How Food Recalls Work – A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Distribution Technology

Today I would like to cross post from Software Advice-Distribution a great analysis on the recent egg recall and the debate on food tracking. I tend to be weary of the food tracking and traceability efforts. While they are well-intentioned, it only leads to more hoops for local and small producers to jump through in order to participate in the food system. My personal traceability is going out to the hen house at Tierra Miguel Farm and checking on the ladies. In other words, if you know your farmer, there less chance for the market failure of imperfect information. Stick to the farmers market. I like the efforts of The Food Hub in Oregon as well.

Thanks to Stephen Jannise for contacting me about his work. It was nice to see that he is a UT alum. Hook 'em horns!

Job Search for Good Food Movement

*****ADDED*****
I just came across the Sustainable Agriculture Education Association website which has a listing of professional listings.

Foodies know where the good markets are to find the best strawberries, crispy kale and first peaches of the season, but when it comes to finding their dream jobs, the classified ads just won't do. Since my friend and colleagues (self included,)are all in the market for a job that fuels our passions, allow us to live the good life and pays our loans, I thought it would nice to centralize some resources.

1. Comfood listserve- this is a great place for job announcements, up to day news in the sustainable food security movement and discussion about decisive issues. Many of the amazing players in the field can be found collaborating, asking questions, and offering up expertise. Share yours as well.

2. Sustainable Food Jobs (SFJ)- this is a domestic site that is updated weekly and has jobs from sustainable food service, farm to school, Americorps and farming internships as well as CEO positions at non-profits and start-up businesses. The site is cool if you want to search by region.

3. Good Food Jobs- similar to SFJ - this site is due to launch this summer. In the mean time sign up for their weekly email to catch the latest.

4. Idealist- a great place to land a non-profit career or organize with like minded people.Idealist is a project of Action Without Borders, a nonprofit organization founded in 1995 with offices in the United States and Argentina. Idealist is an interactive site where people and organizations can exchange resources and ideas, locate opportunities and supporters, and take steps toward building a world where all people can lead free and dignified lives. I have been successful searching by key words.

5. Linkedin-When you join, you create a profile that summarizes your professional expertise and accomplishments. You can then form enduring connections by inviting trusted contacts to join LinkedIn and connect to you. Your network consists of your connections, your connections’ connections, and the people they know, linking you to a vast number of qualified professionals and experts. A fun part is you can recommend your colleagues.

You can come link up with me at: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleycolpaart

6. Juju- Do a search like "sustainable food jobs"

7. Change.org Jobs - search by topic, demographic, or job category. There are also career advisors and other resources.

8. Wise Earth Jobs -helps the global movement of people and organizations working toward social justice, indigenous rights, and environmental stewardship connect, collaborate, share knowledge, and build alliances. All tools and content are free to use. The site is commercial-free too.

9. Craiglist-not only good for getting used furniture or sports equipment, Craigslist can be a great place to find consulting gigs, freelance writing or part time work in your new city. I usually use search terms to sift out the junk. Beware of scams or jobs that are posted over and over again. If your bored of the job search, the Best of Craigslist is good for a laugh.

10. HigherEdJobs- A good place to look for adjunct faculty, part time or other teaching positions at community colleges or university. I search "nutrition" and get a lot of hits.

11. Check your local school districts, college websites, and county & city job boards.

12. Good luck and let me know if you have any other resources that may be of assistance!

Farm Bureau President draws line in the sand

President of the American Farm Bureau Federation Bob Stallman has chosen to go to war with critics of agriculture (and the growing public) in his speech to the Bureau saying the will "no longer tolerate opponents' efforts to change the landscape of American agriculture."

“Emotionally charged labels such as monoculture, factory farmer, industrial food, and big ag threaten to fray our edges.We must not allow the activists and self-appointed and self-promoting food experts to drive a wedge between us.”

“A line must be drawn between our polite and respectful engagement with consumers and how we must aggressively respond to extremists who want to drag agriculture back to the day of 40 acres and a mule. The time has come to face our opponents with a new attitude. The days of their elitist power grabs are over.”

Those are some big word coming from one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington. It will be interesting to see how they get consumers to give up caring about things like antibiotic resistance, environmental degradation or animal rights. I have a feeling their case will sound somewhat familiar: "safe food" "affordable food" and "feed the world."

US dairy crisis, message from Willie Nelson & Farm Aid

The drastic drop in milk prices paid to farmers over the past year has led to an unprecedented crisis for dairy farmers who, on average, are being paid less than half the cost of production. Low prices and high production costs threaten to push nearly one-third of dairy farmers off their land over the next couple of months, strengthening corporate control of the dairy industry and severely impacting the health of local and regional economies nationwide.

