Mark Winne's Blog, page 18

Perspectives: Food Policy Councils

The following link takes you to an introductory piece about food policy councils that was posted to www.nourishlife.org. Today, there are approximately 150 food policy councils across North America. And as this short Q&A style article indicates, they are proving themselves important players in the battle for food democracy.

Link: http://www.nourishlife.org/perspectives/food-policy-councils/

The Big Man (1942 – 2011)

"Do you want to meet Clarence?" the micro-skirted, junior assistant PR lady asked me and my son, Peter. There he sat, all 250 pounds, perched on a high captain's chair and drawing soulfully on a cigar that was just a shade smaller than a B-flat clarinet. Clarence Clemons eyes were fixed straight ahead, impervious to the screams of 15,000 rabid rock fans coming from just the other side of a massive curtain that separated the Hartford Civic Center's backstage area from the platform where the E Street Band would soon perform its nightly magic.

To say the scene was surreal is to say Bruce Springsteen is only a singer. In a cavernous space sometimes used for Barnum and Bailey's circus elephants to take warm-up laps, there were now no more than a dozen humans. Miami Steve, Max Weinberg, Garry W. Tallent, Patti Scialfa, and Nils Lofgren – wearing requisite black garb, guitars slung rakishly from shoulders – talked quietly among themselves. A couple of clipboard-toting handlers, eyes searching nervously for the prescribed cues, flitted in out of this otherwise placid assemblage. Jon Landau, rock manager extraordinaire, calmly surveyed the scene waiting for the appearance of his boss, the "Boss." And then there was me, my 15-year old son, and two Hartford Food System volunteers, aching with anxiety as we awaited our one-minute of face-time with Bruce.

The occasion of this unearthly gathering was Bruce Springsteen's generous commitment to ending hunger. As the local non-profit organization chosen as the recipient of his charity, the Hartford Food System was given front-row seats to auction off (one pair went for a cool $7,000), free tickets for the tour's two-night stand in Hartford, and of course the backstage meet-and-greet with Bruce that was now turning my legs to jelly.

If I was at all capable of thinking clearly, I would have realized that I was standing there at that moment in 2001 because of Springsteen's 1975 "Born to Run" album cover. The image showed a scruffy white kid from New Jersey (I was also from New Jersey!) leaning on a bad-ass looking Clemons who was in the process of "torturing" a tenor sax. It was black and white, the cover photo that is, but the black and white racial theme was as clear and sublime as a golden summer day at the Jersey Shore. I would soon discover that the eight song tracks inside would change my life, but it was the cover that sent shivers up my spine.

As a child of the sixties I had lived through the civil-rights movement, race riots not more than 10 miles from my lily-white suburban town, and the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. My only black childhood friend was abruptly removed from my sandbox for reasons I still don't understand. I've been called a racist, I've participated in anti-racist training, and I've read a dozen black authors who explained everything I needed to know about racism except how to stop the pain. But with Bruce Springsteen's sweet smile directed at the soulful visage of Clarence Clemons, I sensed a transcendent moment. Could this flagrant display of humanity be the beginning of the end for America's 300-year old nightmare?

My son, who was then playing saxophone in his first garage band, approached Clarence with an innocence I had lost 35 years ago. He slowly shifted his giant stogie from his right hand to his left and enveloped Peter's hand in his meaty paw. With precociousness that has served my son well throughout his life, he said, "I play tenor sax too. Can you give me any advice?" The Big Man sized him up for a second or two, pulled long and deep on his cigar, and lofted a plume of smoke skyward to the Civic Center's ceiling. He replied, "Play with soul, son. Just play with soul." And with that, he lifted his immense self from the chair and joined his band mates on stage.

Rest in peace, Big Man.

Practicing Patience

 

By Mark Winne

Over the years I've come to lean on Ralph Waldo Emerson the way a drunk leans on a lamppost.  When my frustration with politics, society, or even the weather surpasses all understanding, I go running for the shelter of my Emerson-only bookshelf, a privileged nook that no other literary form is permitted to occupy.

"Self-Reliance" gets me out of my funk over society's impulse to commit mass suicide via mass conformity. Recent readings of "The Fugitive Slave Law" and "Letter to President Van Buren" (concerning the forced re-location of Native American tribes from the Southeast to the Oklahoma Territory) have steeled my resolve to fight today's injustices. But where I found surprising relief from more personal matters came from a lovely piece titled "Farming."

You see, it's springtime in northern New Mexico, which I've come to learn over the course of my seven-year probationary term here means absolutely nothing. As a transplanted New England gardener I've yet to fully adjust to the unpredictable path our Santa Fe de primavera takes before it settles into a reliable pattern of warm, relatively wind-free days. Forget the lack of water; I learned early on that unless you "bring your own" in the form of a decent irrigation system you might as well find another hobby. No, I'm talking about those bewitching, blue sky days of May that are followed savagely by 25 degree nights and winds so strong you have to scrape the cat off the barn door.

Seduced by air so sweet that it is a "luxury to draw the breath of life," I fling myself at my garden to poke seeds and plant seedlings in beds diligently prepared only a week before. But as soon as the sun sets beneath the Jemez Mountains to the West, a cold blanket of air slips down from the snow-peaked Sangre de Christos Mountains to the East. The soil – so friable and warm during the day – turns crusty and unforgiving at night. The coup de grace is administered by 50-mile per hour wind gusts that rise up from the plains to scour the ground into submission. The seeds retreat into dormancy and the plants are left splayed across the drip tape.

Experience is supposed to be a buffer to surprise. The impact of so-called unpredictable events should be mitigated by a reasonable application of probability. The prudent gardener slowly accumulates numerous actuarial tables in his head that check the urge to act only because the calendar tells him to. But when the gardener's original experience base is New England and his actuarial tables were compiled on the banks of the Connecticut River, he may find himself proceeding before his own biological systems have fully adapted to the new place. And maybe more importantly, what if his circuitry had always been wired for action over contemplation and patience viewed as the weak sister to initiative?

