TEFAP Alliance Blog

Foodlinks America - September 29, 2006

In this issue:

· Funding Decisions Delayed Until After Elections
· Major Fruit and Vegetable Legislation Introduced
· Food Stamp Facts
· Community Food Projects Grants Announced
· Nutrition Notes
· Farmers’ Market Facilitations
· Obesity Round-Up
· Community Food Projects Profile: Girls Club Brings Better Nutrition to Inner-City Youth
· Small Bites

Foodlinks America is published 24 times a year by California Emergency Foodlink in Sacramento, CA and distributed by Weinberg & Vauthier Consulting, 6412 CR 116, Burnet, TX 78611; Zy Weinberg and Barbara Vauthier, Editors; email: bvauthier@281.com .

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@281.com.

Funding Decisions Delayed Until After Elections

Appropriations for food assistance programs in fiscal year 2007 will not be decided until after federal elections on November 7, 2006. Unable to finalize funding levels for almost all government programs by the start of the new fiscal year on October 1, Congress will enact a continuing resolution (CR) and attach it to a Defense appropriations bill to keep government operations going through November 17.

The CR will authorize funding at the lowest figure of: 1) proposed House funding levels for fiscal year 2007; 2) proposed Senate funding levels for fiscal 2007; or 3) current fiscal year 2006 funding levels. For nutrition programs, all will be held at current levels, as neither the House nor Senate recommended cuts next year.

Democrats blamed Republicans for the lack of progress. “When we say this is the most do-nothing Congress in the history of our country, this isn’t just flippant,” said Harry Reid (D-NV), the Senate minority leader. “This is true.” Republicans also expressed concern. “It is disappointing where we are, and I think Republicans need to be up front about this,” said Jack Kingston (R-GA), an Appropriations Committee member who is considered in the House leadership circle. “We have not accomplished what we needed to accomplish,” added Kingston.

Current plans call for Congress to recess until November 13 and finish its business that week before departing for the Thanksgiving holiday. Another lame-duck session may be scheduled in December, if needed.

Major Fruit and Vegetable Legislation Introduced

A bipartisan coalition of House members introduced legislation in Congress on September 27, 2006 that would provide a major boost to healthy meals in government programs and support growers of specialty crops – generally defined as fruits, vegetables, and tree nuts. The Equitable Agriculture Today for a Healthy America Act (H.R. 6193), or EAT Healthy America Act, was introduced by Representatives Richard Pombo (R-CA), Adam Putnam (R-FL), Dennis Cardoza (D-CA), John Salazar (D-CO), and 46 co-sponsors.

The bill would establish a $500 million per year Specialty Crop Block Grant to aid producers of commodities that do not currently receive government support. Other aspects of the legislation to promote better nutrition, competitiveness in the international markets, research, and conservation, bring the bill’s total cost to an estimated $3.5 billion annually.

The nutrition title of the bill includes: expansion of the fresh fruit and vegetable program in schools; a new matching grant program for the nutritional promotion of fruits and vegetables; mandatory use of the federal dietary guidelines in WIC and school meals; a food stamp fruit and vegetable EBT pilot program; more money for food stamp nutrition education; increased funds for specialty crop purchases by schools delivered through the Department of Defense (DOD); a school preferences study to determine the likes of elementary and secondary schools for commodity distribution; and an independent evaluation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s commodity purchasing process.

The bill’s sponsors hope to integrate many provisions of the EAT Healthy America Act into the Farm Bill that is likely to come up for renewal next year. “This is an historic opportunity to ensure the economic vitality of specialty crops to benefit our local farmers and the health of all Americans,” said Pombo, chairman of the House Resources Committee and vice chair of the House Agriculture Committee. “I am committed to incorporating initiatives that keep our local family farmers competitive in the global market while providing a healthy food supply for our families,” he added.

Food Stamp Facts

· Spending levels spiraling upward: Food stamp spending is driving the cost of federal nutrition assistance programs to record levels this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported on September 15, 2006. Food stamp expenditures in the first half of fiscal year 2006 (October 2005 to March 2006) totaled $16.8 billion. That amount was nine percent above the same period of a year earlier and constituted 61 percent of all federal spending on food assistance.

Overall spending for USDA’s 15 food assistance programs was $27.7 billion, a seven percent increase over the first half of fiscal year 2005. USDA noted that, “If this trend continues during the second half of the year, it would mark the fourth consecutive year in which expenditures for food assistance exceeded the previous historical record.”

Monthly food stamp participation for the six months averaged 27.1 million people, a six percent increase over the previous year. The November 2005 participation level of 29.6 million people was the largest number of participants in a single month ever in the history of the program. On a nationwide basis, benefits rose three percent, to an average of $95.81 per person per month.