“Setting a fair price for milk won’t fix all the problems that led to the current crisis, but it may be the only way to keep thousands of dairy farmers on their farms this year,” said Farm Aid board member Willie Nelson. “Unless Secretary Vilsack takes immediate action, huge areas of the United States may be left without any local dairy farms at all.”

Dairy farmers have been hit with a catastrophic combination of factors beyond their control. Farmers are struggling to pay bills from record high feed and fuel costs; adequate credit is increasingly impossible to come by; and the price of milk paid to farmers by processors collapsed a record 30 percent in January alone, and is currently down 50 percent since July 2008. In the meantime, the top dairy processors have recently announced 2009 first quarter earnings that are up from the same period last year. The top processor, Dean Foods, reported their first quarter earnings are more than double that of last year thanks in part to the plunging price Dean pays to its milk producers.

Under Section 608c (18) of the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, the Secretary of Agriculture is required to adjust the price of milk paid to farmers to “reflect the price of feeds, the available supplies of feeds, and other economic conditions which affect market supply and demand for milk and its products.” Farm Aid urges Secretary Vilsack to use this power to immediately institute a set price for milk that reflects the cost of production, keeping dairy farmers on their land.

“The U.S. has a tradition of local and regional milk distribution, making dairy farmers a base for strong local and regional economies. The loss of these farms will reduce spending in small businesses, investments in banks and shrink the community tax base. If we lose a third of our dairy farms in the next few months alone, imagine the impact on these economies by year’s end.” said Carolyn Mugar, executive director of Farm Aid. “As our independent family dairy farmers go out of business, our milk supply gets more consolidated by giant confinement dairies that do not contribute to our local economies or act of stewards of the land like our family farmers do.”

The petition can be accessed by going to this link.

I would like to disclose that I am (proud to be) interning at Farm Aid.

Farmers Market season is back

Thank goodness. I don't know if it's me, but produce in the grocery store seems scary. This is likely attributed to the information I receive in my classes. Is ignorance truly bliss? Neigh. Regardless, there is something endearing of purchasing vibrant colored produce at an outdoor market in the community. Getting to meet farmers, neighbors and artisans is a perk. Fresh produce that was picked fairly close by is the prize. Can't wait to pull out my Moosewood Cookbooks and start eating more seasonal foods from my favorite food group: VEGGIES!I love the Moosewood collection. Very simple instructions and ingredients and mostly vegetarian.

Here is the press release for the Massachusetts farmers market season kick-off:

Winter is over and Farmers Markets are back!

We know you’ve missed us, but don’t despair, the wait is over! The Federation of Mass Farmers Markets is pleased to announce the opening of our local farmers markets. In just a few days – on Tuesday, May 19th – the Copley Square market in Boston will open for the season. The Copley Square market is one of our largest and runs from 11:00am to 6:00pm every Tuesday and Friday from May 19th through November 24th. Buy your fresh veggies, local meats, artisan breads, jams, delicious sandwiches, and fruits of all kinds here. It’s so much more vibrant than the produce aisle at the supermarket.

If you don’t live near Back Bay you still have plenty of other options. Other markets run by Mass Farmers Markets include:

* City Hall market in Boston, which begins May 27th and runs on Mondays and Wednesdays
* Davis Square farmers market in Somerville, which begins May 27th and runs on Wednesdays
* Central Square market in Cambridge, which begins June 1st and runs on Mondays
* Framingham Village Green market, which begins June 11th and runs on Thursdays.

Visit www.massfarmersmarkets.org for a complete list of the 180-plus farmers markets opening across the state over the next few months.

Once the markets are open you can look forward to fresh produce local to your area. Great finds in May include arugula, mesclun mix, and chard. You’ll also see tender asparagus, tangy garlic scapes, fava beans, and maybe fiddleheads if you’re lucky. Radishes, rhubarb, strawberries, and peas will follow as May blends into June. And don’t forget: cheese, baked goods, preserves, locally raised meat, and other goodies are always available and locally made by our vendors.

So, stop by the market closest to you. You'll help support local farmers, learn about your community, and get a fantastic meal in the process.

About Mass Farmers Markets

Mass Farmers Markets is a non-profit organization that harnesses the power of farmers markets to create healthy communities across the state. MFM is the only organization working state-wide to facilitate relationships between farmers and consumers of all income levels in order to improve the livelihood of farmers and increase access to fresh, local food. For more information, visit www.massfarmersmarkets.org.

