yikes! ‘human pet food’ scandal in brazil

credit: User Carioca/wikimedia commons

The Guardian wrote an article recently about the ‘human pet food’ scandal that is currently unfolding in Brazil.

“Prosecutors in Brazil’s biggest city have opened an inquiry into a controversial plan to feed poorer citizens and schoolchildren with a flour made out of food close to its sell-by date that critics have described as “human pet food”.

The food product (if you can truly even call it that) is call farinata (flour in Portuguese) and is suggested as a way to feed the poor at no cost to the government. The primary concern in this case is the nutritional content of what the government is planning on feeding to people. João Doria a multimillionaire businessman who is touted as a possible candidate for next year’s presidential elections has described farinata as “solidarity food” and said it was “made to combat hunger and also supplement people’s alimentation”.

“Poverty, homelessness and unemployment have risen in recent years as Brazil struggled with a debilitating recession. But nutritionists attacked the plan, arguing that nobody knows exactly what farinata is made of – nor even whether it is safe.

“It is not food, it is an ultra-processed product,” said Marly Cardoso, a professor of public health and nutrition at the Federal University of São Paulo. “You don’t know what is in it.”

To read the full article click HERE.

celebrate with farmworkers in vermont

migrantjustice.net

As part of Food Week of Action, today we are celebrating with farmworkers in vermont and as we recognise the huge milestone that was reached in the food and farming world earlier this month.

On Tuesday October 3, farmworker leaders from Migrant Justice and the CEO of Ben & Jerry’s jointly signed the Milk with Dignity agreement.  The legally-binding contract establishes Ben & Jerry’s as the first company in the dairy industry to implement the worker-driven human rights program.  This momentous occasion marks the beginning of a new day for dairy, one that provides economic relief and support to struggling farm owners, in the form of a premium paid by Ben & Jerry’s, while ensuring dignity and respect for farmworkers.

Migrant Justice spokesperson Enrique “Kike” Balcazar spoke to those assembled before he signed the agreement himself to mark the historic moment:

“This is an historic moment for dairy workers.  We have worked tirelessly to get here, and now we move forward towards a new day for the industry.  We appreciate Ben & Jerry’s leadership role and look forward to working together to implement a program that ensures dignified housing and fair working conditions on dairy farms across the region. And though this is the first, it won’t be the last agreement of its kind.”

Read the full article by migrant justice HERE.

SAFN award deadlines extended until july 28th 2017

credit: SAFN

The Society for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition has just announced that the deadlines for both the Christine Wilson Award and the Thomas Marchione Award have been extended until July 28th. Eligible candidates do not need to be either an anthropologist or a member of SAFN to apply.

The Thomas Marchione award is presented to MA, MS or PhD students who are and continue to be actively engaged in food security and food sovereignty issues in a way that builds on Dr. Marchione’s work towards food justice, access and food as a human right. The ideal candidate will be working towards “the best and more sustainable approaches to fulfil the right to food”.

Outstanding undergraduate or graduate research papers  in the field of nutrition, food studies or anthropology are contenders for the Wilson award.

For more information about the Marchione award and the application process click HERE

For more information about the Wilson award and the application process and requirements click HERE

let’s get everyone to the table

Just Roots is an incredible, beloved farm and non-profit in my own community. They provide low-income CSA shares, community garden plots, a communal medical garden, and low-cost accessible workshops at their farm. They are fundraising today to offset the cost of providing shares on a sliding scale and to expand their programming! If you have a penny to spare, this is a great jar to throw it in!

food system fellowship in virginia

Growing Food, Building Community

AMI Fellowship Program: 2017 Applications Available

Allegheny Mountain Institute (AMI) is seeking inspiring individuals to participate in the sixth cohort of our AMI Fellowship program. The 18-month Fellowship prepares and empowers individuals to become teachers and ambassadors for a more vibrant and accessible local food system.  The Fellowship is a program of AMI, an educational non-profit organization with the mission to cultivate healthy communities through food and education.

Phase I (April 30-November 1, 2017)

In the first phase of the program, Fellows connect with the food system as they live, work and study on the mountain farm campus in rural Highland County, Virginia.  Fellows gain a full season of experience in sustainable growing methods, small animal husbandry, and rotational livestock grazing on a diversified farm.  In addition, Fellows study topics such as permaculture design, whole foods preparation and preservation, wellness and nutrition, land stewardship, leadership, and community development through hands-on experience on the farm, expert guest instructors, field trips and daily educational sessions.  Upon successful completion of their Phase I training, AMI Fellows receive a $1,000 stipend.

Phase II (January 1- December 31, 2018)

AMI Fellows apply their Phase I training as they work on community projects focused on building healthy communities through food and education. Working with AMI and other Partner Organizations, Senior Fellows build organizational capacity and launch new programs such as: building community gardens, developing school gardens and site-based curriculum, advocating for sustainable land use, and teaching nutrition and cooking for a healthy lifestyle.  Supported by the AMI network, Senior Fellows continue to meet regularly for leadership and professional development. Fellows receive a monthly stipend of $1,500 (subject to payroll taxes) and a Permaculture Design Certificate upon successful completion of the year.

Applicants must be physically fit, able to lift 50 pounds, walk distances up and down steep hills, work outdoors for extended periods of the day, and be comfortable living and working communally as a team in a remote, mountain setting.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis (Deadline: February 19) and are available at: www.alleghenymountaininstitute.org

For more information and questions, please visit www.alleghenymountaininstitute.org, the Allegheny Mountain Institute Facebook page or email us at info@alleghenymountainschool.org.

