From the labeling of sugary drinks and genetically engineered foods to a proposed increase to the statewide minimum wage, California’s legislature has tackled no shortage of hot-button issues related to food policy in the past year. According to a new report, a total of 22 bills appeared before the state legislature that advocates believed would have a sweeping impact on making California’s food system more sustainable and equitable.
You can read the story at Politico.
By Justin Rausa, Roots of Change.
I live in Oakland, California, around the corner from a trendy bar that touts more than a dozen local beers on tap and even more craft brews by the bottle. Down the street from me is a homeless encampment under a freeway overpass, where people look for empathy, money and food.
You can read the full story in Al Jazeera America.
During an interview with Kim Kessler, former feader of the NYC mayor’s Office of Food Policy and host of NYC’s Heritage radio program Eating Matters, ROC’s President Michael Dimock talks about his latest projects as well as recent legislation concerning food, and what he has observed having been in the trenches lobbying for the food movement issues.
Heare more on Heritage Radio Network.
Michael Dimock, president of Roots of Change, a nonprofit working to assure healthy, ecological and affordable food in California, will share his perspective on how every person has a stake in the next phase of the food revolution.
Hear more on The Daily Journal.
A group of San Francisco organizations is holding the two candidates accountable for their positions on food and farming. On October 6, David Campos and David Chiu will debate one another at “Your Food, Your Vote,” an event organized by CUESA, the San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance and the SF Marin Food Bank.
Read the article in Inside Scoop SF.
The U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance (US-FRA) waded deep into issues of animal welfare and GMO (genetically modified) foods during the June 10 “Food Dialogues” in Chicago, a discussion it hosted regarding the marketing efforts of food professionals in response to consumers’ increased demand for information about their food. More
It’s not easy being green. Ron Rutherford has been toiling for a year now, trying to sustain a community garden in a vacant lot. Heaped with junk, strewn with hypodermic needles, the dusty plot in Sacramento’s Oak Park was a mess in the autumn of 2012 when he bumped into a couple of neighbors clearing trash there. The neighbors saw blight; Rutherford, a resident of public housing, saw a shot at cheap produce. So they got the lot owner’s permission and on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, they did a communal planting. After a week or two, though, it became clear why so many still view urban agriculture as an oxymoron.
Shawn Coburn farms land that holds senior water rights to the giant Central Valley Project, rights that usually assure him water. Not this year. He already has decided to let his pomegranates die, abandon alfalfa and cut his tomato crop by half. He may not plant any row crops if the state water board follows through on its intention to slash deliveries to “protect human health and safety” from the effects of drought. Coburn, 45, says his ranch near Dos Palos (Merced County) is no water-guzzler. He uses buried irrigation. Computers tell him how much moisture his plants lose each day.
You can read the full story in the SFGate.
New York Times’ food and food policy opinion writer, Mark Bittman, reflects on why abundance doesn’t mean health. In the process he refers to ROC’s work with farmers markets to improve healthy food access for families receiving federal nutrition benefits.
You can read the full story in the New York Times.
On January 8, 2014, the growing food movement achieved an important milestone. The California Food Policy Council (CAFPC) released its first report to evaluate California’s legislative record related to food and farms. It is the first state-policy-focused analysis of legislative votes in the nation. This action in California is sure to be followed by similar action throughout the nation. The timing is excellent because I believe 2014 will see even more progress in the intensifying struggle over the future of our nation’s food and farms.
You can read the full story in the Huffington Post.