeing its rate of obesity among girls more than double from 2003 to 2007 (Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine). The Kansas City Star’s Alan Bavley followed up on that report with a story Sunday in which the researcher denies there’s anything wrong with the data in his research.

Even if the surge is overstated, the problem is real, and eliminating ready access to alluring, but empty, calories is one place to start. The board made the right decision, and they can’t implement their new rule fast enough.

Photo courtesy Robert Lawton via WikiMedia Commons

Most states exempt food from sales taxes (see report from the Federation of Tax Administrators [PDF]). Although Kansas does provide a mechanism for poor people to get some relief from that tax on their income tax filings, the sales tax on food harms middle and low income people the most, because they spend a larger share of their income on food than wealthier people. A 2006 report at the Kansas Department of Revenue by John D. Wong of Wichita State noted:

For 2003, the effective consumer sales tax rate for the lowest income group was 16.5 percent, compared to the rate for the highest income group of 2.3 percent.

The new tax will only exacerbate that situation. Poor people also pay significantly higher proportions of their income on property taxes. When you combine all three taxes (sales, property and income), Wong found, the poorest people pay the largest share, and the richest pay the smallest share of their income in taxes:

The lowest income group (under $10,000) paid 32.7 percent of income in taxes. The effective tax rates decreased slightly for the middle-range of households, ranging from 14.6 percent to 7.6 percent. These households had income between $10,000 and $199,000. The highest income group($200,000 and over), paid 7.7 percent of income in taxes. The combined average effective tax rate for the state as a whole is 9.2 percent.

I suppose this is old news, but it’s depressing that the pols don’t just get away with it; they make it worse during hard financial times.

After years of planning and debate, the Lawrence Farmers Market on Thursday opened its first true west-side market to a warm welcome.

Vendor Carolyn Slawson (the silhouette at left, above) said, “The comment heard most from the customers was ‘Thank you for coming west,’” and she added, “As a vendor I felt appreciated and welcomed.”

Good news

My sister Lori, who lives a little more than a half-mile from the market on the southwest corner of Sixth & Wakarusa (and who shot the photos you see here—thanks, Lori!), was among the enthusiastic customers. She reported that not only was there a good crowd but also that lots of people were walking to the market and bringing their children. In a part of town where motor transport is almost necessary, this was big news. For those of us interested in our society’s long-term health and well-being, it’s very positive news indeed.

Lori gushed about the fragrance and flavor of Jane Wohletz’s strawberries (at right; click for larger version) which drew a crowd at the market, but Lori worried that less market-savvy neighbors might not realize that the number of vendors (there were about a dozen) will grow as the season progresses and vendors have more products to sell. She worried, in short, that the market might not succeed because customers wouldn’t patronize the market enough.

I’m not particularly worried, for several reasons. Key among them:

• News of the high quality of the growers’ produce will spread, and people will come back for more, even if they are initially disappointed in the size of the market. There’s a contingent of more than 20 vendors signed up to sell on the west side. Just give them a little time.
• The market addresses issues that have frustrated west-side families about the downtown markets. Specifically, it’s at a time that doesn’t compete with their children’s Saturday-morning sports activities; it’s close to where they live; and there’s easy access and plenty of parking.
• Although it’s doubtful, at least for the time being, to attain the festive atmosphere of the Saturday market, the Thursday market is likely to attract shoppers who rarely go downtown on Saturday mornings and who, therefore, aren’t expecting the west market to be the same as the Saturday market.

A little background

I understand Lori’s concerns, though. A few years ago, the market tried a market on Wednesdays outside the Community Mercantile. That market lasted only one season.

This new market is different in several ways.

• It’s farther away. It’s about five miles from the downtown markets compared with the one-mile distance between the Merc’s location at 9th & Iowa streets and the downtown markets. The greater distance means it really will draw from a fresh pool of potential customers.
• It’s moving, not adding, a weekday market. The sales outside the Merc were on Wednesdays, and the Lawrence Farmers Market continued its Tuesday and Thursday sales. Three consecutive weekday markets spread the growers’ product and time thin.
• It can capture commuters. Situated along a key route for people who commute to Topeka, the new Thursday market will be able to attract customers who can’t make it downtown on weekdays. (Click map for larger version, or go to Google map.)

You never know

Market vendors weren’t unanimous in their desire to open the Thursday market. Some worried about offending people who used to frequent the Thursday market downtown. A few, I suspect, are not keen on any change. And you never know; vendors could lose enthusiasm as the season progresses, just as they did the Wednesday market.

Still, I don’t think the risk of this market failing is a fraction of the risk farmers take every time they put a seed in the ground. If you live in the vicinity of the market, though, I do hope you will check it out. I’m on the market’s board, but I am not a vendor, so my only “dog in the fight” is the one that believes in supporting local producers, in the value of eating the fresh food that they sell and in the community benefits of a healthy local food system.

Carolyn didn’t sound worried about the market’s prospects. She said she is “looking forward to rest of the season at this site,” and market coordinator Tom Buller said, “I thought the Thursday market went well.  It was really busy from 4-5 and seemed to me to draw a really diverse crowd.” I know I’m eager to see how it works out. And one of these days, I’ll get out there to take a look for myself.

Let me know what you think. And if you have suggestions for making any of the markets better, speak up!

Is that my niece in there? No bees in her bonnet!