The farmer, "bends to the order of the seasons, the weather, the soils and crops, as the sails of a ship bend to the wind," writes Emerson. Most farmers I've known, particularly the smaller ones whose methods are sustainable and markets local, move slowly and deliberately. The farmer learns "patience with the delays of wind and sun, delays of the seasons, bad weather, excess or lack of water and times himself to Nature."

In my rush to plant my garden, have I become like the consumer who must have tomatoes year-round, or the industrial farmer who works outside the normal limitations of the seasons and seeks to out-smart nature at every turn?  You would have found me in my garden this May cussing out the peas that never germinated or waving my angry fists at the New Mexico gales that had reduced my tomato plants to burned-out matchsticks. Staring down at the once beautiful asparagus tips whose life had been cut short by the heartless frost I swore vengeance on the gods who had wrought such devastation.

But a sweeter notion is now pulsing through my veins. The slow drip of Emerson is taking effect; my heartbeat slows to a more natural pace; I'm learning to tack with the wind instead of forcing my way into it. I take a deep breath, stand still and quiet so as better to hear, see, and smell nature's signals. "Nature never hurries: atom by atom, little by little, she achieves her work." And I will too.

Is Nothing Sacred?

Texas College Converts Football Field to Organic Farm – Is Nothing Sacred?

By Mark Winne

Highland Hills is one of those down-and-nearly-out communities that's allowed a glimpse of prosperity but never gets to taste it. The Dallas skyline looms large and shining across the hazy north Texas horizon and is linked to this poverty-plagued neighborhood by a seven-mile ribbon of light-rail steel. Ledbetter Avenue crosses the train line passing by vacant buildings, vast stretches of empty parking lots, and a dizzying array of "For Sale," "For Lease" and "For Jesus" signs. Named for the renowned guitar picker Lead Belly who did time in these parts – both in and out of prison – the Avenue speaks little in the way of promise, but wails the blues of poverty loud and clear.

Like cockroaches in a post-nuclear winter, the neighborhood's only commercial survivors appear to be pawn shops, Dollar stores, and fast-food joints. One supermarket, a Minyard whose cinder-blocked and windowless façade is about as inviting as the entrance to Stalag 13, is the only retail food source in the several surrounding miles of food desert. But a lifeline from an unlikely source has been tossed Highland Hills's way by a group of innovative academics. Paul Quinn College, a historically black college that sits just off Interstate 45 at the neighborhood's eastern edge, is committed to lifting its neighboring community's physical and economic health with a combination of food, farming, and servant leadership.

There's no little irony in this partnership. To drive by the Paul Quinn campus is to, well, keep on driving. There are no signature ivy-clad buildings or tree-shaded quads to invite college-shopping families for a leisurely tour. In fact, the first roadside buildings you see are in various states of demolition. Student enrollment had plunged from 600 to 100 (it's now climbed back to 200) and the school has experienced on-going accreditation problems. At first glance anyway, and like the adjoining neighborhood it wants to help, Paul Quinn appears to be hanging on to life by no more than a pea tendril.

But first glances are deceiving, and pea tendrils are stronger than they look. And when your backs to the wall and nobody, even your own government, will help you, you fight like hell, you do the unexpected, and you take risks.

In Paul Quinn's case, not only did the college take risks, it committed a grievous sin, at least by Texas standards – they terminated their football program and turned their field into an organic farm. Yes, in the shadow of the Super Bowl, with the specter of Tom Landry looking down, and the holy glare of Friday night lights forever dimmed, Paul Quinn ripped up its sacred turf where football cleats once tread, and planted – goalpost to goalpost – peas, lettuce, carrots, strawberries, and more, lots more.

While the roar from the football stands may have subsided, it doesn't mean that the field has fallen silent. When Andrea Bithell, the farm manager, announced to student and staff volunteers that the kohlrabi had gone in last week, everyone cheered. Showing a group of farm visitors where the corn would be planted later this spring evoked a round of applause from several students who proclaimed their love of its sweet kernels. Indeed the competitive spirit and enthusiasm so much a part of college athletics is hardly lacking at "Food for Good Farm," the name chosen to denote it's larger mission of education, community service, and healthy food for all. Sounding more like a coach than a farmer, Andrea uses words like hustle to describe her student crew's hectic effort to plant and seed the two-acre field. When the volunteers complained about working in the cold and the rain, they were reminded that football games are played in all kinds of weather. Even the plants are forced to compete in a set of 12 trial beds located in the field's south end zone. Here students will test different growing methods and evaluate their potential financial rate of return.

Elizabeth Wattley, Paul Quinn's Director of Service Learning, proclaimed with pride that the farm's tomatoes were better than anything she'd ever bought in a grocery store (she confessed that until her introduction to the farm during its first spring in 2010 she had been afraid of dirt). One student, biology major Symphonie Dawson, giggled when she described the farm's mascot that they had temporarily borrowed from Delta State University. "It's the 'Fighting Okra,' an image of the vegetable wearing boxing gloves. We borrowed it because last year's okra crop seemed to go on forever." The "Rah-rah, Go Team, Go!" energy previously reserved for football games has been channeled into the end-zone to end-zone planting of 1500 strawberry plants, 6600 onions, a new asparagus bed, and dozens of varieties of vegetables. "The farm is the light of the college," is the assertive way Elizabeth put it.

For a school that was on the ropes, Paul Quinn has gained a reprieve by discovering the multiple benefits of farming while also turning its attention outward to the community. One prominent need that the farm is already addressing is healthy living and eating, no small concern on today's college campuses, especially one that is surrounded by a food desert. "Before their work on the farm, students wouldn't eat carrots unless they were smothered in Ranch dressing," noted Andrea. But by getting their hands in the dirt – a task that usually took two or three visits to the farm to get past the "yuck" declaration – students started eating carrots right out of the ground, dirt and all. "They actually taste," said Elizabeth, pausing for a moment to find the right adjective, "carrot-tee."