Additional information on food stamps and other USDA-administered nutrition programs may be found in the semi-annual report titled The Food Assistance Landscape at: http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/EIB6-3/.

· Retailer outreach promoted: USDA is enlisting food retailers in its efforts to increase food stamp program participation by developing and publicizing an “Outreach Toolkit for Retail Stores.” The toolkit, USDA notes, “is specially designed for use by retailers of any size, whether chain or independent stores, to increase the nutrition of low-income Americans, decrease food insecurity, and foster partnerships between State, local, faith-based, and business partners through FSP outreach.”

USDA asserts that food stamp outreach can help retailers “establish stronger ties to your community, cultivate long-lasting customer loyalty, tap into previously underrepresented market bases, and increase revenue.” The toolkit contains sections on the financial effects of outreach, community involvement, partnerships, promising practices, and using the media. The toolkit may be viewed at: http://www.fns.usda.gov/fsp/outreach/retailer-kit.htm.

Community Food Projects Grants Announced

The U.S. Department on Agriculture (USDA) has awarded $4.6 million to 32 non-profit organizations in 19 states to help low-income communities improve their food systems. The announcement of fiscal year 2006 grants under the Community Food Projects (CFP) program was made in a September 21, 2006 news release.

“These grants give more Americans access to nutritious foods,” said Deputy Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner. “They are innovative programs that increase self-reliance of communities by giving them the opportunity to create partnerships and projects to meet their own food, farm and nutrition needs.”

This year, for the first time, 12 small grants of up to $25,000 were awarded for planning projects to help communities assess local needs and build collaborations that will lead to enhanced food security efforts. Sixteen organizations received the bulk of the funding for activities to improve local food systems. And four organizations received training and technical assistance funds to support regional and national projects to help others bolster community food security.

Among the grantees are:

Jones Valley Urban Farm in Birmingham, AL, which received $145,000 to help combat childhood obesity by linking high school agri-science education and nutrition education to urban food production and aiding low-income households in the central city via a sliding-scale community supported agriculture (CSA) program.

The Thai Community Development Center, in Los Angeles, CA which was awarded $20,000 to develop a farmers’ market providing access for local farmers and vendors to meet the demand for locally grown and produced foods in a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic community.

In Nebraska, the Open Harvest Natural Foods Cooperative in Lincoln received $275,982 for a project to address the food needs of different ethnic communities through a project advisory council, youth and community gardens, hands-on education in the food production cycle, culturally-appropriate instruction on food preparation, development of a farmers’ market, and the translation of nutrition materials into other languages.

The Taos County Economic Development Corporation in Taos, NM was awarded $280,900 to initiate a livestock program to rejuvenate the local ranching sector, including a mobile slaughter unit to allow for on-site butchering at ranches, and an entrepreneurial livestock curriculum.

The Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina in Kinston, NC received a grant of $90,735 to help improve food security in a three-county area where an estimated 10,000 farmworkers reside, through community gardening, food preservation training, the construction and operation of a farmers’ market and food exchange, and financial self-sufficiency training.

For a listing of all grantees, go to: http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/….2006/09/0368.xml.

Nutrition Notes

· Servings converted to cups: In an effort to help U.S. consumers achieve the goal of eating more fruits and vegetables, federal agencies have replaced the suggestion that people eat at least five servings a day with guidelines that provide specific amounts of fruits and vegetables measured in cups. The number of cups varies by age, gender, and the level of physical activity.

Dietary guidance for individuals can by found in at least two places: the 5-a-day website of the Centers for Disease Control (http://www.5aday.gov); and the food guide pyramid website maintained by the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services (http://www.mypyramid.gov). The government agencies and the produce industry revised their fruit and vegetable campaigns this summer to try to make them more understandable and user friendly.

· Staying with the guidelines: In spite of food pyramid promotion efforts, the older children get the more likely they are to deviate from the dietary guidelines. A University of Alabama study of the eating patterns of children between the ages of two and three, as well as between the ages of four and eight, found that “adherence to the USDA Food Guide decreases with increasing age in young children in the United States.” Learn more at: http://www.adajournal.org/article/PIIS0002822306008868/abstract.

· Getting help at the store: At least one grocery chain has begun to give health ratings to the food on its shelves. Hannaford Bros. supermarkets, with 150 stores in New York and New England, is using shelf tags with stars to indicate more nutritious food items. Healthy items, liked baked beans, get one star; better choices receive two stars; and the best foods, like shredded wheat, get three. Of the 27,000 food items in Hannaford stores that have been evaluated, only about 25 percent earn at least one star.

· Wrist reminders: So how do you encourage children to eat more fruits and vegetables? The Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) thinks kids should wear a reminder. TDA, which administers the school lunch program, has ordered more than two million colorful, plastic “Think Bright” wristbands and has given one to every elementary school student in the state as part of its fresh produce promotion. Behavioral changes have yet to be analyzed.