Victory Garden 2.0

Ideas for Change in America is a nationwide competition to identify the best ideas for change in America. The top 10 ideas will be presented to the Obama administration just before inauguration day and form the basis of a nationwide advocacy campaign to turn each idea into actual policy. One of the more popular change ideas gaining traction is Victory Garden 2.0, who as of 01/08/09 held a top 30 spot (25th) with 1583 votes and needs 2380 more votes to make the top 10. Voting ends at 5pm ET on Thursday, January 15. From the site:

Thousands of Americans and people from the around the world are asking the Obamas to lead by example on climate change, health policy, economic self-reliance, food security, and energy independence by replanting an organic food garden at the White House with the produce going to the First Kitchen and to local food pantries.

The many successes of the first Victory Garden movement were the result of effective public policy, bold leadership at a time of national crisis, and the commitment of millions of citizens who were ready to roll up their sleeves for the greater good.

There's no better, more symbolic place for launching a new National Victory Garden Program than at the White House, "America’s House". There's no better, more urgent time than now. And there's NOTHING that can beat the fresh taste of locally grown, home-cooked foods.

1) Victory Gardens (behind homes, schools, in vacant urban lots, etc.) produced 40% of the nation’s produce at their peak, helped conserve food and natural resources at a time of crisis, resulted in the highest consumption rates of fruits and vegetables our nation has seen, and helped keep millions of Americans physically fit and active.

(2) First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt planted a Victory Garden on the White House lawn in1943 over the objections of the USDA, inspiring millions by her example.

(3) The UN estimates that 1 billion people will go hungry in 2009 while climate scientists predict this year will be one the five warmest years on record. --- For more on the campaign to grow some organic food at the White House, see: www.eattheview.org and www.thewhofarm.org

Eat The View has created some fun videos to watch including this one that characterizes the history of the White House grounds.



The Garden of Eatin': A Short History of America's Garden from roger doiron on Vimeo.

The Victory Garden 2.0 idea has endorsements from nonprofits and bloggers as well, including: The Backward Future, The Fulbright Academy of Science and Technology, the UK's Wholesome Food Association, ecoyear, The Garden Klog, Kitchen Gardeners International and Tuft's own New Entry Sustainable Farming Project.

Beef mergers

From the Center of Rural Affairs:

The Department of Justice is looking more closely at the anti-competitive impact of JBS S.A.’s acquisition of Smithfield Beef’s Five Rivers Cattle Feeding, according to our investigations and several reports in financial trade publications. JBS announced in March their intention to acquire Smithfield Beef Group and National Beef Packing, purchases that would make JBS both the largest beef packer and cattle feeder in the U.S.

Five Rivers Cattle Feeding, a joint venture between Smithfield Beef and Continental Grain with the capacity to feed over 800,000 head of cattle, would come under the ownership of JBS if the transaction is approved. In conversations with a variety of government agencies looking at the JBS mergers, the ownership of Five Rivers by JBS has been called a “significant area of inquiry.”

Our investigations also lead us to believe that the JBS purchase of National Beef’s Dodge City and Liberal plants in Kansas combined with the JBS Swift plant in Cactus, Texas, as well as the combination of National Beef’s plant in Brawley, California, and Smithfield Beef’s plant in Tolleson, Arizona, are points of concern for the Justice Department.

Thousands of people from across the U.S. have weighed in with the Justice Department in opposition to the JBS - Smithfield Beef - National Beef mergers. We encourage you to keep up the pressure by expressing your opposition to the JBS mergers at
http://www.cfra.org/JBS

Arkansas Rice Farmers sue Riceland Foods

The states rice farmers are claiming that Riceland Foods Inc. experiemented with GMO rice that susquently contaminated the commercial supply. The 4,000 rice farmers, who typically export their rice to the EU, are being denied access to the market.

From Arkansas news article:

Riceland collaborated with Aventis Crop Science, which later became Bayer Crop Science, on the rice, engineered to resist Liberty herbicide.

"Riceland Foods knew that that (European) market would not accept it, and they knew that there was a risk of contamination, but they still engaged in the collaboration," Byrd said, "obviously hoping that there would be customer acceptance by the time it ultimately was found that it was going to be contaminated."

The genetically modified rice somehow got into research plots or foundation seed production fields and increased across the state's rice production belt, said Terry Walker, director of the plant industry division of the state Plant Board.

Riceland Vice President Bill Reed declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying the company had not yet been served papers.

Biotech's Assault on Mexico

My friend Chris sent me this. The biotech industry is a dark and gloomy place. This stuff gives me the hee-bee-gee-bees. This whole globalization this is about power, money and control. The question is, will be wake up in time?

