The Future of Food in 2007

Nothing less than the future of food in the United States will be debated in the coming year: 2007. The United States is due for a New Farm Bill. Most folks don't worry about the Farm Bill, thinking, of course, that there is no reason to think about it unless one is a politician in a rural state, a farmer, a grocery store chain owner, a large commodity trader, or an executive in a Big Food company. After all, Farm Bill or not, there will be still be (we hope or believe) the plentiful food supply we are all used to since WWII. Well, guess what, by ceding the formation of the farm bill to politicians and powerful special interest groups, we (yes WE--and I include myself in this number) have worked to ensure what the Community Food Security Coalition has referred to as "an unfortunate legacy of fewer farmers, lost farmland, unhealthy and hungry children, and polluted water and air" (Community Food Security News, Fall 2006). Yes, food is still fairly cheap compared to other commodities and readily available for many who can afford it, but at what cost to the environment, to public health, to small farmers?

Well, there is something we can all do about it--endorse the Kellogg Foundation's coalition project "The Farm and Food Policy Project," which we can all learn more about at:


http://www.farmandfoodproject.org/

I'm also posting the statement from the website. For those of us who do work with Food Politics issues in our Writing 205 courses here at Syracuse, this may be an interesting debate to engage in with our students: the question of how public policy has helped to create the loss of the small farm, the rise of the global obesity epidemic, the continuance of hunger in the U.S. and elsewhere, and the loss of farm land to overdevelopment and poor community planning. Researching the formation of this policy and its impact will be an interesting project and an eye-opener. Illiteracy about agriculture, about agricultural policy is at an all-time high in our nation because most of us have bought into the theory that food is simply there--cheap (relatively speaking), plentiful (always there), safe to eat (think twice about it since the latest spinach debacle), and safely produced (let's talk about pesticides, genetically modified organisms and migrant labor exploitation). There's plenty of good to go around, too. I'm not trying to be totally gloom and doom: the resurgence of local and regional farmers' markets, the rise of local organic agriculture and community-supported agriculture, urban community garden projects, school food learning projects and community gardens, the Slow Food movement. But we have a long ways to go to make those localized programs more a part of the larger national food framework.

Here's the statement:


"The Farm and Food Policy Project

A diverse coalition of family farm, sustainable agriculture, rural, public health, anti-hunger, environmental, faith-based, and other groups is forming to shape the 2007 Farm Bill.

The cross-sector approach of the Farm and Food Policy Project (FFPP) reflects a commitment to policy reforms that address the full spectrum of public needs addressed by this critical piece of legislation.

This broad and growing coalition believes that by working together, it can make real progress toward supporting family farms and local communities, improving health and nutrition, ending hunger, and increasing biodiversity and improving the quality of our soil, water and air.

Underlying the project's dialogue is a shared set of beliefs and values, which are:
• A widespread and diverse family farm system benefits rural communities and society as a whole;
• Extensive hunger and food insecurity in the United States are unacceptable;
• Strong stewardship commitments are key to maintaining farm and food systems into the future that will promote environmental and public health for our children;
• Stimulating new markets and restoring competition to the marketplace are vital to a fair, sustainable food system;
• Rectifying historic patterns of discrimination and making farm and food policies more responsive to an increasingly diverse society are critically important; and
• Rural and urban communities can work together to create a healthier food system.

The FFPP believes that all the major sections of the Farm Bill - commodity, nutrition, rural development, credit, conservation, research, and energy - hold significant opportunities for crafting more cost-effective and higher-impact policies that can increase farm profitability and improve the health of individuals, communities, and the environment.

In November 2006, FFPP will release a public statement - endorsed by a broad public interest coalition - identifying core priorities and opportunities for innovation in four areas:

1.) Advancing a new generation in farming and fostering market-based solutions

2.) Reducing food insecurity and enhancing public health

3.) Capitalizing on rural community strength to enhance economic viability

4.) Rewarding stewardship and improving environmental quality."

The organization plans to release a more specific statement about how they will influence the Farm Bill in the next week or so, so I will continue to blog about this. I'm also working on a chapter in my book _New Agrarian Rhetorics_, which will consider the public debate over this Farm Bill and past ones.

If you eat, you have a stake in agriculture.