Today’s Good News: Community Food Projects Help Communities, Farmers
A terrific USDA program called the Community Food Projects Competitive Grants has been helping local communities solve their own problems with hunger, unhealthy food, and loss of family farms. It is, however, in danger of getting lost in the shuffle as the Farm Bill moves closer to passage in Congress.
Bridget Kelly Ries and Margaret Kelly wrote an op-ed in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, picked up by Common Dreams, that describes the program and urges people to contact their Senators for support. Ries and Kelly note that “it is unusual and heartening to find [government] programs that spend relatively little money and encourage local people to find their own solutions to problems.” The program started in 96 and is funded at all of $5 million per year.
They cite examples around the country, such as:
- the Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture programs, that encourage urban residents and new immigrants with limited resources to grow and market their own food
- the Missouri Rural Crisis Center in central and northern rural Missouri, through which residents have been saving money by banding together and ordering food in bulk through the food co-op
- the Lower East Side Girls Club of New York, which has taught healthy eating to thousands of lower income city girls
And I love this comment from “CAfarmer” at Common Dreams:
“One thing small farmers need is for more Americans to get their poorly nourished selves out of the boxed, instant, processed subsidized food aisles and out to the farmstands and farmers markets and CSAs and food co-ops…Poor people need assistance to buy and use fresh healthy foods. For most Americans there is no excuse except mis-placed priorities…Fresh local food is better for rich people, too! Not just the poor. Take some responsibility for your own family’s health and you’ll be supporting your local food system at the same time…Small farmers aren’t looking for a government handout! We’re just looking for customers who are willing to pay a fair price for our product so we DON’T have to go looking for a government check.”
Now would be a good time to call. Reuters reports that the Senate could pass its $288 billion farm bill by the end of next week under an agreement on Thursday (12/6) that broke a month-long impasse.  See the article here . The Chicago Tribune says it’s “far from a done deal,” though, and notes the giant subsidies for giant agribusiness are still there.
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