'Control the oil, you control nations, control the food and you control the people.' Henry Kissinger 1970


Killing Farmers with Killer Seed
By JOHN ROSS

As the global food crisis escalates, Big Biotech (Monsanto, Novartis, Syngenta, Dupont-Pioneer, Dow et al) are capitalizing on the desperation of the hungry at runaway prices and rapidly diminishing reserves as a wedge to foist genetically modified (GMO) seeds on a reluctant Third World.

Latin America is a prime marketing target for Big Biotech's little darlings, often tagged "semillas asasinas" or "killer seeds" for their devastating impacts on local food stocks. Now the killer GMOs are suspected of literally provoking murder most foul.

Last October, Armando Villareal, a farm leader in the Mexican border state of Chihuahua, was gunned down after a farmers' meeting in Nuevo Casas Grandes. Villareal had been denouncing the illegal planting of GMO corn in the Mennonite-dominated municipalities of Cuauhtemoc and Naniquipa.

Chihuahua Mennonite communities originally migrated from Canada after a dispute with the Canadian government over education in the 1920s and were granted land by post-revolutionary president Alvaro Obregon. Over the decades, the Mennonites have successfully cultivated up to 60,000 hectares in the northeast of the state. Acutely insular with their signature dress (denim overalls for the men, prairie dresses and calico bonnets for the women) and speaking low-German as befits their European roots, the Mennonites have never integrated into the Mexican mainstream and their success as farmers - they have benefited from Mexican government irrigation projects - has created tensions in a region where aridity limits agricultural production for most farmers.

Hundreds of tractors lined up in a cortege at Villareal's October 15th funeral during which he was compared to another Chihuahua hero, Francisco Villa. Ironically, the slain farmers' leader who claimed to have evidence that the Mennonites' killer seeds had been smuggled in from Kansas, was not opposed to planting GMO corn which his "Aerodynamica" group hoped would save strapped farmers money on pesticides and power costs. His followers had even burnt tractors to demand that the Mexican government grant them permits to plant the transgenic corn.

Eight months later, Armando Villareal's murder remains unresolved.

The Chihuahua farm leader's assassination is not the only death of a militant Latin American campesino being linked to Big Biotech's encroachments. In Parana Brazil about the same time Villareal was gunned down in Chihuahua, Keno Mota, an activist of the Movement of Landless Farmers ("Movimento de Sem Terras" or MST), affiliated with the international poor farmers coalition Via Campesina, was drilled by security guards during an action on an illegal experimental station under cultivation by the Biotech giant Syngenta - the Syngenta plot, adjacent to Iguazu National Park, a protected nature reserve, violated Brazilian strictures as to where such "semillas asasinas" can be planted.

see the rest of the article here

Here is a great interview with Claire Hope Cummings, author of Uncertain Peril: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Seeds

Why are Farmers an Endangered Species?

Guest writer: Andy Sarjahani of Living the Intense Dream

Wouldn’t it be easier to just get our food from the grocery store and not have a care in the world about where it came from, who it came from, or how it was raised? Of course it would! Ignorance is bliss, amen? There is quite a problem though – we are not ignorant. Upton Sinclair ushered in a new concept for Americans. We were rudely awakened from our bliss and thrust into a world of knowing - knowing that perhaps the food industry (or any other industry for that matter) doesn’t necessarily look out for the “consumer”. Yet we were simultaneously empowered to influence what is brought to our plates. We raised a ruckus and the Federal Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 were born.



It has been well documented by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture that our current methods of feeding ourselves are purely unsustainable. We are a society that demands evidence prior to implementation of any change. This is a reasonable request of course. My professional organization’s (American Dietetic Association) “Evidence Analysis Library” was basically established in an effort to provide all practicing Registered Dietitians with a compass for critical decisions in practice. Now it seems as if the evidence for a total paradigm shift in our food systems appears to be sprayed in neon-green across the wall.



The idea of “going local” (meaning purchasing what foods are possible locally) is quite admirable but should we do more? Is it truly enough to simply swing by the Farmer’s Market in the Prius to throw some arugula, heirloom tomatoes, fresh eggs, and maybe a leg of lamb into our cloth bags? This valiant effort may really only be a cortisone shot. Everyone gets to feel warm and fuzzy, then we all head home to our water-saving showerheads, CFL’s, and solar panels. The food will be stowed away in an “Energy Star” eco-fridge and then eaten with bamboo utensils on plates made of recycled glass. We are allowed to have our cake and eat it too - the harmony of a comfortable life and the mental serenity of knowing we “lived green today”. We rave about helping each other out and living in community and so forth, yet none of us has to do the actual work of providing the nourishment.



