Category Archives: Uncategorized

Food and Community Conference


Posted by HFHP Coalition

By Y. Armando Nieto, Executive Director of CFJC

Healthy Farms, Healthy People Coalition Steering Committee member CFJC was able to send three staff to participate in the Food & Community Conference in Asheville, N.C.

You can check out some highlights of the conference on the Kellogg Foundation website here.

On May 23rd nearly 600 participants convened in a follow-up to last year’s small meeting of sixty people who developed a Food Policy Lifeline, prioritizing the needs of children and communities. It was an exercise in self-determination that resonated with the Kellogg Foundation, enough so that they used the lifeline as the basis of this year’s conference.

To be clear—in 2011 the sixty participants were challenged to develop the kind of food and food system policies that they would like to see, if the typical barriers and challenges—partisan politics, funding constraints, etc.—were absent.

The result was a Food Policy Lifeline predicated on the revolutionary idea that the main purpose of food is to nourish people, and not to enrich corporations.

In 2012 the participants were likewise challenged to think beyond this Farm Bill reauthorization process, whatever the Congressional outcomes.

If I had one criticism of the process—and I say this as one who helped with the convening process—it is that the multitude of workshops did not allow for a critical mass of people to gain consensus on next steps. Alternately, plenary sessions of 600 people proved likewise ungainly in crafting concrete next steps. Although, Navina Khanna, Anna Lappé, Paula Garcia, Norma Flore Lopez, Michael Dimock, Richard McCarthy, Kolu Zigby and I did our best to frame the conversation to challenge attendees in the spirit of 2011.

I was especially intrigued with the panel with a panel comprise of Ricardo Salvador with the Equity Caucus and Union for Concerned Scientists, Judith Bell representing the Convergence Partnership and PolicyLink, GOAT Coalition member Aisha Amuda with Community Food Security Coalition, AGgree member Deborah Atwood, Ferd Hoefner from National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, and Gabrielle Serra with the Public Health Institute and the Healthy Farms, Healthy People Coalition.

What intrigued me was the realization that with the exception of NSAC, I (and CFJC) was part of the senior Farm Bill and beyond policy coalition (Healthy Farms, Healthy People), and the newest (Equity Caucus). CFJC also, along with many other groups across the country, participates in weekly  GOAT public policy calls coordinated by the Rural Coalition that is currently focused on the activities of Congress in developing a 2012 Farm Bill.

Surely the next indicated step is better communication and coordination between all the coalition efforts.

Finally, I wanted to mention what I consider the most important events in Asheville. And here I am speaking of the meetings-outside-the-scheduled meetings.

If we can all acknowledge how close we hold our particular piece of the policy agenda for those who trust in us, and have the courage to begin to share and strategize with one another for better food and food policy system outcomes, then we will truly be worthy of the trust placed in each of us privileged to do policy work.

For those who do not, or cannot be part of the policy (sausage) making process, I would ask that you in turn hold us accountable for the changes you demand.

I for one, look forward to hearing from you.

Best,

Y. Armando Nieto

Executive Director
CFJC
yanieto@cafoodjustice.org

Community Transformation Grants – Small Communities Programs


Posted by HFHP Coalition

From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Approximately $70 million is being awarded in grants to improve the health of small communities across the nation. These funds support communities with populations of up to 500,000 people in neighborhoods, school districts, villages, towns, cities, and counties to increase opportunities to prevent chronic diseases and promote health. Grants are awarded to governmental and non-governmental organizations across a variety of sectors, including transportation, housing, education, and public health, in an effort to save lives and control the nation’s growing health care costs associated with preventable diseases. These grants are one-time funding with a two year project period.

CDC expects to make 25 to 50 competitive grant awards under the CTG Small Communities Program, with successful applicants announced in September 2012. The final number of awards will depend on the quality of applications, sizes of communities to be served, sizes of awards, and other factors. Applicants specifically must demonstrate how they can improve their communities through increasing the availability of healthy foods and beverages, improving access to safe places for physical activity, discouraging tobacco use, and encouraging smoke-free environments.

The letter of intent is due on June 18 and the closing date for the full application is July 31, 2012.

For the full announcement, click here.


National Network of Public Health Institutes Announcements


Posted by HFHP Coalition

The National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI) announces the launch of the Healthy Farms, Healthy People State Meetings Learning Community. NNPHI has selected 7 nonprofit organizations to receive $7,500 awards, coupled with individualized technical assistance from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), to conduct meetings in 2012 promoting a cross-sector examination of the intersection between agriculture, food systems, and human health. For a list of the awardees visit please read the full press release here.     

With support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI) has also selected nonprofit organizations to conduct policy research and analysis projects at the intersection of food systems and health. The projects will be coordinated by NNPHI and results will be disseminated through the Healthy Farms, Healthy People Coalition which is extending issues of healthy nutrition into a broader perspective of agriculture and food systems. For more information and list of awardees read the full press release here.


National Public Health Week: April 2-8, 2012


Posted by HFHP Coalition

Article from NSAC

April 2 marks the beginning of National Public Health Week, organized annually by the American Public Health Association to bring attention to current issues in public health.  The first day’s “tools and tips” from APHA focus on healthy eating and supporting local food efforts.

With alarming trends in overweight and obesity, diabetes, and other diet-related diseases, including among American children, there has growing interest in recent years to explore how our food supply impacts the health of our nation.  NSAC and its members are committed to using federal agriculture and food policy to strengthen public health.

