Foodlinks America - June 5, 2009
Foodlinks America - June 5, 2009
In this issue:
• Congress Tackles Packed Summer Agenda
• Postal Service Collects Record Donations
• Proposed Legislation
• SNAP Shots
• Farmers Spur Food Donations in Oregon
• Reports from the Field – Holyoke, MA
• Small Bites
Foodlinks America is published 24 times a year by California Emergency Foodlink in Sacramento, CA and distributed by Weinberg & Vauthier Consulting, 122 South Main Street, No. 9, Burnet, TX 78611; Zy Weinberg and Barbara Vauthier, Editors; email: bvauthier@tefapalliance.org.
Foodlinks America is not copyrighted, so the information can be freely shared with colleagues and friends, though attribution for reprinted articles is appreciated. For archived issues of Foodlinks America, go to: www.tefapalliance.org. To request a free subscription to the newsletter or to submit story ideas, contact Barbara Vauthier at: bvauthier@tefapalliance.org.
Congress Tackles Packed Summer Agenda
After a fast-paced six months of major legislative actions – including a $787 billion stimulus package to deal with the deepening recession – the Obama Administration and the Democratic majority in Congress are facing a long list of difficult issues to be addressed in the coming months. Deliberations on health care, energy policy, and fiscal 2010 spending top the legislative agenda for both chambers; meanwhile, the Senate will be simultaneously engaged in examining a Supreme Court nominee.
“This is where the rubber meets the road,” said White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, who will be a central figure in helping Congress meet its heavy workload and tight time schedule. Emanuel hopes to make significant progress on key Obama priorities this summer.
Republicans assert that legislation passed earlier this year may be easy in comparison to the battles ahead. “It is pretty clear that both sides have a lot they want to get done in a limited amount of time on issues that don’t yet have a lot of consensus,” said a spokesperson for Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
However, Democratic lawmakers feel the public is ready for major change, particularly on health care, with Obama’s continuing popularity helping to carry negotiations forward. At the same time, Democrats are intent on completing all 12 annual appropriations bills before the October 1 start of the new fiscal year, a goal that has been unmet in recent years. The House leadership has said that after a busy June and July, it intends to pass all spending bills by the end of August.
Democrats are encouraged about their legislative prospects. “Nobody is underestimating the steep incline of this,” said Mr. Emanuel. “But there has been a high level of confidence building on the capability and capacity of the Congress because it has hit every major legislative mark to date.”
Postal Service Collects Record Donations
Americans helped their neighbors restock emergency food shelves with more than 73.4 million pounds of non-perishable foods on May 9, 2009 through nationwide Postal Service food collections. Millions of Americans left food by their mailboxes that day and thousands of letter carriers, rural carriers, and other postal employees and volunteers collected, processed, and delivered the donations to local food banks and pantries.
Food was collected along postal routes in over 10,000 cities and towns in all 50 states and U.S. jurisdictions. It is the nation’s largest one-day effort to “Stamp Out Hunger,” according to the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), which sponsors the annual event the second Saturday in May. Final results showed 73,414,533 pounds of non-perishable food were collected, a slight increase over the previous record of 73.1 million pounds set in 2008.
It was the sixth consecutive year above 70 million pounds and brought the total for the drive’s 17 years to over 982 million pounds of food. West Coast Florida NALC Branch 1477, headquartered in the St. Petersburg area, collected 1,755,689 pounds of donations to take top honors for the second consecutive year among the more than 1,400 local NALC branches that conducted food drives.
“This is an amazing testimony to the generosity of the American people even as they themselves struggle to make ends meet in these hard times,” said NALC president William Young. “Our members take pride in being able to serve their postal customers and help them assist millions of needy Americans, including many working families, children and the elderly.”
Proposed Legislation
Among bills recently introduced in the 111th session of the U.S. Congress are the following:
House Resolution (H.R.) 2276: Introduced by Representatives Mary Bono Mack (R-CA) and Nita Lowey (D-NY), the Improved Nutrition and Physical Activity (IMPACT) Act would establish grants to provide health services for improved nutrition, increased physical activity, and obesity and eating disorder prevention.
H.R. 2436: Introduced by Representative Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL), the Charitable Goods Donation Act would amend the Internal Revenue Code to extend the charitable contributions deduction for food inventory, book inventory, and computer technology and equipment through December 31, 2010.
For bill summary and status information, along with the text of legislation, visit: http://thomas.loc.gov/ and enter the bill number.