 

get active in SF: people’s harvest forum

If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area and food justice, food sovereignty, and veganism are your bag, check out the People’s Harvest Forum. Tickets are still available to this four-day event in San Francisco’s Mission District starting this Friday, December 9th. The conference is organized by Seed the Commons and includes a diverse group of speakers, journalists, and grassroots activists with a focus on enacting change through the political process.

Topics this year will include the impacts of corporate control of our food systems; food sovereignty and agroecology; land reform and urban agriculture; building food justice and health equity through local, state and national policy advocacy; improving foodscapes without contributing to gentrification; growing the veganic movement, and more!

What: People’s Harvest Forum

When: Friday, Dec. 9th through Monday, Dec. 12th, 2016

Where: Mission Neighborhood Center, San Francisco, CA

Learn more and buy tickets HERE

what kind of farming will we have in the next century??

Seriously, we really want to know, and so do these film makers. Specifically, they’re focussing on the chicken industry, asking, if chicken is America’s favorite meat, generating more than $30 billion a year in revenue, but who benefits from this multi-billion dollar industry?

Spoiler alert! It’s not the farmers. This is a story that we hadn’t heard yet of the greed of large industrial ag companies, and it’s absolutely repulsive.

nytimes photo essay gives mind-blowing bird-eye view of industrial ag

Photgraph by George Steinmetz of the New York Times

We can’t more strongly encourage you to view and share George Steinmetz’s New York Times Magazine‘s piece “Super Size: the Dizzying Grandeur of 21st Century Agriculture.” It, in no small way, puts things in perspective.

early bird registration to tackle “wicked problems”

Earlybird registration for NESAWG’s 2016 It Takes a Region Conference is now open. The Conference, now in its 23rd year, brings together practitioners and professionals from across the Northeast to explore ideas that move us towards a more sustainable and just farm and food system. This year’s conference theme is Tackling Wicked Problems in Food Systems. To learn more, visit http://bit.ly/NESAWG16.

NESAWG’s annual It Takes a Region Conference brings together farm and food systems practitioners across the 12-state Northeast region to learn, debate, collaborate, and innovate solutions to critical food systems issues. Each year, we look at the trajectory of the food and farm movement and the role our network can play in shaping its future. We offer in-depth working sessions that tackle important questions about our regional food system and how to strengthen it, drawing from the collective expertise and wisdom of conference attendees.

hawaiins fight in court to preserve GMO ban

In case you missed it, two weeks ago, our friends and allies at the Hawai’i Center for Food Safety took five cases through the 9th circuit appeals court focusing on the rights of local communities to regulate and legislate genetically engineered seed crops and pesticide use. The video embedded below has the live recording of court proceedings. Scroll to 1:40:00 to see CFS lawyer Andy Kimbrell in action in court. See fellow CFS lawyer Sylvia Wu speak about the impacts of these cases here.

march for farmworker justice continues

Read our blog post from yesterday for more info! Today the walkers are walking from Garrison to Wappingers Falls.

new york farm workers rally and walk for bargaining rights and decent working conditions

Enter a caption ruralmigrantministry.org

Walking the 200 miles from Long Island to Albany, protesters stopped at City Hall in New York City last Saturday chanting si se puede. According to Democracy Now!, the protesters are walking in support of the Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act (more about this from the ACLU), asking that farm workers have the right to collective bargaining, an optional day off every week, and overtime pay– rights people in virtually every other industry in the US take for granted. The walkers are led by Rural and Migrant Minstry, a NY-based nonprofit that supports rural and migrant communities in the state.

“I would like to say, each time you are eating, or each time you have something in your hands that you are going to eat, remember us, who do not have the rights that other workers have. And if you can, support us. We are going to be marching for another week and a few days. If you see us, it would be good if you support us by walking with us, maybe a couple of hours, one hour, for a day if you can. That would be very good.”

–Heriberto Gonzalez, former farm worker, and fellow at Rural & Migrant Ministry

Greenhorns! Let us join them where we can! They will be marching until May 31 and you can find their schedule, route, and updates here.

WA farmworkers walk a thousand miles in footsteps of cesar chavez

On March 17th Washington-state-based independent farm worker union, the Familias Unidas por la Justicia (FUJ), began a 28-day tour from Bellingham, WA to the US-Mexico border to galvanize a boycott of Driscoll berries to be undertaken in solidarity with their contract negotiations with their employer and Driscoll-supplier Sakuma Berry.

So far, they have:

• walked 1,090 miles
• visited 13 different cities
• gotten 13 new boycott committees to join the international boycott of Driscoll’s berries

The boycott will continue until union contracts are signed for both Familias Unidas por la Justica and El Sindicato, the independent farmworker union from San Quintin Mexico that went on strike and endorsed the boycott last March. For more updates on the tour, visit FUJ’s Facebook page.

Greenhorns, we’re all in this together. Keep boycotting Driscoll’s, its subsidiaries, and the brands that use its berries. (See this info graphic.)

such fun, these scots!

“How do you sow the seeds of a better food system?”

kale, racial justice, and reclaiming our collective right to the earth

 

A beautiful walk around Soul Fire Farm with the thoughtful, insightful, and fiercely passionate Leah Penniman. This film was produced by The Next System Project and the Laura Flanders Show, as part of their series on gender, race, and the next system.

I’d write more about the farm, but my paraphrasing would never be as powerful as their own words: “Soul Fire Farm is committed to ending racism and injustice in the food system. We raise life-giving food and act in solidarity with people marginalized by food apartheid. With deep reverence for the land and wisdom of our ancestors, we work to reclaim our collective right to belong to the earth and to have agency in the food system. We bring diverse communities together on this healing land to share skills on sustainable agriculture, natural building, spiritual activism, health and environmental justice. We are training the next generation of activist-farmers and strengthening the movements for food sovereignty and community self-determination.”