Food, Farming, and Friends

Are you a farmer? A community gardener? A food entrepreneur or activist? Do you just love delicious, local, Mid-South food?

If you answered "yes!" to any of those questions, then join GrowMemphis on Monday, February 6th at the Farm to Table Conference for Mid-South Producers at the Memphis Bioworks Foundation. It will be a day of friendly and meaningful discussion on our local food system, followed by a screening of the film, Cafeteria Man, and a Q&A with the star himself, Toni Geraci. There will also be ample opportunity to build new partnerships in our local food system and to catch up with old ones at the networking lunch, which will be provided by local farmers and the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Garden.

The movement to build a better food system in and around Memphis has made great strides over the past few years and we have the ability to keep the momentum going, and to increase it! The Farm to Table Conference presents an excellent opportunity to do just that. No one who is serious about improving our local food system should miss it!

Buy tickets at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/216675

The breakout session topics will include "Community Supported Agriculture 101," "Growing Vegetables in the Mid-South," "Farmer and Chef Perspectives on Selling to Restaurants," "Farm to School," and many more. See the full schedule on our facebook page.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Rick Santorum Solves Hunger! (Well, not really)

America’s hunger crisis has been solved, and from the most unexpected of sources! Just this past Tuesday Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum informed us that hunger is no longer an issue for our nation. With a bit of deft logical reasoning, Santorum concluded that hunger is not a problem, and therefore food stamps are superfluous, because so many Americans are obese. Furthermore, Santorum told us that this clearly justifies his plans to eliminate the food stamp, or SNAP, program.

That’s right, folks, Santorum has reasoned hunger away and found a way to save some money without taxing the rich! Why didn’t anyone else realize it could be that easy?

Well, for starters, because it isn’t.

With that one statement, Santorum demonstrated his complete misunderstanding of poverty and hunger. It’s simply a well established fact that the same population can suffer from obesity and hunger simultaneously. Memphis, unfortunately, is a good example of this phenomenon. As we’ve stated before on this blog, Memphis tops the nation in hunger and obesity. This seems paradoxical at first, but it’s actually not that complicated.

When Americans join the SNAP program, this means that they do not have the income necessary to feed themselves and their families. There is no shame in that. We believe (or at least many of us do) that not a single American should starve. Therefore, SNAP is meant to fill the gaps in household income so that every family can feed itself.

Unfortunately, hunger in American is not as simple as not having enough to eat. Many of our poorest and hungriest citizens live in food desserts, which are areas with minimal to no access to fresh food. In food deserts, corner stores are often the only locations where food stamps can be used, and their fare is often less than nutritious.

So, in one way, SNAP is a very good thing. It keeps Americans from starving. In fact, the number of Americans participating in SNAP has increased by approximately 20 million since 2007! Without a doubt, SNAP has saved lives.

But the program is also hindered by malfunctions in our food system, the prevalence of food desserts being only one of these. Therefore, we don't need to eliminate SNAP, we need to ensure that those who use food stamps have access to fresh and healthy food.

So, Rick Santorum should keep his well-fed mouth closed next time he thinks he’s reasoned hunger away. He just lost the support of the over 44 million Americans on SNAP, as well as all those who believe that America can, and should, eliminate hunger through real change – not sophistry.

Child Labor on America's Farms

Farming has always been one of those stereotypical family businesses in the American imagination. Although today family farms are disappearing at a disheartening rate, especially in Tennessee, many do still operate. In fact, many of the vendors at our area farmers markets work small family farms. These farms, and those like them, involve the work of the whole family, often including children.

This means that a careful regulatory balance must be struck, which ensures the safety of these young people without unduly inhibiting the operation and viability of family farms. The Department of Labor, which establishes such regulation, has recently proposed revisions to the federal agricultural child labor provisions. The Department feels that the current provisions are too lax, and has proposed stricter regulations which, among other things, would prohibit children under the age of 16 from operating most farm machinery, handling pesticides, and working with many types of livestock.

Of course, it is essential that the safety of child laborers be ensured. That being said, it is not clear that the proposed regulations are as wise as they first seem. The Department of Labor has long had an understanding with family farmers that the work of children on farms is a necessary part of the business. For one thing, the experience and practical knowledge required to run a farm can only be acquired on a farm. Because of this, the new regulations do not alter the current full exemption for children working on farms owned by their parents.

Nevertheless, many family farms today are incorporated and it is unclear exactly how the exemption would apply for them. Farmers across the country are therefore nervous that the proposed regulations could eliminate their most effective method of passing on the family business to their children.

But let’s take a step back from the issue for a moment. There is reason that the family farm is a disappearing phenomenon - for one thing, it is often unaffordable!

Federal regulations and policies often cater to large agribusiness ventures at the expense of small farmers. As such, many small farmers maintain their businesses tenuously and see children as an inexpressive source of seasonal labor. To put it bluntly, it is doubtful that parents would expose their children and the children of friends and relatives to possibly dangerous farm work if they did not feel that the money saved made the difference between keeping or losing the farm.

