Mark Winne

In tightly packed urban neighborhoods and isolated rural areas, fresh and healthy food is unavailable to many Americans. Lawmakers hope to remedy that.

By Mark Winne
September 2007

Whether you live in an urban or rural community, access to fresh produce and meat is a basic need,” says Pennsylvania Representative Dwight Evans in sizing up an issue that is finding its way on to the agendas of America’s state legislatures.

As traditional food stores have disappeared over the last 40 years, millions of Americans find themselves living in so-called “food deserts”-places that, compared to more prosperous communities, are underserved by affordable, high quality retail food outlets. And like a host of problems that affect a community’s economic well-being and the health of its residents, legislatures have begun searching for the most appropriate policy remedies.

Although the problem may be universal, the solutions are not. “People who live in areas where not everyone owns a car or must travel long distances to reach a good food store, are keenly aware of the need for accessible and affordable food markets,” Evans says. But trying to “re-store” poor urban neighborhoods or sparsely populated rural counties requires significantly different approaches. Private advocacy organizations have joined forces with businesses and lawmakers to find creative solutions.

U.S. agriculture policy has grown fat and lazy–and hasn’t helped our waistlines either.

It’s tempting to take for granted summer’s bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables. But if you care about how that succulent tomato gets to your table, your beach reading should include delving into the Farm Bill, the much-overlooked legislation authorized by Congress every five years that sets the direction of the U.S. food system. The 2007 version could be a food, health, and environment bill, or it could continue, as it has since its inception in 1949, to dish out millions in subsidies each year to the growers of the five main commodity crops: corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, and cotton. Congress will decide between local, organic apple pie or one filled with ersatz fruit oozing high-fructose corn syrup.

With Democrats now in charge in Washington, D.C., chances are good that there will be more money for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s conservation programs, which help farmers employ practices that improve water quality and reduce soil erosion. Currently, these programs account for a mere one percent of the $400 billion spent over the six-year life span of the Farm Bill. Legislators are already targeting more money for programs that prevent agricultural pollution, encourage sustainable farming, and distribute fruits and vegetables to schools. One bill, introduced by Representative Ron Kind (D-Wis.), would also promote clean-energy development on farms, which are often hugely dependent on fossil fuels.

One of the more interesting proposals in this year’s debate–particularly because it requires no funding–would permit institutions that buy food using public funds to favor local farmers. Allowing a geographic preference for procurement would result in “stronger farms and less farmland loss,” says Jimmy Daukas, director of the American Farmland Trust’s Farm Policy Campaign. In addition, the soaring U.S. obesity rate, spurred by subsidies to corn and soy (and a lack of support for fresh produce), might begin to shrink. When the Farm Bill is seen as a food bill, consumers and farmers will benefit. –Mark Winne

MORE INFORMATION Read Food Fight: The Citizen’s Guide to a Food and Farm Bill, by Daniel Imhoff with a foreword by Michael Pollan (University of California Press, 2007).

Readings and Signings:

August 29 - San Francisco - Slow Food Nation “Changemakers Day,” Mark Winne panel presentations: 2:30 to 5:45. For more information go to www.slowfoodnation.org. Media contact: bhorton@vancomm.com.

September 17 - Albuquerque, NM - 1:30 - Peace by Pieces Fair - presentation, book selling and signing by Mark Winne - University of New Mexico Student Union Building. For more information contact Susi Knoblauch at chknob@unm.edu.

September 24 - Raleigh, NC - 8:30 AM - Politics of Food Conference at North Carolina State University. Panel presentation by Mark Winne. For more information go to www.elpnet.org.

September 24 - Durham, NC - 12:00 noon - The Divinity School (0016 Westbrook), Duke University. Panel presentation, book selling and signing. For more information contact Jami Wise at jwise@div.duke.edu.

September 25 - Charolotte, NC - Book talk and signing - Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road, Charlotte, NC.  For more information contact Marilyn Marks at sosawnc@endhunger.org. Sponsored by the Society of Saint Andrews of Western North Carolina.

September 27 - Harrisonburg, VA - 9 to 12 noon, Harrisonburg Downtown Farmers Market. Book signing and talk. For more information contact Josie Showalter at fourwinds54@verizon.net. Sponsored by the Harrisonburg Farmers Market

September 29 - Charlottesville, VA - 5:00 PM - University of Virginia School of Architecture, Campbell Hall. Book talk and signing. For more information contact Tanya Cobb at td6n@virginia.edu. Sponsored by the University of Virginia School of Architecture.

September 30 - Gettysburg, PA - 11:30 AM. Gettysburg College. For more information contact Kim Davidson at kdavidso@gettysburg.edu.

September 30 - Hershey, PA - 7:00 PM - Hershey Public Library. Book talk and signing. For more information contact Susie Newell at snewell@prodigy.net. Sponsored by the Pennsylvania Hunger Action Center and Hershey Public Library.

October 1 - Philadelphia, PA - University of Pennsylvania - 5:00 PM. Book talk and signing. For more information contact Mary Summers and mysummer@sas.upenn.edu. Sponsored by the Fox Leadership Program and the University of Pennsylvania.

October 6 - Philadelphia, PA - White Dog Cafe, 3420 Sansom St., Philadelphia - 6:00 PM. Dinner, book talk and signing. Sponsored by the White Dog Cafe. Reservations required. For more information www.whitedog.com or call 215-386-9224.

October 7 - Princeton, NJ - early evening, Labyrinthe Books on the Princeton Campus. Book talk and signing. For more information contact Meredith Taylor at Isles, Inc. at mtaylor@isles.org. Sponsored by Isles, Inc. of Trenton.

October 15 - Cleveland, Ohio (time and place to be announced). Book talk and signing. For more information contact Matthew Russell at mer23@case.edu.

October 16 - Lexington, Kentucky - 6:00 PM (place to be announced). Keynote for World Food Day; book talk and signing. For more information contact Jim Embry at jgembr0@cs.com. Sponsored by the Sustainable Communities Network.

November 11 - Norman, Oklahoma - University of Oklahoma - 7:30 PM (place to be announced). For more information contact Julia Ehrhardt at juliae@ou.edu.