Well, the people standing behind that booth at the Farmer’s Market aren’t exactly growing younger. The average age of farmers in the United States is 60 and only 1-1.5% (depending on the source) of the United States has chosen the agrarian livelihood. Unless they have magically transported themselves from the world of Tuck Everlasting then that green cake might not be around too much longer. A colleague and young vegetable farmer, Zoe Bradbury, recently wrote a dynamite piece for The Grist that addresses this issue from a different angle - oil.



Why is it then that no one wants to live the glorious agrarian life and “return to the land”? Wasn’t the revolution ignited by the idealistic hippies of the 1960’s supposed to catapult us back into this harmonious agrarian life? Having interviewed those who lived and breathed the communal lifestyle, things didn’t work out so swell for a variety of reasons. Who really wanted to milk the goats or make yogurt or weed the garden or can the beets when there was F-U-N to be had? Sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll seemed to edge out self-sufficiency and never relinquished its edge.



In a sense, the situation has not truly changed. We prefer our cush “8-5’s”, weekends, sick leave, vacation, health insurance, and general predictability. None of that really exists when one “goes back to the land”. Perhaps this is why no one wants to farm any more. When one dares to sustainably farm on a small-scale (be it livestock or vegetable), they invite an entire platter of unpredictability into his or her life. Predators (owls and coyotes), pests/insects, weather (consider the current flooding in Iowa and Wisconsin), equipment breakdown/damage (a freezer breakdown with meat in it may wipe out one fourth of a farmer’s expected profit for a year), the market (who will pay for the pricey goods on a consistent basis?), and all other “X” Factors. An example of an “X” factor would read as follows: a torrential downpour comes and you are repairing the sheep fencing on your farthest pasture but before you can get to your baby chicks (several acres away) to put them back into the brooder house to keep warm, 10 of them have been suffocated to death as they were clamoring to find warm space. That’s an approximate loss of $43.06 (assuming current feed and energy prices) and a whole heap of guilt for not fulfilling your duty as part of your role in animal husbandry . Throw in the current array of farm policy that basically says to my generation, “Go big (i.e. corporate) or go home” and you have the ideal formula for extinguishing the small-scale, sustainable American farmer.



Small-scale, sustainable farming needs our help and this means going far beyond buying local. We all play important roles, however big or small, in this movement. We do need a massive influx of young and energetic people into the world of small-scale, sustainable farming but that most certainly does not exclude everyone one else from participating in other vital roles. It is absolutely essential to push boundaries in public policy right now that lure young Americans into the unpredictable, yet fulfilling agrarian life of a small-scale producer of food. The allurement of a self-sufficient, unpredictable lifestyle only sounds like an oxymoron until you experience it for yourself. Where are the gentle (or even forceful) nudges that say to young Americans, “Come make a living growing good, clean, and healthy food for your fellow man while saving the planet and being self-sufficient!” Unless these nudges (from government, the media, and the general public) are imminent, then we’ll be driving our hybrids to the local “big box” to procure a delectable selection of produce and meats shipped from somewhere and grown somehow by somebody.

Urban Roots

A friend asked me to post this to the listserve:

Urban Roots is a youth development program that uses sustainable agriculture as means to effect lasting change for youth participants, and to nourish East Austin residents who currently have limited access to healthy foods.

I had the pleasure of meeting some of the kids involved in this program at the Farmers Market in Austin last night. The kids are so excited about this project and proud of their new found skills.

I thanked greatly them because they have partnered with Meals on Wheels and More and have been able to provide our clients with fresh onions and lettuce from their harvest this year. An amazing community partnership I thought you would appreciate. The video is done by Alanna Jones a Journalism Graduate Student at the University of Texas at Austin alannajones.aj@gmail.com.

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqcjXnfUTPs
About the program:
http://www.youthlaunch.org/programs/seeds.php
Another approach:
http://www.edibleaustin.com/content/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=135&Itemid=131

Praise the Lord!

Thanks to my good friend Chris McCullem for sending me this. Now that's the Christian way!

Pope urges countries to combat causes of hunger, malnutrition

More than 250 faith-based organizations called on summit leaders to eliminate the root causes of hunger such as poverty and unjust social structures. In a statement released to journalists, the faith-based coalition, which includes dozens of Catholic religious orders and nonprofit organizations, echoed the concern the pope expressed in his message for the protection of small farmers. Family farms play a key role in building food self-sufficiency for local communities, the statement said. It also called for more simple, sustainable lifestyles in wealthy countries, cautioned against genetically modified foods and urged further review of biofuel production. [...]

Catholic News Service, by Carol Glatz, 06.03.2008


http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0802959.htm