Category Archives: Resources

New Report: Healthy Food Incentives Cluster Evaluation 2011


Posted by HFHP Coalition

Cross-posted from Fair Food Network

This report summarizes initial results of a cluster evaluation of four organizations – Fair Food Network, Market Umbrella, Roots of Change, and Wholesome Wave – that offer SNAP incentives at farmers’ markets. The goal of the evaluation is to help inform further investments in SNAP incentives that have the potential to increase access to healthy food for low income consumers, improve the economic viability of farmers, and strengthen local communities.

Click here for the Healthy Incentives Cluster Evaluation 2011.


What’s in the Farm Bill? Web Forum Recording and Resources


Posted by HFHP Coalition

The Healthy Farms Healthy People Coalition hosted a web forum on Tuesday July 10, featuring analysis of the Senate-passed farm bill and the draft bill that the House Agriculture Committee is currently marking up. We had an great panel of experts in agriculture, food, and nutrition policy who provided their perspectives and insights on the bills including: Greg Fogel of National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), Dennis Nuxoll of Western Growers, Elizabeth Raines of Feeding America, Brittany Jablonsky of National Farmers Union (NFU), Lorelei DiSogra of United Fresh, and Paula Daniels of the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office and the LA Food Policy Council.

If you missed any of the web forum, you can view or download a recording of it here.

The panelists shared several great resources and materials which are available below:

  • NFU poll on conservation priorities, press release, click here.
  • Full summary of the results of NFU’s poll on conservation priorities, click here.
  • U.S. Conference of Mayors Resolution on the Farm Bill, click here.
  • Four new farm bill policy briefs from the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, click here.
  • Agriculture Value Chain Study, click here.
  • NSAC press release on the House mark, click here.

Tune in on August 2nd for the Coalition’s next web forum: Is the Price Right? Understanding the economics of healthy food for consumers and farmers. 10 am – 11 am PDT/1 pm – 2 pm EDT.

Register here.

The webinar will explore the price of food, as it affects health of consumers and the economic viability of farmers. Participants will get a brief lesson on the economics of healthy food from economists studying this issue from different perspectives. Participants will also hear from leaders working at the local/state level to increase demand for and supply of fruits and vegetables. They will discuss their innovative projects and the returns on investments they’ve seen thus far.

 


New Issue Brief from the American Public Health Association


Posted by HFHP Coalition
From the American Public Health Association (APHA)
 

The Farm Bill and Public Health: A Primer for Public Health Professionals

The Farm Bill impacts public health through a variety of nutrition, agriculture and conservation policies and programs. This primer provides a summary of the major components of the existing Farm Bill and their connections to public health; it is an essential foundation for all public health professionals.

Click here to read the report.


AGree Releases Review of U.S. Nutrition Assistance Policy: Programs and Issues


Posted by HFHP Coalition

On June 4, AGree released a Review of U.S. Nutrition Assistance Policy: Programs and Issues, the fifth in a series of public policy background papers on the U.S. food and agriculture system. This piece was written by Stephanie Mercier, a former chief economist for the Senate Agriculture Committee. The Review of U.S. Nutrition Policy provides an overview of the domestic nutrition programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program) and highlights program origins, characteristics, impacts of the programs, and current policy issues being debated.

AGree has also published background papers on the following:

AGree is an interdisciplinary initiative to drive positive change in the food and agriculture system. They are focused on strategies to address the four following challenges:

• Meet future demand for food
• Conserve and enhance water, soil, and habitat
• Improve nutrition and public health; and
• Strengthen farms, workers, and communities.

Healthy Farms, Healthy People Coalition was recently invited to speak on a panel during the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Food and Community Conference in Asheville, North Carolina. The Coalition was represented by Gabrielle Serra, who was joined with colleagues representing other new and emerging coalitions working to improve the food system, including Deb Atwood, the Executive Director of AGree.

The Healthy Farms, Healthy People Coalition looks forward to working with our partners, including other coalitions, such as AGree, to help drive positive solutions to improve the U.S. food and agriculture system to promote health, social justice, and economic development.


Federal Policy Update – Farm Bill Markup Wednesday 4/25


Posted by HFHP Coalition

The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry issued their proposed draft of the 2012 Farm Bill on Friday afternoon. The Committee will meet to markup the bill with amendments and modifications tomorrow, Wednesday 4/25.

Farm Bill Markup                                 
Date: April 25, 2012
Time: 9:00 am EDT
Location: 328A Russell Senate Office Building

If you’re interested in the Farm Bill Markup but are unable to attend the meeting, you can watch it live online! Click here.

You can access the entire 2012 Farm Bill Committee Print by clicking here.

Hear up to date analysis of the markup from a panel of agriculture, food, and nutrition experts on the Coalition’s Web Forum this Thursday April 26, 1-2 pm EDT. Click here to register.

For more perspectives and information on the Farm Bill, we encourage you to check the following sites of our Steering Committee Member Organizations.

Institute for Agriculture Trade Policy and their Healthy Food Action site.

American Farmland Trust

Public Health Institute

California Food and Justice Coalition

Public Health Law and Policy

Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future 


New SNAP Report Released


Posted by HFHP Coalition

From USDA Food and Nutrition Service

Building a Healthy America:

A Profile of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

For the last four decades, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has played a critical role in the lives of millions of Americans in the fight against hunger and improved nutrition. In fiscal year 2011, SNAP served nearly 45 million people. This report seeks to provide policymakers and interested citizens with reliable information to assess the program’s strengths and identify opportunities for improvement.

Click here to download the report.


IATP Farm Bill Web Page


Posted by HFHP Coalition

From Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

For the past 75 years, ever since the New Deal programs of the Roosevelt administration, federal policy makers have taken an active role in agriculture. Every five to seven years, agricultural policies are evaluated and reauthorized through the federal Farm Bill. The last bill was passed in 2007; the next is expected in 2012. The larger public is discovering that policies in the Farm Bill affect not just farmers here and around the world, but rural communities, the environment, health, hunger and even immigration. Literally everyone has a stake in the Farm Bill.

Click here for the IATP Farm Bill Web Page.


Farm Bill Budget Visualizer


Posted by HFHP Coalition

From the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future

The Farm Bill Budget Visualizer, a project of the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, uses interactive “treemap” technology to share information about the budget of the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008, aka the 2008 Farm Bill. Treemapping uses nested rectangles to display data, allowing users to “see” the federal funding received by programs within the Bill, and to examine how funding has been allocated across a range of issues from public health to commodity grain production to conservation.

The primary goal of the Budget Visualizer is to serve as an education aid that will improve understanding of the Bill, and that will help users identify and share information about issues of concern. The Visualizer and its underlying budgetary data (not otherwise available) will also be useful to advocates, policy-makers, researchers and the media.

Click here for the Farm Bill Budget Visualizer.