Even if you have seen the movie, though, you still might want to tune in, because KTWU is going to present two locally produced followup shows after the movie. First, at 8:30, according to a Kansas Rural Center press release, the station will give a half-hour presentation on Kansas food and farm history. Then, at 9 p.m., the station offers up “Taking Stock: Perspectives on Food Production in Kansas,” a panel discussion of issues raised in the movie, which questioned many aspects of the way American agriculture is producing our food.

The panel includes local food promoters Dan Nagengast of the Kansas Rural Center and Diana Endicott of Good Natured Family Farms, a marketing alliance of farms in eastern Kansas and western Missouri. The panel also includes representatives of “conventional” farming (the get big or get out model, I guess): Steve Baccus, president of the Kansas Farm Bureau, and Mark Smith, president of the Kansas Livestock Association. For the political perspective, there’s  state Secretary of Agriculture Josh Svaty and former Kansas governor John Carlin, currently a visiting professor in political science at K-State.

Dan reports that the discussion, which was taped in advance, went well. I’m looking forward to it. Now, if I can just get KTWU to come in on my television. I’ll be working on my rabbit ears…

Get yer farm-fresh produce here

A popular view of ag. Commentator John Schlageck promotes an upcoming program, “Taking Stock: Perspectives on Food Production in Kansas,” which he says public television stations in Kansas will be running in response to the scheduled PBS broadcast of Food Inc. Alas, Schlageck’s column is largely a series of platitudes that provides no evidence to counter the reality of farmers who must work off the farm to survive economically, who are cogs in the great agriculture machine run by a handful of huge corporations that control everything from seed to silo to feedlot to slaughterhouse. We can only hope the panelists on the television program scheduled for May 5 have something of substance to say. (Pittsburg, Kansas, Morning Sun)

No freezer burn. If you’re in the KC area or don’t mind driving there, you can sign up for a food preservation class on freezing on April 30 at the Johnson County Extension office.

Planting seeds. Mary Sanchez writes in the Kansas City Star about an urban farming project in Kansas City, Kansas, that could improve diets in the urban core—and be a model for rules that Kansas City, Missouri, is pondering. (KC Star)

Green dining. Also in the Star, Jill Silva writes about KC-area restaurants’ efforts to reduce waste through means such as composting and reduced portion sizes. (KC Star)

Stalking turkey. For some Kansans, local food in spring means wild turkey. Read all about the bird and the hunt at the Topeka Capital-Journal.

Hot beans! Read a profile of Alan Townsend, head of the J. Hawkens Bean Co. in Goodland, Kansas. Growing edible dry beans makes sense in western Kansas. Maybe more growers will follow his lead and quit depleting the Ogallala Aquifer. (Profile by Ron Wilson, at Kansas State University.) Did I mention I love beans? You can read about the aquifer at Scientific American, among other places. (Map: U.S. Geological Survey)

Oxen to be gored? I’m a little late on calling attention to last week’s AP article about antitrust rules to be developed governing the meat and poultry industries. As the article notes:

Just four companies buy and slaughter 80 percent of all U.S. beef, limiting competition in the meat industry. Meanwhile, big poultry companies dictate chicken prices and can demand farmers take on debt to upgrade their chicken houses for the companies’ benefit.

Needless to say, that kind of power can be abused—and is, by some standards. Stay tuned for when the rules are issued, and be prepared to let Uncle Sam know you you feel about them. (Associated Press)

The estimated $90 million benefit to the tax rolls isn’t enough to balance the budget, but imagine the potential savings over for Kansas residents suffering diabetes and obesity at least partly due to soft drinks. Liquid calories are notorious for their weight-adding facility (just Google “liquid calories”), and the latest news says added sugar also contributes to heart disease. (Here’s Time magazine’s report; lots of others exist.)

Opponents of the proposal, chiefly bottlers and their employees, plan an ad campaign and testified against the bill in the Ways and Means Committee (Associated Press). You can let committee members know those opponents do not represent you. The following senators are committee members:

Chairperson Jay Emler, Carolyn McGinn, John Vratil, Pat Apple, Ty Masterson, Vicki Schmidt, Jean Schodorf, Mark Taddiken, Ruth Teichman, Dwayne Umbarger, Laura Kelly, Kelly Kultala and Janis Lee. Their contact information is here. Let them know what you think!

Bob Lominska presides over RPFA’s first early-season delivery.

Rolling Prairie

Rolling Prairie’s  first delivery far exceeded my hopes, considering what a cool wet spring we’ve had, this past week excepted. I brought home asparagus, green onions, spinach, salad mix, lettuce and cilantro (working from memory here). They were gorgeous specimens.  There were some tough choices, though, such as choosing among asparagus, mushrooms and eggs.

The delivery table was in a more cramped arrangement than in the past. Worked OK while I was there, but I picked my goods up during a slow period. It will see whether the new arrangement, intended to use less space for the Merc, will survive when the full delivery season begins in two weeks. Only 65 or so people get the early season delivery.

I believe there are a few spots left for 2010 for Rolling Prairie’s subscription-style CSA. An application including site coordinator information is available ( PDF). Below you can see a few stalks of the gorgeous—and tender to the end of the very long stalks—asparagus I got.

Farmers markets

Blessed by more good weather, the Lawrence Farmers Market had 43 vendors at Saturday’s market. Customers and merchants alike were in high spirits. The market will have its grand opening on May 1 , which not only is the official high-season kickoff but also signals the opening of the weekday markets the first week of May. Can’t wait!

Meanwhile, 40 miles or so east of Lawrence, farmers markets are opening in the Kansas City area too. Read about them at Fat City.