SNAP Shots
Participation growth continues at record pace: Nationwide enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in March 2009 was more than 33.1 million people, the highest level on record and an increase of almost 600,000 individuals over February 2009. Within the past year, caseloads have grown by more than 5.2 million people.
Growth has been greatest in Utah, Nevada, and Idaho, all of which posted growth rates of more than one-third between March 2008 and March 2009. Participation increased by more than 25 percent in eight other states.
“It’s very likely that the numbers will continue to grow in the coming months as a turnaround in unemployment and wage declines typically lags behind the recovery of the broader economy as measured by GDP,” said Jim Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) in Washington, D.C. “It’s tough out there for struggling families, and will be for many months to come, and states must do all they can to capture eligible people” and get them SNAP benefits, Weill insisted.
Managing workloads and stress: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has publicized some tips it is offering to states in acknowledgement that they “are struggling to cope with mounting caseloads.” In an April 28, 2009 memorandum, USDA provides a matrix of various policies, annotated with advantages, considerations, and other financial factors to take into account.
USDA suggests consideration of reporting changes, implementing standard deductions, streamlining verification, and other actions to help maintain administrative control. For details, see: http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/government/pdf/matrix.pdf.
Retirement accounts dechiphered: The 2008 Farm Bill made major changes in the manner in which retirement accounts are considered resources in the SNAP program. An updated list of 17 different types of retirement vehicles and how they are treated under SNAP may be found at: http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/rules/Memo/2009/051409.pdf.
Costo reconsiders: Costco has been one of the few national retailers that has refused to participate in SNAP and accept benefits from its customers shopping for food there. But public pressure from elected officials and consumer groups in New York have convinced the company to accept benefits on a trial basis at two New York stores, including one in East Harlem that received $55 million in public subsidies during construction.
Farmers Spur Food Donations in Oregon
Oregon farmers are helping to alleviate hunger in their state by educating consumers. Farmers Ending Hunger (FEH), a statewide non-profit, not only gets farmers involved in growing particular foods to meet food bank needs, its “Adopt an Acre” program “gets the public involved in understanding the full cost of getting a donation from the field to an emergency food shelf,” FEH president John Burt told Foodlinks America.
Farmers are often willing to donate part of their crop production. But it is the ancillary costs, particularly transportation and processing, of getting that food from the farm to the food pantry that must be covered. “The person who adopts the acre is responsible for doing what it takes to get food from point A to point B,” Burt explained, whether that includes sorting, cutting, or further processing. For example, this year some 50 Oregon growers are donating wheat that will be milled and turned into 200,000 pounds of instant pancake mix. Burt said farmers have donated 76 cows that have become frozen hamburger.
Last year, FEH efforts resulted in nearly 1.2 million pounds of donated local food. Higher totals are expected this year, fueled by the statewide appeal for wheat growers, increasing interest from Central Oregon vegetable farmers, and widespread and highly-publicized food insecurity throughout the state. As of late May, Burt could already count hundreds of thousands of pounds of potatoes, onions, carrots, corn, green beans, and other vegetables that have gone to the Oregon Food Bank and its affiliates. He expects over two million pounds of food to be donated this year.
“We are growing food. Farmers want to participate in ending hunger. Adopt An Acre covers the expenses of processing acres of local crops into high-quality food,” said Burt. “More importantly, we’re doing the right thing at the right time.”
Reports from the Field – Holyoke, MA
Now is the best time of year to enjoy fresh produce from the farm or a garden. It is also the season of farmers’ markets, that weekly whirl of crowds, colors, and tastes that even some low-income Americans are getting to enjoy, thanks to the generosity of foundations and the efforts of community groups, as detailed in the following article from The Washington Post of May 27, 2009:
Holyoke is not the kind of place where you’d expect to find a thriving farmers’ market. The western Massachusetts city is one of the poorest in the country, with high rates of diabetes, obesity and heart disease. But the Thursday market is busy and growing. And new revenues come from an unlikely demographic: families on federal food assistance.
Needy families are flocking to the market thanks to an innovative program, coming soon to the Washington area, that doubles the value of food stamps and fruit and vegetable coupons for low-income mothers and senior citizens. Between August and October of last year, sales using food stamps at the Holyoke market jumped 290 percent, and the number of coupons increased 60 percent. Organizers expect sales to be even higher this summer now that word about the program is out.
Attracting low-income families to farmers’ markets is the goal of the Wholesome Wave Foundation, which provided a $10,000 grant to the Holyoke market and funds to markets in California and Connecticut. The foundation’s pitch: Doubling food assistance money helps needy families afford fresh fruits and vegetables and eat more healthfully, and the money they spend goes to another struggling population: small farmers. Moreover, studies show that the food stamp program (recently renamed the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP) and similar forms of aid are among the most effective ways to stimulate the slumping economy, creating $1.73 worth of economic activity for every dollar spent.