By engaging students enrolled in the school's biology and social entrepreneurship courses, the farm gives scores of people in their late teens and early twenties a chance to get hands-on laboratory experience at the same time they get their hands in the dirt. Even the students who don't care to venture into the world of bugs and compost get a taste of the farm's output. Paul Quinn's cafeteria now offers a monthly feature designed to showcase the farm's harvest and introduce students to food that is healthy, tasty, and oh-so local.  But Jasmine Wynn, a freshman legal study major, may have summed up the farm's health benefits best. "I'm a city girl from Dallas, and for me the farm was something new. I liked being out there. I also started getting serious about my diet last year and decided that organic food is better for you. It's just part of a healthier lifestyle, and I want to stick around for a long time."

The lack of farming experience or a farm background has not been a deterrent to anyone's participation, including Paul Quinn's President Michael J. Sorrell. With public policy and law degrees from Duke University, his stellar resume indicates he has represented American Airlines and Morgan Stanley, served on numerous prestigious commissions including an assignment at the White House, and was selected in 2009 as one of the 10 Best Historically Black College and University presidents.  Notably lacking from Dr. Sorrell's career synopsis, however, are any agricultural credentials, and ironically, his business achievements include representing top-flight athletes like Utah Jazz All-Star Deron Williams. So why did he eliminate the football program and then have the audacity to convert the field to a farm?

A big part of the answer no doubt lies in his personal commitment to the concept of servant leadership, which, like the farm, he brought to Paul Quinn. With such simple but difficult to live by ideas like putting others before self, leaving the world a better place than you found it, and maintaining a spiritual faithfulness, Dr. Sorrell not only preaches what he practices (he personally teaches a freshman course in servant leadership), he practices what he preaches. And the farm is at the center of that practice.

Isaiah 58: 9-12 gets prominent mention on the College's website which also touts the school's Christian underpinnings. The scripture admonishes us (some would say "teaches us") "to pour yourself out for the hungry…then shall your light rise in the darkness…and you shall be like a watered garden." Holding aside the self-interest in doing good (and why not?), The Food for Good Farm has its heart and mind set on serving the hardscrabble community that surrounds it. Though a share of the harvest goes to the school's cafeteria, 10 percent goes to a local food pantry, a sizeable share is also sold on a weekly basis to the community from the field's former hot dog stand, and just to preserve some historical symmetry, the Dallas Cowboys buy a small share of the farm's organic veggies, which, if sustained over time, will no doubt catapult "America's Team" into a Super Bowl.

The school's initial attempt to solve the community's food access problem was to offer free land to any supermarket that wanted to build a store there. But there were no takers in a marketplace where nearly 40 percent of the residents lived in poverty. So like in days of old when the nearest general store was 100 miles away, and your only choice was to shoot or grow your dinner, Paul Quinn took to farming. The "adaptive re-use" of the football area has been impressive under Andrea's and Elizabeth's leadership. Not only are the hash stripes gone but so are the top four inches of sod and dirt that were replaced by dump truck loads of pure organic matter. Reflecting the program's absolute commitment to organic farming, there was simply too much distrust of the chemical residues from years of maintaining a perfectly green gridiron. The goalposts remain as do the blocking sled, scoreboard and the entire set of bleachers running the length of both sides of the field. But the former press box is about to be turned into a chicken coop and Elizabeth retains some hope that the bleachers can be retrofitted as a greenhouse. Acres of adjoining and nearly vacant land are already being eyed for farm expansion, especially if a recently applied for federal grant comes through. On the day this reporter visited, a local apiarist was scouting out locations for nearly a dozen beehives. And according to Symphonie, the campus's coolest guy, a very sharp dresser from Brooklyn, NY, wants to join the "bee program."

None of this extraordinary progress has come cheaply. The school has made significant capital expenditures to accomplish this conversion, and the on-going operating costs –Andrea is on the payroll half-time as is a variety of students who receive some compensation, especially during the summer season – are only marginally offset by farm sales. An upcoming April fundraiser featuring urban farming rock star Will Allen will hopefully swell the coffers sufficiently to enable the farm to buy its own tractor (it now pays for contract equipment services).

But the rapid development of the farm and the rising fortunes of Paul Quinn College have come with a price – small or large depending on your perspective. The Food for Good Farm is the result of a fifty/fifty partnership between the college and PepsiCo's Food for Good Initiative. The college makes it clear that this is an equal partnership and that PepsiCo has not placed any strings on their giving. Other than cleaning up its tarnished image, one cannot detect any sinister covert or overt motives in PepsiCo's support. Yet the contradictions can't be ignored. After all, Pepsi and other soda manufacturers have contributed more than their fair share of calories to America's obesity crisis. With 11 teaspoons of sugar in each 12 ounce can of Pepsi-Cola and the corporation's unrelenting and ferocious attempt over the decades to hook children on their iconic brand, one can't help but confront the ethical questions: where does the greater good lie, and when does one begin to slide down the slippery slope? Though the Bible offers little in the way of guidance when dealing with the PR strategies of modern corporations (obesity, for instance, having not appeared on the world stage for another 2000 years), the college might choose to at least make the topic grist for future classroom discussions.

In the meantime, it's hard to argue with the outcome of the Paul Quinn/PepsiCo partnership. Texas has one less football field and one more organic farm, clearly a net gain for humanity. Students from the captain of the basketball team to entering freshman are eating better, getting over their aversion to bugs, and getting their hands in the dirt (Symphonie noted that her nails looked healthier now that she regularly jams them into the soil). And the Highland Hills neighborhood is enjoying the health and aesthetic benefits of living adjacent to Dallas's closest farm.

Under Dr. Sorrell's able leadership Paul Quinn is rising from the ashes, or should we say compost pile. Elizabeth and Andrea are guiding the growth of what would be considered an ambitious venture at a major university let alone a college as small as Paul Quinn. When the NCAA has the sense to recognize collegiate farming as a healthy athletic endeavor, the Food for Good Farm just might be on their way to a national championship.

2011 Appearances: January – August

January 16 – Santa Fe, New Mexico – 11 to 12 noon – La Fonda Hotel. One World, Everybody Eats annual conference. Talk by Mark Winne. For more information contact Denise Cerreta at denisecerreta45@yahoo.com.