Now, does this excuse those farmers who expose child laborers to unnecessary risk? Certainly not, but it does demonstrate that the proposed regulations would be treating a symptom of the problem, rather than the problem itself. Just like the employment of tens of thousands of illegal aliens on our nation’s farms, child agricultural labor is an effect of our devotion to cheap food, which increasingly makes factory farming appear to be the only financially viable agricultural method.

Now, to return to the proposed regulations, is it the case that they will protect some children from injury or death? Probably, but the financial strain that leads small farmers to use child labor in the first place means that many may continue to employ children, even illegally. The real need, then, is not for stricter regulations but for policy that makes family farming profitable and child labor unnecessary.

Only on the surface is the question one of irresponsible farming versus responsible farming. In reality, it is far more a question of cheap food against the safety of children. Thankfully, this is an easy choice to make.

A Food Revolution in Memphis City Schools?

If you haven’t heard already, there have been some big changes in Memphis City Schools Nutrition Services. They’ve hired a new director of nutrition services named Tony Geraci, who has already proposed a number of promising changes to what our school children eat and where it comes from. In fact, Geraci is calling for nothing less than a “farm-to-fork” revolution in city schools, which, if successful, will have students across Memphis eating healthier food that is locally grown in a garden devoted specifically to that purpose.

Mr. Geraci joins us from Baltimore, where he held a similar position, and promised similar transformations. As the Commercial Appeal has already explained, (http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/oct/20/farm-to-fork/) Geraci turned 33 acres of abandoned city property in Baltimore into an organic “Great Kids Farm.” Here in Memphis, Geraci is on the same path, enlisting the support of local philanthropists and corporations to locate and purchase an even larger plot of land. In addition, Geraci has already started programs to bring federally-subsidized breakfasts and dinners to MCS. If all of this works according to plan, moreover, it is likely to inject a significant amount of money into our local economy, since MCS would be purchasing a significant portion of its food locally, rather than from more distant distributors.

But before we get too carried away, we should ask ourselves why Mr. Geraci left Baltimore. The Commercial Appeal writes that Geraci left Baltimore with “impatience,” and quotes him as saying: “I brought that program as far as I could.” In fact, a little research into the matter reveals that Geraci left Baltimore having accomplished a few of his goals, but with most of them unfulfilled or only partially complete. There appear to be a number of reasons for this.

To begin with, articles written around the time of Mr. Geraci’s departure from Baltimore in the summer of 2010 suggest that he was unable to secure the amount of funding and policy support that he needed from the city. As Geraci stated in one article, “I was told I'd have the support of the school system for my ideas, but it hasn't happened”(http://www.urbanitebaltimore.com/baltimore/hard-to-swallow/Content?oid=1266356). Furthermore, it seems that even when Geraci was able to implement his initiatives, they were not always approved of by students and parents. For example, Geraci apparently received angry phone calls every “meatless Monday” from parents who disagreed with the idea.

What stands out the most from these articles, however, is that Geraci was never able to secure the funding to create a central kitchen for Baltimore city schools, which he saw as integral to his food revolution. In this respect Memphis has an advantage over Baltimore, as our city spent $22 million to build a central kitchen for MCS in 2003.

So, what are we to make of all this? More than likely, Mr. Geraci is a man who fully intends to carry out the vision that he has proposed. Because of this vision and his enthusiasm, Geraci has been featured in two documentaries, The Cafeteria Man and Angry Moms, honored by FoodService Director magazine, and presented with an award by the governor of Maryland, so there is good reason to believe that he is a true man of purpose. Nevertheless, Mr. Geraci will experience the same frustration here as he did in Baltimore if the city does not rally behind him. What Mr. Geraci said in Baltimore, then, remains just as pertinent in Memphis: “The reality is the citizens of this town need to stand up and say that they need these ideas to happen.”

Let’s do just that.

Harvard Law releases comprehensive review of Memphis Food Ordinances

A new report from the Health Law and Policy Clinic of Harvard Law School recommends that Memphis’s food code be largely eliminated. 

The report comes at the end of a comprehensive review of the Memphis city ordinances pertaining to food businesses from grocery stores and restaurants to produce trucks and farmers markets.  The report represents a collaborative effort between the Harvard Law School Health Law and Policy Clinic, the Shelby County Health Department, and the Food Advisory Working Group for Memphis and Shelby County. 

“Though they served Memphis well when first passed, with the current system of state food safety regulations, major portions of the Memphis ordinances are now unnecessary,” says Emily Broad Leib, Senior Clinical Fellow at Harvard’s Health Law and Policy Clinic. “Moreover, some of these outdated or duplicative portions of the Memphis Food Code may lead to wasted resources, reduced access to healthful foods, and stifling of economic activity among food industry entrepreneurs.”

Although Harvard Law found the current code to be largely unnecessary, the code has in no way impacted the ability of the Shelby County Health Department to protect public health and safety.  Because local health departments contract with the state to conduct many inspections, the Shelby County Health Department has continued to inspect to the high standards of the Tennessee food code, even with outdated local ordinances.   