This year, the organization will help fund similar programs in Georgia, Michigan, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and the District.
“Our goal is to prove to the federal government that matching works,” said Michel Nischan, Wholesome Wave’s chief executive and the executive chef at Dressing Room restaurant in Westport, Conn. “By implementing these programs, a single dollar of stimulus impacts nutrition, helps farmers, stimulates the economy and provides a direct investment in reducing health-care costs.”
Public-health advocates have long wanted to link food assistance to good nutrition. But the anti-hunger lobby objects, arguing that forcing recipients to buy only healthful products is impractical – does SunnyD qualify? – and smacks of paternalism. Incentives, proponents say, make the argument moot by encouraging, not requiring, families to choose healthful fruits and vegetables.
“The idea of doubling your money really resonates,” said Daniel Ross, executive director of Nuestras Raices, a grass-roots community development group that helped administer the Holyoke matching program. “We’ve found in all our research that low-income people know what healthy food is, but because of price, they can’t afford it. This helps them get the food they really want for their families.”
The number of farmers markets has skyrocketed in recent years, but luring low-income families to shop has proved difficult. SNAP recipients are given electronic debit cards, which don’t work at cash-only markets. And the prices that small farmers need to charge to make a profit ($5 a pound for heirloom tomatoes, for example) aren’t attractive to families on a tight budget. Even the heavily subsidized Anacostia Farmers’ Market served an average of only 120 customers a week before closing in 2007 after nine years in business.
Nevertheless, farmers’ markets have been working to draw low-income families. The Crossroads market in Takoma Park was one of the first in Maryland to accept food stamps and vouchers from the Department of Agriculture’s Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and senior programs. In 2007, it began to offer “fresh checks” to match up to $10 of the amount spent on the initial visit and $5 on follow-up visits. Crossroads officials hope to raise $10,000 to give away in the 2009 season.
At FreshFarm Markets, which runs eight markets in Washington and Maryland, producers have accepted fruit and vegetable vouchers from the WIC and senior programs for more than a decade. Last year, FreshFarm introduced machines to process SNAP debit cards at its Silver Spring and H Street markets. But, says co-director Ann Yonkers, a lack of awareness resulted in low redemption rates.
Prompted by success stories elsewhere, FreshFarm tried to raise money for its own double voucher program. The organization has raised $3,500 to date, and Wholesome Wave is contributing $2,500. Over the next month, FreshFarm will work to market the program at food assistance offices and with advertising on bus shelters. The matching program will launch at the two markets on July 4.
Wholesome Wave is also providing $10,000 to the nonprofit Appalachian Sustainable Development, which, once permits are obtained, plans to launch a double voucher coupon program at its flagship Abingdon, Va., market in southwest Virginia this summer. If the program is successful, the extra funds could boost the Abingdon market’s revenues by almost 10 percent.
Some markets have tried different incentives. At the City Heights market in San Diego, Wholesome Wave and a partner, the International Rescue Committee, provided $5 to eligible low-income consumers to help them buy fresh produce. An average of 100 people a week arrived, sometimes three hours before the market opened to get the so-called fresh fund dollars. Last year, food stamp sales at the market rose more than 400 percent, and 88 percent of fresh fund customers said they ate more fresh fruits and vegetables because of the extra money.
The success of the program helped the IRC raise $45,000 for the 2009 season, three times as much as in 2008.
Wholesome Wave’s Nischan supports programs that offer incentive checks to food assistance recipients. But in his experience, he said, it’s the double-voucher program that is most powerful. “This is a two-for-one sale. The emotional marketing triggers are there,” he said. “It works because it’s capitalism.”
Small Bites
Takeout takes off: Americans ate takeout meals an average of 125 times a year in 2008, up from 72 times a year in 1983.
Americans’ can-do attitude: Sales of canning supplies last October were up 92 percent over the same month a year earlier.
Pitching it green: Applications for U.S. trademarks using the word “green” were up 32 percent in 2008 compared to 2007.
And environmental, too: Trademarks using the term “Eco-“ were up 86 percent in the same period.
Eat local; save gas: A typical meal purchased from a conventional supermarket chain consumes four to 17 times more petroleum for transport than the same meal using local ingredients.
Eat local; save the planet: Organic, sustainable local food systems can potentially mitigate nearly 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
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