January 20 & 21 – Chattanooga, Tennessee – 1 to 5 PM (1/20) and 1:30 – 3 PM (1/21) – Chattanooga Convention Center – Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group annual conference. Food Policy Council training sessions presented by Mark Winne. For more information go to www.ssawg.org.

January 25 – Seattle, Washington – early evening – Temple Beth Am – 2632 NE 80th Street, Seattle. Book talk and discussion. For more information contact Patricia Simon at umami@foxinternet.com.

January 28 & 29 – Leavenworth, Washington – The Sleeping Lady – Washington State Farmers' Market Association conference – keynote address and workshops – For more information contact Lori Musgrave at musgrave1@centurytel.net.

February 1 – Boston, Massachusetts – Tufts University – 9 to 12. Lecture. For more information contact Hugh Joseph at 617-636-3788.

February 2 – Washington, DC – Goethe Institut Washington, 812 Seventh Street, NW, Washington, DC. Mark joins German food journalist Tanja Busse for a presentation titled "Between Currywurst and Tofu: How Good Food Makes a Difference." For more information contact Sylvia Blume at sblume@washington.goethe.org or www.goether.de/washington.

February 7 – University of New Mexico – School of Architecture and Planning – 6:30 to 8:00

February 10 – Corvallis, Oregon – Oregon State University. 4 PM. Community and campus book talk by Mark Winne. For more information contact Joan Gross at jgross@oregonstate.edu.

February 11 – Portland, Oregon – Lloyd Center Double Tree Conference Center – 10 AM to 12 Noon – Organicology Conference. Panel "Improving Access to Organic Food for All." For more information: www.organicology.org.

February 18 & 19 – Flagstaff, Arizona – The Flagstaff Food Film Festival – Keynote and workshops. For more information contact Regan Emmons at hoawa.girl@yahoo.com.

February 25 & 26 – Durango, Colorado – Community-wide book talk (2/25 evening) and workshop (2/26 morning). Sponsored by Growing Partners and Ft. Lewis College. For more information contact Jim Dyer at jadyer@frontier.net.

March 5 - Washington, DC - Capitol Hilton Hotel -  Hunger Free Communities Summit. For more information contact: cfischer@alliancetoendhunger.org.

March 8 & 9 – Claremont, California – Pomona College – Community-wide book talk. For more details contact the College or Sabrina Baum at SABo2007@mymail.pomona.edu.

March 10 – Irvine, California – The Great Park. Late afternoon or early evening. Community-wide talk. For more information go to www.ocgp.org or contact Maya Dunne at Mayad@cox.net.  

March 11 & 12 – Crescent City, California – Community talk and training. For more information contact Angela Glore at aglore@canbless.org.

March 14 – San Francisco, California - Ferry Building – Book talk sponsored by Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture. Time to be determined. For more information go to www.cuesa.org or contact Julie Cummins at julie@cuesa.org.

March 25 – Rice Lake, Wisconsin – Northwest Wisconsin Regional Food Summit – Keynote at lunchtime by Mark Winne – Contact Tracey Mofle at University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension Service for details – tracey.mofle@uwc.edu

March27 – Chicago, Illinois – 3:00 PM – book talk at he Institute of Cultural Studies at Lawrence Ave. and Sheridan Rd near Lake Shore Drive and Red Line subway stop. For more information contact healthy-eating@sbcglobal.net.

March 28 and 29 – Atlanta, Georgia – Center for Diseas Control and Prevention

March 29 – Savannah, Georgia – 5:00 PM – The Sentient Bean Coffee Shop – Book talk by Mark Winne. For more information contact Teri Schnell at myfriendteri@gmail.com.

March 31  – Laramie, Wyoming – Wyoming Dietetics Association

April 5 - Brooklyn, New York - 6:00 PM – The Brooklyn Common – Book talk sponsored by Brooklyn Food Coalition – For more information contact Jeff Heehs at jhbklyn@yahoo.com.

April 6 – New London, Connecticut – Connecticut College – 4:30 PM – For more information contact Rebecca McCue at ramcc@conncoll.edu.

April 7 – New Haven, Connecticut – Yale University – Lecture sponsored by the Yale Sustainable Food Project.

April 18 – Virginia Tech – Blacksburg, Virginia – Keynote speech  as part of Earth Week celebration. For more information contact Rial Tombes at rialto13@vt.edu.

May 3 – Portland, Oregon – National WIC Association Annual Conference. Leading workshop on food policy councils.

May 4 – Baltimore, Maryland – First Unitarian Church of Baltimore.  Zoerheide Lecture - 7:00 PM – For more information contact Rev. David Carl Olson: minister@firstunitarian.net; 410-685-2330

May 19 – 21 – Portland, Oregon – Food Policy Conference: "Neighborhood to Nation" - Community Food Security Coalition – Doubletree Hotel. For more information: www.foodsecurity.org

June 1 – 4 – Austin, Texas – International Association of Culinary Professionals Conference. For more information go to www.iacp.com. Leading workshops on food systems and community engagement.

June 3 – Milwaukee, Wisconsin – Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Healthy Kids, Healthy Community Conference. Leading workshop on food policy councils; co-facilitation of closing session. For more information contact Joanne Lee: joanne_Lee@activelivingbydesign.org.

June 6 – Lansing, Michigan – Lansing Center – Designing Healthy Livable Communities – The Power of Partnerships Conference – 1:00 – 4:30 – Leading workshop on Food Policy Councils and the Michigan Movement. For more information contact Diane Golzynski at golzynskid@michigan.gov.

June 7 – New York City – Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, 126 Crosby Street, NY, NY. 7:00 to 9:00 PM. A conversation and booksigning with Mark Winne: Moderated by Peabody and Emmy Award-Winning Journalist John Hockenberry. This is a fundraising event for Harvest Home Farmers' Markets. Tickets are $75 each and include a copy of Food Rebels, Guerrilla Gardeners, and Smart-Cookin' Mamas. For more information contact Rachel Begun – 203-921-7789; rachel@rachelbegun.com.