Click here to view the whole article.


Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Major Factors Influencing the Debate


Posted by HFHP Coalition

Article from NSAC

In its “Path to the 2012 Farm Bill” series, NSAC gets into the details of the 2012 Farm Bill debate.  This first post in the series discusses the major factors influencing the 2012 Farm Bill timing and process.

With the failure of the Super Committee process last fall, Agriculture Committee leaders now resume work on the 2012 Farm Bill through a more normal process that involves hearings, committee mark-ups, and a committee and floor amendment process.  The current farm bill expires on September 30, 2012, and Congress must take action on farm policy by then if it wants to avoid reverting to 1949 farm law — the fallback permanent law for the farm bill.  That action can come in the form of passing a stand-alone farm bill, attaching a farm bill proposal to another bill, or passing a short or long-term extension of current law either as a stand-alone measure or attached to something else.  Significant political, budget, and committee factors will influence that choice as well as the timing of the farm bill process this year.

Please click here to read the full article


PolicyLink Webinar: Equitable Strategies for Growing Urban Agriculture


Posted by HFHP Coalition

Urban agriculture is one strategy for improving food security and creating economic opportunity in cities. PolicyLink is kicking off a series of webinars (To register, click here) that look at the various ways that urban agriculture is transforming low-income communities and communities of color. For more information about urban agriculture as a food access strategy, check out PolicyLink’s Urban Agriculture Tool (http://www.policylink.org/site/c.lkIXLbMNJrE/b.7634055/k.102B/Urban_Agriculture_and_Community_Gardens.htm?msource=urbagwebinar&tr=y&auid=10225984) and Public Health Law & Policy’s Seeding the City: Land Use Policies to Promote Urban Agriculture (http://www.phlpnet.org/childhood-obesity/products/urban-ag-toolkit).

 

 


Health and Organic Farming: Moving from Research to Policy Action


Posted by HFHP Coalition

 

by Jill Krueger

See this piece on the Network for Public Health Law’s blog exploring the question of whether policies should be enacted even if the research is not deemed “exhaustive.” While it uses the example of organics, it is relevant to many other issues at the intersection of health and agriculture.

I am always a little puzzled when I hear organic foods trumpeted as a good personal choice without a corresponding call for policies to make it easier for farmers to grow organic foods.

For example, the President’s 2010 Cancer Panel report on reducing environmental cancer risks recommended that, to the extent possible, individuals choose foods grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers and free-range meat. In a chapter discussing exposure to contaminants from agricultural sources, the Panel included quotes calling for agricultural policies like those contained in National Organic Program regulations. Nevertheless, the Panel did not make any policy recommendations to support organic farming. The report only called for more research on vulnerable populations, such as farmworkers, to determine environmental influences on cancer risks, and urged that identified risks be remediated to the maximum extent possible.

Please click here to read the full post. 

 


The state of the plate and what health professionals can do to help


Posted by HFHP Coalition

Cross-posted from IATP website.

Posted January 6, 2012 by Ben Lilliston

 Dr. Kelly Brownell addresses the audience at State of the Plate: Minnesota Healthy Food Futures.

Yesterday more than 300 people gathered on an unseasonably warm January day at a conference center outside of Minneapolis to talk about food, farming and health. The conference, State of the Plate: Minnesota Healthy Food Futures, was co-hosted by IATP, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Minnesota and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The event included national figures like Dr. Kelly Brownell of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity and Anne Haddix from the CDC, as well as state leaders like Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner Ed Ehlinger and University of Minnesota’s Dr. Mary Story—as well as community, public health and food activists.

Much of the discussions centered on the important role health professionals need to play in advocating for a healthier food system, whether at the community or state and federal policy level. Dr. Brownell argued that our children are being robbed of their future. For the first time in history, the current generation of children, he said, is expected to have a shorter lifespan than their parents, largely due to diet-related disease. Instead, Dr. Brownell said in his keynote to attendees, we need to make healthy food the “optimal default”—or put more simply, the easiest food to access.

Other topics covered at the conference included the role of the food system in health, the existing food environment, the challenges for farmers to grow healthy food and the social justice implications of our food system. See our interview with Dr. Kelly Brownell below or check out some photos from the event on IATP’s Flickr.

Click here for the original post.


SNAP To Health


Posted by HFHP Coalition
The Center on the Study of the Presidency and Congress has created an interesting website that will concentrate on how to improve the health of participants in the SNAP program. SNAP is the USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program formerly known as food stamps.  There are now more than 46 million Americans receiving SNAP benefits and the cost of the program accounts for over 75 percent of total Farm Bill spending.  SNAP purchases account for about 12 percent of all grocery sales in the United States, so the program has a significant effect of the nation’s food economy.  The Farm Bill priorities of several Healthy Farms, Healthy People Coalition member organizations are included in the website.

 

 


Huffington Post Article: Farm Bill Reform Could Trim Americans’ Waistlines


Posted by HFHP Coalition

This interesting Huffington Post article on the relationship between public health and farm bill policy quotes several Healthy Farms, Healthy People Coalition steering committee members and describes some of the challenges in understanding how and why farmers make the planting decisions they do and what that really has to do with obesity in America.  As with most complicated problems there is not one easy answer.  The goal of the Healthy Farms, Healthy People Coalition is to provide a comfortable forum for health and agriculture advocates to learn about each other’s work and to identify policies that support both.   This article might stimulate interesting discussion and we encourage that to happen here.

Click here to read the article.