Farmers’ Market Facilitations

Local markets aided with federal funds: A total of 20 organizations running farmers’ markets in 17 states got a boost earlier this month with grants from the Farmers’ Market Promotion Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The program distributed $900,000 this year to help establish, expand, and promote local farmers’ markets, roadside stands, and similar agricultural ventures.

Among the awardees are:

- Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association in Concord, CA, which received $70,000 to test promotional strategies involving community outreach and the media;

- Florida Association of Community Farmers’ Markets, Daytona Beach, FL, which won a $63,238 grant to develop baseline data on economic and demographic characteristics of markets, train farmers transitioning from wholesale to retail sales, and assist market managers to recruit local growers;

- Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture of South Deerfield, MA, which got $61,275 to provide training and hands-on agricultural production and marketing aid for new immigrant farmers and other small-scale producers;

- Council on the Environment in New York City, which received $66,000 to evaluate the impact of wireless EBT terminals on the ability of inner-city farmers’ market vendors to serve food stamp participants;

- Ashe County Partnership for Children in Jefferson, NC, which was awarded $45,235 for specialized equipment needed for a shared-use commercial kitchen to enable local producers to make food products out of lesser-grade fruit that cannot be sold profitably at retail; and

- Sunset Valley Farmers’ Market in Austin, TX, which got $67,950 to help build a permanent farmers’ market facility incorporating conservation and environmentally sustainable principles in its architecture and design.

For additional information on all program grants, go to: http://www.ams.usda.gov/…/FMPP-06-Awards.pdf.

Measuring the impact: A new method for figuring and tracking the economic impact of farmers’ markets is now available for free on the Internet. The “Sticky Economy Evaluation Device” or SEED, developed by the Market Umbrella project of the Economics Institute at Loyola University in New Orleans, LA can help market supporters, planners, local governments, and others assess the impact of their markets on vendors, consumers, and the region in general.

SEED is a tool designed to measure a public market’s impact on the local economy. Its step-by-step instructions allow users to input information to conduct an impact study, create a report, and then publicize the results. To view the SEED and to learn about how it works, go to: http://www.marketumbrella.org/seed/seed_home.php.

Obesity Round-Up

· Government efforts on child obesity falling short: America is still on target for counting one in five children obese by the year 2010. Federal actions to address the growing problem are piecemeal and the Bush administration has killed one of the few programs that was proven effective, according to a new report from the Institute on Medicine (IOM) released on September 13, 2006.

“We are still not doing enough to prevent childhood obesity, and the problem is getting worse,” said Dr. Jeffrey Koplan of Emory University and chair of the IOM obesity panel that wrote the report. “The current level of public and private sector investment does not match the extent of the problem,” he added.

The IOM report was also critical of the cessation of the Center for Disease Control’s VERB Campaign, a $59 million program that portrayed exercise as cool and led to a 34 percent increase in weekly exercise among tweens. The demise of VERB, “calls into question the commitment to obesity prevention within government,” noted the IOM report.

Other experts were also critical. “There’s a lot of hand-wringing about childhood obesity, but the current national response is like putting a Band-Aid on a brain tumor,” commented Margo Wootan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington, D.C. consumer organization. “There are little things going on here and there, but there isn’t the coordinated national action that is needed,” Wootan said. “We need a whole shift in thinking about how often we eat, what to eat, and how much to eat.”

Review the IOM report at: http://www.iom.edu/Object.File/Master/36/984/11722_reportbrief.pdf.

· Obesity driving increased Medicare costs: Obesity is the main cause behind rapidly escalating spending in the Medicare program, according to recent research findings. Between 1987 and 2002, the number of obese Medicare patients nearly doubled and the cost of their treatment nearly tripled, with obesity-related conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, and bad cholesterol contributing to their medical problems.

“We need to recognize that we need to do much more in terms of primary prevention – diet, exercise, and nutrition – not only among the existing Medicare beneficiaries, but among the near elderly, those 55 to 64,” explained Kenneth Thorpe of Emory University and author of an article that appeared in the July/August 2006 issue of the journal Health Affairs. “These people are entering Medicare with rates of chronic disease that we have never seen.”

· More gym time may not mean more exercise: Although state legislatures around the country are mandating more physical education classes in school, new research concludes that it is not making much of a difference. “We’re not saying P.E. is hopeless,” but most of the time spent in gym class is spent on activities that are not particularly vigorous, said John Cawley, a Cornell University economist whose article, “Not Your Father’s PE” appeared in the fall 2006 issue of the journal Education Next. The attitude is basically, “roll out the balls and let them play.”

Cawley and his colleagues found that in states that required more gym time, girls reported being slightly more active in school, but less active outside of gym class. “The results of our study suggest that the effect of increased state P.E. requirements is mixed at best,” said Cawley. For more details, see: http://www.hoover.org/publications/ednext/3853772.html.