June 10 – Salt Lake City, Utah – 2011 Obesity Conference – Sponsored by the Utah Department of Health - Leading workshop on food policy councils. For more information contact Patrice Isabella at pisabella@utah.gov.

 June 13 – San Diego – Indian Health Service Conference – workshop presentation. For more information contact Jean Charles-Azure at jean.charles-azure@ihs.gov

July 8 & 9 – Crescent City, California – book talk the evening of July 8; all day workshop on July 9. For more information contact Angela Glore at aglore@canbless.org.

July 10 – Suquamish, Washington – Suquamish Clearwater Casino and Resort – workshop for the Suquamish Tribe Community Health Program. For more information contact Barbara Hoffman at bhoffman@suquamish.nsn.us.

July 21 – Taos, New Mexico - The Coffee Spot – 900 Paseo DelPueblo Norte -  7:00 PM. Book talk, sale, and signing. For more information contact Bob Pedersen at growfoodnow@gmail.com.

July 27-29 – Honolulu, Hawaii – book talks, trainings and keynote for Hawaii Food Policy Council. For more information contact Amanda Corby at amanda@undermyumbrella.com.

August 17 – Chapel Hill, North Carolina – workshop and training at Active Living by Design and Healthy Kids Conference. For more information contact Philip Bors at phil_bors@unc.edu.

August 20 – Atlanta, Georgia – All-day conference on Urban Agriculture and Food Policy sponsored by the Georgia Department of Health and SAAFON. For more information contact Cynthia Hayes at saafon@comcast.net.

2011 Appearances: January – June

January 16 – Santa Fe, New Mexico – 11 to 12 noon – La Fonda Hotel. One World, Everybody Eats annual conference. Talk by Mark Winne. For more information contact Denise Cerreta at denisecerreta45@yahoo.com.

January 20 & 21 – Chattanooga, Tennessee – 1 to 5 PM (1/20) and 1:30 – 3 PM (1/21) – Chattanooga Convention Center – Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group annual conference. Food Policy Council training sessions presented by Mark Winne. For more information go to www.ssawg.org.

January 25 – Seattle, Washington – early evening – Temple Beth Am – 2632 NE 80th Street, Seattle. Book talk and discussion. For more information contact Patricia Simon at umami@foxinternet.com.

January 28 & 29 – Leavenworth, Washington – The Sleeping Lady – Washington State Farmers' Market Association conference – keynote address and workshops – For more information contact Lori Musgrave at musgrave1@centurytel.net.

February 1 – Boston, Massachusetts – Tufts University – 9 to 12. Lecture. For more information contact Hugh Joseph at 617-636-3788.

February 2 – Washington, DC – Goethe Institut Washington, 812 Seventh Street, NW, Washington, DC. Mark joins German food journalist Tanja Busse for a presentation titled "Between Currywurst and Tofu: How Good Food Makes a Difference." For more information contact Sylvia Blume at sblume@washington.goethe.org or www.goether.de/washington.

February 7 – University of New Mexico – School of Architecture and Planning – 6:30 to 8:00

February 10 – Corvallis, Oregon – Oregon State University. 4 PM. Community and campus book talk by Mark Winne. For more information contact Joan Gross at jgross@oregonstate.edu.

February 11 – Portland, Oregon – Lloyd Center Double Tree Conference Center – 10 AM to 12 Noon – Organicology Conference. Panel "Improving Access to Organic Food for All." For more information: www.organicology.org.

February 18 & 19 – Flagstaff, Arizona – The Flagstaff Food Film Festival – Keynote and workshops. For more information contact Regan Emmons at hoawa.girl@yahoo.com.

February 25 & 26 – Durango, Colorado – Community-wide book talk (2/25 evening) and workshop (2/26 morning). Sponsored by Growing Partners and Ft. Lewis College. For more information contact Jim Dyer at jadyer@frontier.net.

March 5 - Washington, DC - Capitol Hilton Hotel -  Hunger Free Communities Summit. For more information contact: cfischer@alliancetoendhunger.org.

March 8 & 9 – Claremont, California – Pomona College – Community-wide book talk. For more details contact the College or Sabrina Baum at SABo2007@mymail.pomona.edu.

March 10 – Irvine, California – The Great Park. Late afternoon or early evening. Community-wide talk. For more information go to www.ocgp.org or contact Maya Dunne at Mayad@cox.net.  

March 11 & 12 – Crescent City, California – Community talk and training. For more information contact Angela Glore at aglore@canbless.org.

March 14 – San Francisco, California - Ferry Building – Book talk sponsored by Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture. Time to be determined. For more information go to www.cuesa.org or contact Julie Cummins at julie@cuesa.org.

March 25 – Rice Lake, Wisconsin – Northwest Wisconsin Regional Food Summit – Keynote at lunchtime by Mark Winne – Contact Tracey Mofle at University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension Service for details – tracey.mofle@uwc.edu

March27 – Chicago, Illinois – 3:00 PM – book talk at he Institute of Cultural Studies at Lawrence Ave. and Sheridan Rd near Lake Shore Drive and Red Line subway stop. For more information contact healthy-eating@sbcglobal.net.

March 28 and 29 – Atlanta, Georgia – Center for Diseas Control and Prevention

March 29 – Savannah, Georgia – 5:00 PM – The Sentient Bean Coffee Shop – Book talk by Mark Winne. For more information contact Teri Schnell at myfriendteri@gmail.com.

March 31  – Laramie, Wyoming – Wyoming Dietetics Association

April 5 - Brooklyn, New York - 6:00 PM – The Brooklyn Common – Book talk sponsored by Brooklyn Food Coalition – For more information contact Jeff Heehs at jhbklyn@yahoo.com.

April 6 – New London, Connecticut – Connecticut College – 4:30 PM – For more information contact Rebecca McCue at ramcc@conncoll.edu.

April 7 – New Haven, Connecticut – Yale University – Lecture sponsored by the Yale Sustainable Food Project.

April 18 – Virginia Tech – Blacksburg, Virginia – Keynote speech  as part of Earth Week celebration. For more information contact Rial Tombes at rialto13@vt.edu.

