Sign Here For REAL Food
Pictured left, the gorgeous greenhouse at the Stone Barns Center in Pocantico Hills, NY. At 20,000 square feet, the awesome year-round experiment has a "smart" roof that closes automatically when it rains and opens automatically when the indoor temperature climbs to 65 degrees.
Originally drafted in 1930 to subsidize Depression-era farms, the Farm Bill is supposed to support America’s farmers and ranchers. It now aids less than one third of the industry, and though there are good allocations for nutrition programs, most of the money is channeled toward the big five: soybeans, corn, rice, wheat, and cotton. These mass-produced crops show up in high-calorie junk like soda, chips, fast food, and candy…leaving farmers of real food - like fruits and vegetables - plum out of luck. Organics get shafted altogether.
Author Michael Pollan of Omnivore’s Dilema calls us Americans “walking corn,” and he’s not refering the sweet, crisp ears I grew up on in York, PA. Try to avoid high-fructose corn syrup for one day, and you’ll understand why. Our markets are supersaturated with the stuff, contributing to the U.S. being the most obese country in the world. And it’s all driven by government subsidies – the same government that has instilled in its people such intense food fears that pasteurization seems justifiable. Never mind that countries much older than ours prevent food-borne illness by clean, ethical farm practices. And never mind that pasteurization singes the flavor out of everything we eat. Our children are "safer" for it. Plus, we can always make up for taste by pumping cheap, government funded corn syrup into it.
The good news is, things could be looking up as the Farm Bill surfaces for its five-year renewal this year. Incentives for growing organically, low-income farmers, farmers’ market participation, and environmental upgrades are all on the table. The main obstacle is that new spending must come from cutting funds for existing programs or from new funds altogether. If you’re a city girl like I am, the farm community may not be on your radar. But if you care about safe, nutritious, real food, there’s an easy way to get involved. Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit group lobbying on our behalf for fair organic funding distributions. More than 17,000 concerned citizens have signed their Grow Organics petition, and the goal is to reach 30,000 by this Sunday, July 15. Link to the petition for your e-signature to go to Congress.
For more information on the issues surrounding the Farm Bill, check out this great New York Times article. -sy
great to hear about environmental working group
Posted by: www.irent2u.com | July 15, 2007 at 11:15 AM