Community Food Projects Profile: Girls Club Brings Better Nutrition to Inner-City Youth

Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of articles celebrating the tenth anniversary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Community Food Projects program and featuring some of the more successful projects.

It is possible to make fresh, healthy food popular among urban youth, even in the heart of New York City, and the Lower East Side Girls Club of New York can prove it. You just have to make it cool. And tasty. And profitable.

The Girls Club received a three-year, $180,000 grant from the Community Food Projects (CFP) program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2002 for a “Growing Girls, Growing Communities” project and immediately began planning to establish and operate “Juice Joints” – after-school venues to serve healthy foods, like smoothies and muffins.

The project was designed to build upon and expand the relationships between the Girls Club, a family farm, and a community health center. The Girls Club offered job training, entrepreneurial development, and business management classes, so high school age girls could run the Juice Joints themselves. Using locally grown produce, girls developed their own products and menu selections and created their own smoothie flavors. Baked goods served in the Juice Joints included products made in the Sweet Things Bake Shop, another Girls Club venture. Business profits were shared among all participants.

The first Juice Joint was located in a public high school and was open one day a week. By the end of second year of the project, four Juice Joints operated five days a week in four different school locations. In addition, the Girls Club set up a community farmers’ market and promoted health and nutrition education through kiosks and the distribution of multi-lingual materials at the market and at health centers. The market focused on sales to women and children in the WIC Program, with participants using government-funded coupons to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables.

Food service operations continued to expand, and in year three the Girls Club opened a retail Girls Club Café and Juice Bar in a commercial storefront, located in the heart of a low-income community, near two public high schools, a settlement house, and a number of public housing developments. The Café specializes in selling Fair Trade Coffee and tea, products from the Sweet Things Bake Shop, and other nutritious snacks and juices. The Café also sells fair trade crafts from women’s art collectives around the world. An art gallery adjoining the Café displays the work of professional artists as well as exhibiting work produced in Girls Club art and photography classes.

The kitchen at the Girls Club, in addition to housing the Bake Shop, is open to Girls Club members and their mothers to produce value-added products for household use, sale at the farmers’ market, and other venues. Participants receive training in product development, marketing, and advertising. Cooking classes are also available through the kitchen and a Girls Club “Cooking With Our Families” cookbook was produced.

Girls Club initiatives are transitioning into a second phase, with another CFP grant just awarded to open “The Intersn@ck Cafe,” a five-day per week after-school and weekend healthy food Internet café for low-income youth and their families serving food prepared with produce purchased from New York State and regional farmers. This café, currently under construction with New York City Council funding, will open in fall 2006 in the heart of the low-income housing projects and adjacent to a public school.

The Intersn@ck Cafe is also an entrepreneurial training program for young adults ages 18-25 – some transitioning out of foster care, others enrolled in college part-time. These trainees will help run the café and all accompanying programs, including: “Fit 4 Life” health and nutrition workshops for teenagers; “Tech Girls” web design and pod-casting classes; and “First Fridays” family environmental film festivals. The Girls Club Bake Shop will also produce healthy added-value products, such as dried fruit, granola bars, organic baby food, and more, to be sold on-site.

“The incidence of obesity among youth is what got us started,” said project director Adrianna Pezzuli. “The 2002 grant enabled us to grow a highly replicable demonstration project (the Juice and Muffin Bars) to reach over 2,000 teens per week. The Girls Club participant retention rate is extremely high – 93 percent. In the long-term, the Girls Club has helped lower the incidence of obesity among our population of girls, decreased the likelihood that our girls will develop Type 2 diabetes, diminished the chances that our girls will develop cardiovascular disease as they become adults, and opened girls’ minds to the many ways in which they can integrate physical activity into their daily lives.”

Small Bites

The utile utensil: The latest way to eat is with a spork – spoon-shaped on one end and fork-shaped on the other. A Swedish firm now is marketing its version with a serrated edge on one of the fork tines to deliver a three-way utensil rolled into one.

Chop, chop: China uses 45 billion chopsticks per year, made from 25 million trees.

Fresh but not wild: Fish farming has grown to the point that farm-raised fish (50 million tons in 2004) are almost as common as those caught wild from the sea (66 million tons).

Grain down the drain?: Chicken farms use three pounds of grain for feed to produce one pound of boneless meat. For hogs, the ratio is 6:1, and 13:1 for cattle.

Dwindling diversity: Of the 80,000 plant species that have fed humans throughout history; only 3,000 have been used consistently. Today, just eight crops provide 75 percent of the world’s food.

Unequal shares: Before tax profits of American corporations have jumped from $708 billion in 2001 to $1,741 billion in 2006.

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