May 3 – Portland, Oregon – National WIC Association Annual Conference. Leading workshop on food policy councils.

May 4 – Baltimore, Maryland – First Unitarian Church of Baltimore.  Zoerheide Lecture - 7:00 PM – For more information contact Rev. David Carl Olson: minister@firstunitarian.net; 410-685-2330

May 19 – 21 – Portland, Oregon – Food Policy Conference: "Neighborhood to Nation" - Community Food Security Coalition – Doubletree Hotel. For more information: www.foodsecurity.org

June 1 – 4 – Austin, Texas – International Association of Culinary Professionals Conference. For more information go to www.iacp.com. Leading workshops on food systems and community engagement.

June 3 – Milwaukee, Wisconsin – Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Healthy Kids, Healthy Community Conference. Leading workshop on food policy councils; co-facilitation of closing session. For more information contact Joanne Lee: joanne_Lee@activelivingbydesign.org.

June 6 – Lansing, Michigan – Lansing Center – Designing Healthy Livable Communities – The Power of Partnerships Conference – 1:00 – 4:30 – Leading workshop on Food Policy Councils and the Michigan Movement. For more information contact Diane Golzynski at golzynskid@michigan.gov.

June 7 – New York City – Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, 126 Crosby Street, NY, NY. 7:00 to 9:00 PM. A conversation and booksigning with Mark Winne: Moderated by Peabody and Emmy Award-Winning Journalist John Hockenberry. This is a fundraising event for Harvest Home Farmers' Markets. Tickets are $75 each and include a copy of Food Rebels, Guerrilla Gardeners, and Smart-Cookin' Mamas. For more information contact Rachel Begun – 203-921-7789; rachel@rachelbegun.com.

June 10 – Salt Lake City, Utah – 2011 Obesity Conference – Sponsored by the Utah Department of Health - Leading workshop on food policy councils. For more information contact Patrice Isabella at pisabella@utah.gov.

 

Ripped from the Headlines – A Brief Look At 2010 Food Stories

This fall I had the privilege of releasing my second book Food Rebels, Guerrilla Gardeners, and Smart-Cookin' Mamas: Fighting Back in an Age of Industrial Agriculture. As it makes the rounds of book reviews, and I tour the interview and lecture circuit – casting myself as it were to the lions of the marketplace – I have found that the book's first responders are drawn to its main title and less so to the subtitle. This is as I expected. People naturally want to hear stories about doers, real-life action heroes, and pioneers who might lead us out of the wilderness of the industrial food system. They are eager to get their hands in the dirt and less patient with the intellectual gymnastics required to deconstruct the half-truths of Big Food and its kissing cousin, Big Agriculture. The philosophical framework, so to speak, that mountaintop above the din and the thrum of the real world where many writers, including this one, love to dwell, is too often by-passed by the harried reader earnestly searching for a shortcut to the answer.

So allow me to use this space to reacquaint you, diligent reader, with the Big Idea of Food Rebels and why, in my humble opinion, it matters. I opened the book with a few lines from from Fyodor Dostoevsky's parable The Grand Inquisitor: "Today, people are persuaded more than ever that they have perfect freedom, yet they have brought their freedom to us and laid it humbly at our feet…And we alone shall feed them…Oh, never, never can they feed themselves without us! In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet, and say to us, 'Make us your slaves, but feed us.'" I spare little subtlety in drawing a parallel between this iconic passage of Western literature and the industrial food system's quest to control the hearts and minds of us, the dependent food consumer. After all we know, as the industrial food system loves to remind us,  that we are staring down the twin barrels of too many people and too little food.

Interestingly, the same lead was used in a recent review of Food Rebels by "Food Safety News." After going on for nearly three pages with an accurate, blow-by-blow account of the book's main points, the reviewer concludes with "Although Winne delivers strong arguments for the alternative food system, his book too glibly disparages the benefits of the industrial food system—namely, an inexpensive food supply, a system that can meet the growing worldwide food demand…." So, in the spirit of Auld Lang Syne, let me offer a selective retrospective of the industrial food system's sins for 2010 'less them "be forgot, and never brought to mind."

Food and Water Watch reported a 20 percent increase in the number of livestock in factory farm operations – that's an increase of 5 million animals. A factory egg-laying operation now averages over 600,000 birds which is one reason for the salmonella egg recall that sickened 1500 people and became the biggest food story of the year. The investigation by the New York Times into the main culprit, Wright Farms of Iowa, found a history of agri-business violations that included groundwater pollution, animal cruelty, unsafe working conditions, and worker abuse. The Times also pointed out that 97 of every 100 eggs produced in America comes from factory egg farms, which perhaps makes us consumers culpable third-parties.

If conditions are getting a little too crowded in those production barns, why don't we just ratchet up the doses of antibiotics we give the animals? At least that seems to be the industry trend, and according to Andrew Gunther, the USDA finally joined the Federal Drug Administration and Center for Disease Control in admitting at a Congressional hearing on July 14, 2010 "that the use of antibiotics in farm animal feed is contributing to the growing problem of deadly antibiotic resistance in America." Since the Union of Concerned Scientists pointed out not too long ago that over 70 percent of all antibiotics used in this country are used on livestock, human resistance is inevitable.

The subject of fat – too much, not too little – seemed to be an omnipresent part of the 2010 news cycle. When, for instance, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors challenged McDonalds' toy giveaways to lure children into their calorie-ridden dens of iniquity, McDonalds' CEO took a page from Sarah Palin's playbook and labeled San Francisco's duly-elected political leaders the "food police." The Chief Elected Burger went on to say that "We [McDonalds] are proud of our Happy Meals," and why wouldn't you be proud of something that gives 4 to 8 year olds over one-half of their USDA daily allowance of fat in just one meal! Since one-third of American children eat fast food every day, why shouldn't they be eating it at McDonalds?

Hard on the heels of San Francisco v. McDonalds was my home state of New Mexico's December release of its childhood obesity figures: 1 in 8 kindergarteners and nearly 1 in 4 third graders tipped the scales in 2010 into the danger zone. Obese children become obese and diabetic adults, which are why, in the midst of 2010's health care reform debate, health advocates argued that unless we rein in obesity, we'll never rein in health care costs.

Though military-age young people are being rejected in record numbers because they are too fat to fight (according to 2010 Defense Department recruitment data), our national defense may not suffer long-term harm. The Wall Street Journal (12/8/10) reports that KFC is moving aggressively into Africa where it expects to have 1200 outlets by 2014. They are joining McDonalds and Burger King in the rush to bring America's lard-laden cuisine to those benighted regions of the globe. It has never occurred to me until now that maybe the Defense Department and fast food industry have hatched a conspiracy. Together they will fatten our current and future enemies so that they, too, won't be able to fight. I can see it now: the golden arches and gentle countenance of Colonel Coronary stretched across the mountain peaks of Afghanistan and Pakistan achieving what our Special Op units and killer drones have so far failed to do.

But where I find the industrial food system at its most insidious – and most like the Grand Inquisitor – is when it slips quietly into bed with those whose expressed purpose is to do good. A study by the Center for Science in the Public Interest released in 2010 found that $4 billion of food stamp expenditures are for soft drinks – close to 10 percent of all food stamp use. When New York City's Mayor Bloomberg requested special permission from USDA to ban the use of food stamps for the purchase of soft drinks, he was greeted with howls of protest from anti-hunger organizations. I might have dismissed this response as simply the watchdogs of America's food safety net defending their turf, but then I saw that Feeding America, the nation's food bank network had a cross-marketing campaign going on with Snickers Candy Bars. Other large food charities like the Society of St. Andrews had a similar relationship with Pepsi. And then the New York Times (12/10) reported that the venerable charity Save the Children had backed off its campaign to institute state soda taxes to reduce childhood obesity. That decision was made, according to the Times, at the same time that Save the Children was negotiating with Coca-Cola for a very large grant. It had already received a $5 million grant from the PepsiCo Foundation. Aside from making a great case study on situational ethics, I do wonder what goes through the heads of people who are smart enough to know they are making a deal with the Devil.

That's but a mere sampling of "ripped from the headlines" food stories from 2010.  When added to the hundreds more that filled newspapers, airwaves, and the blogosphere, it becomes pretty clear that whatever good the industrial food system has wrought, it exacts a high cost on our public health, environment, and perhaps most importantly, our democracy. So when you read Food Rebels, Guerrilla Gardeners, and Smart-Cookin' Mamas (and I certainly hope you do), please enjoy the stories of Maurice Small, Austin's smart-cookin' mamas, and the bad-ass dairymen of Connecticut. They are the stuff of which legends are made, and should inspire you to fight back against a food system that would have us become its Stepford wives.  But I entreat you as well to listen to the voices of the book's dead white men – Dostoevsky, Emerson, and Lawrence. Ignore them at your own peril, but if you heed their words you just might find yourself on the mountaintop where we all might get a better view.

Mark Winne Washington Post Op-Ed

The link takes you to an online Washington Post op-ed that appeared on November 24, 2010. I wanted to share some thoughts about Thanksgiving, its meaning, and the industrial food system.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/political-bookworm/2010/11/momma_whats_in_that_turkey.html

Food Rebels, Guerrilla Gardeners, and Smart-Cookin' Mamas Is Now Available

I am happy to announce the release of my second book Food Rebels, Guerrilla Gardeners, and Smart-Cooking Mamas: Fighting Back in an Age of Industrial Agriculture (Beacon Press). For those readers who followed my arguments for a food system founded on justice in Closing the Food Gap you will find a significantly different story here. As everyone knows by now, the industrial food system has taken its toll on our bodies, communities, and environment. While many of us struggle to find a sound alternative – food that is fair, affordable, green, and healthy – the facts don't point to enormous progress.

If we are to ultimately triumph over a food system that puts profits before people – in other words, if we are to make the millions of consumers and citizens who now subscribe to a food system based on justice and sustainability into billions of people – we are going to have to make food democracy a reality, not just a slogan, and we are going to have to invest in individuals, both as leaders and as empowered eaters. As such, I frame my arguments with the help of some of the world's big thinkers including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and D.H. Lawrence. When you go up against the industrial food system, which demands comformity and brooks no dissent, you sometimes need to call on some of Western Civilization's heaviest hitters who understood like few have what the battle between freedom and authority is all about.

But big ideas are, afterall, still only ideas. I introduce a number of "local doers" from Cleveland, Oakland, Austin, and across America who are leading the charge to bring nutritious, sustainable, and affordable food to all. Not only are they acting locally and thinking globally, they are also raising the fundamental issues of individual self-reliance and community empowerment that, if brought to scale, will one day dethrone the industrial food system.

I would like to thank the dozens of people who opened their hearts and minds to my questions and, in so doing, shed light on what we all must do today. I want to share my appreciation as well for my conscientious "blurbers," Meryl Streep, Josh Viertel, and Michel Nischan who took the time to read the galleys and share their thoughts and praise. And again, as they did so ably with Closing the Food Gap, I want to thank the venerable publishing house Beacon Press that brought Food Rebels from seed to shelf with a commitment to grace, professionalism, and social justice that I have yet to find matched elsewhere.

Go to my website's homepage for more info, and go online or to your favorite bookstore to buy the book. The industrial food system is not sleeping, and we don't have forever before we begin to fight back!

How Do You Like Your Eggs? Industrial or Local?

Picture this: three long-haired college kids are unloading crates of food from the bed of a battered pick-up truck. It's parked curbside at the Androscoggin Food Co-op located in the equally battered mill town of Lewiston, Maine. The year is 1971 and these kids are, unbeknownst to them, the vanguard of the local food movement.

They've spent the day rounding up goods directly from local farms and food processors, not because they're devout locavores (the word wouldn't be invented for another 35 years) but because sourcing locally was the cheapest way to get food for a co-op whose members were largely lower income. Some crates are full of apples from a nearby orchard; others contain 12-pound wheels of a so-so cheddar from a small cheese plant; and one cardboard box contains 30 dozen eggs from a chicken farm only 10 miles down the road. That box is labeled DeCoster Farms.

Yes, the product of this family egg farm (now headquartered in Iowa) at the eye of the current salmonella storm was being handled contentedly by these prehistoric foodies, I among them. As a company that was started with 125 hens in the mid-1960s by Austin "Jack" DeCoster in the farm town of Turner (pronounced "Turna" by everybody except out-of-state college kids), it was as local as you could get.

Funny how times change. Jack, now 71, was an ambitious man who wasn't going to be happy selling locally produced eggs just in northern New England. According to one DeCoster employee, Jack is a born-again Christian who doesn't engage in any leisure pursuits other than work, which he apparently pursues 18-hours a day. With a work ethic like that, growth was inevitable. Now operating under the names of Wright County Egg and Quality Egg, Jack's egg empire now produces 2.3 million dozen eggs a week in Iowa while his "starter" farm back in Turner, renamed Maine Contract Farming, keeps 3.5 million hens gainfully employed.

But Jack paid a steep price for getting big and going global. Though town folks in Maine and Iowa love the jobs, huge property tax payments, and Jack's "community mindedness" (new playgrounds and all the free eggs you can eat at local fundraising breakfasts), they are less than sanguine about the factory farms' legacy of pollution, labor abuse, and animal cruelty. In 1994 the State of Iowa fined DeCoster for environmental pollution and designated the business a "habitual violator." Back in Maine DeCoster paid a $2 million fine in 1997 to the U.S. Department of Labor for egregious health and safety violations that led to then Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich describing the farm's working conditions "as dangerous and oppressive as any sweatshop." The federal Equal Opportunity Commission settled a $1.5 million sexual harassment suit brought against one of DeCoster's Iowa operations in 2002. And again in Turner, as recently as June of this year, the State of Maine fined Maine Contract Farming $125,000 for animal cruelty. And now dirty eggs – 380 million of them are Jack's – have been recalled following 1500 reported cases of salmonella poisoning (another Iowa producer, Hillandale Farms, not a DeCoster operation, was forced to recall 170 million eggs).

Had Jack developed some leisure activities earlier in life he might have become a relatively successful Androscoggin homey. But holding his personality traits aside, remaining a small egg business was probably not an option. Like other agricultural operations, "get big or get out" has been the driving reality. This has led to the egg industry's consolidation with fewer but larger producers now controlling most of the egg supply in this country. That means, of course, massive egg-laying factories that often hold as many as 150,000 hens in a single warehouse, non-therapeutic use of antibiotics, and the production of Himalayan mountains of chicken manure.

For those of us who take refuge from the industrial food system by purchasing oddly sized and colored eggs packaged in a mish-mash assortment of cartons at a farmers' market, or who are willing to pay $4 a dozen for certified organic eggs at Whole Foods, we have to be reminded from time to time that we are the exception. According to the New York Times, out of every 100 eggs produced in the US, 97 come from hens that are kept in tightly packed battery cages, 2 come from hens that are "cage-free" but always kept indoors, and just 1 from a "free-range" source where chickens can spend some time outdoors.

If the Jacks of the world rule, whether we're talking eggs or eggplant, then how do we avoid the mischief that our industrial food system is heir to? Better government regulation and monitoring are the answers on the lips of many policy makers and consumer advocates these days. While there is always room to improve government efficiency – ending the divide between USDA and FDA food safety oversight is one obvious choice – I'm not confident that government can protect the consumer in an age of industrial agriculture. Our faith in science, technology, and regulatory oversight can be as misplaced as our trust in mega food and farm corporations. With tremendous resources at their disposal, our industrial food players are more than able to game the system. And in what could be the ultimate irony, the biggest violators often have the deepest pockets which positions them nicely to comply, at least on paper, with ever increasing (and costly) regulatory requirements. The little guy – the small farmer, the ones who are local and whom we know and genuinely trust – could be put out of business if a one-size-fits-all approach to regulation is implemented.

Perhaps there is another fear as well, one that we feel in our hearts more than our heads, but is nevertheless suitable for the 21st century. As the industrial food system becomes ever more dominant and government feels the need to escalate its authority, don't we run the risk of sacrificing ever greater measures of our freedom and independence? Could the days of an all-powerful national Food Czar be far off? Holding aside the anti-government nonsense of the Tea Party, it is now possible to imagine food production being so remote and so beyond our understanding that we have no choice but to place all control and authority in the hands of a few food corporations and a board of government overseers.

A healthy antidote to this distinct set of possibilities, both in terms of food system control and human health, might come in the form of direct engagement by citizen-consumers in their food supply. For instance, there is ample room to educate ourselves about safe food handling, particularly if local school boards recognize the importance of (and fund) food education. The individual, after all, is the last and probably best line of defense against salmonella and other food-borne bacteria.

What about raising our own chickens? The backyard poultry movement may be even bigger these days than the Tea Party, and certainly more useful. A dozen hens can provide all the eggs that several neighborhood families could eat in a week and provide a lot of education and fun (a leisure pursuit, Jack?) along the way.

And what about food democracy? Food policy councils now exist in over 100 cities and states and are beginning to shape the direction of their local food systems. To support the backyard poultry movement, for instance, councils in places like Cleveland, Chicago, and Missoula have passed chicken ordinances which make it legal, easy, and safe to raise a few hens on city lots and in backyards.

Clean hands on sanitized cutting boards, building our own chicken coops, and bringing our voices loud and clear to city hall offer us a distinctly brighter set of possibilities than the prospect of ponderous bureaucracies locked in mortal combat with resistant food corporations. And who knows, maybe today's clean-cut crop of college students could organize and stock the next wave of co-ops with authentically local food. The good old days may be coming back, but this time they could be even better.

Mark Winne is the author of the upcoming book "Food Rebels, Guerrilla Gardeners, and Smart-Cookin' Mamas: Fighting Back in an Age of Industrial Agriculture" (Beacon Press, October 2010).