The connection between Harvard Law and the Shelby County Health Department was made when Josephine Alexander, program coordinator for GrowMemphis, was working with a group of community members starting a farmers market in Midtown, now the Cooper-Young Community Farmers Market.  Once she started looking at the ordinances related to food establishments, including farmers markets, it was clear that there was significant overlap and even contradiction with state law.

Concerned that inconsistencies between state and local laws might be a barrier to new businesses and community food initiatives, the Food Advisory Working Group wanted to get a better understanding of the local laws.  It quickly became apparent that reviewing the entire food code was a monumental task.

Enter the Food Policy Initiative of the Health Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard Law School. The Food Policy Initiative was established in 2010 in order to link Harvard Law students with opportunities to provide pro bono legal assistance to individuals and communities on various food policy issues.  They were interested in taking on the Memphis food code project, “We just got lucky,” says Alexander, “we knew someone who had worked with this project in Mississippi and were able to make a connection.”

Alexander also knew from the beginning that the success of the project hinged on the full participation of the Shelby County Health Department. “Sure, we can read the laws,” says Alexander, “but the Health Department really knows how regulations are actually playing out on the ground, for example, which ordinances have not been enforced because they are outdated or inconsistent with state law.”

Fortunately, the Health Department was equally eager to engage the law students.  “We’ve been wanting to update the food code for years,” said Phyllis Moss-McNeill, Manager of Environmental Sanitation Services at Shelby County Health Department, but a comprehensive study like the one conducted by Harvard Law would have taken a huge amount of resources. 

Starting in September 2010, Harvard law students talked and met with Shelby County Health Department staff, as well as numerous restaurateurs, farmers, small processors, farmers market managers, and other food entrepreneurs.  

The 175-page report, titled “Creating a More Efficient and Effective Food Safety System in Memphis and Shelby County,” represents the work of 21 law students over the course of ten months.  The report discusses problems with the current food code and presents a comparative analysis with sixteen other cities.  The bulk of the report is a provision-by-provision analysis that discusses each individual ordinance.  

The full report is available online at: http://deltadirections.org/programs_initiatives/initiative.php?id=45

About the Food Advisory Working Group

GrowMemphis, a local non-profit devoted to turning vacant lots into thriving community gardens, received a grant in 2010 from the Healthy Eating, Active Living (HEAL) Initiative of the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis for the purpose of developing a Food Advisory Council for Memphis and Shelby County.  Since spring of 2010, a Working Group has convened to research food advisory councils across the country, outline the plan for such a council, and advance policy initiatives. The Memphis and Shelby County Food Advisory Council Working Group is a collection of individuals and agencies interested in using public policy as a vehicle to ensure that all Memphis and Shelby County residents have adequate healthy food available, and to promote the development of sustainable local food in our community.

For more information see http://www.memphisfoodpolicy.blogspot.com

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How to fix the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program in Shelby County, Tennessee

If you need some back story on the Senior FMNP or how how it has played out this summer in Shelby County, let me direct you to several recent bits in the local media:

Food Fight: turmoil at the Memphis Farmers Market exposes flaws in Tennessee's food-voucher system, Cover story in the Memphis Flyer

Josephine Alexander: Making the senior farmers market voucher program work, Commercial Appeal Going Green blog post

Wendi Thomas: Farmers market has ugly underside

Ready for some solutions?  Here are the concrete recommendations of GrowMemphis and the Food Advisory Council for Memphis and Shelby County:

Recommendations to improve the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program in Shelby County and the State of Tennessee.

The Problem:  There are insufficient retail outlets in Shelby County to serve senior citizens participating in the Senior FMNP.  The result is that many seniors must go through considerable difficulty to use their vouchers.   

Recommendations to the Tennessee Department of Health

Under the federal legislation, states have considerable leeway in how the Senior FMNP is administered.   Key changes in the way the program is run in Tennessee would both increase the number of eligible farmers, and make it easier for those farmers to participate in the program. 

1.     Allow farmers from adjoining states to participate.  For example, allow out-of-state farmers within 100 miles of Shelby County to be eligible.

2.     Make it easier for farmers to get trained by allowing for multi-year contracts with farmers and remote training, for example by webinar or video conferencing.

3.     Provide clear explanation of the criteria an applicant must meet in order to be considered a “farmer”, and work with farmers markets, which often visit farms on an annual basis, to conduct farm inspections.

4.     Work with advocates to explore certifying farmers markets in addition to individual farmers.

5.     Work with advocates to explore other barriers to farmer participation, such as financial losses from unpaid SFMNP checks.

Recommendations to the Shelby County Health Department

Work with farmers markets to conduct outreach for the Senior FMNP including, but not limited to, the following strategies:

1.     Schedule farmer training earlier in the season and hold the training at an easily accessible location such as the Agricenter

2.     Notify farmers markets of the training with sufficient time for markets to conduct outreach to the farmers that attend those markets

3.     Invite farmers market staff to attend trainings.  Seniors and farmers often have questions that market personnel are ill-equipped to answer

4.     Provide phone numbers for the Health Department in information distributed to senior citizens

Have an initial meeting with farmers markets and advocates by December 2011 to develop a time-lined outreach plan for 2012.   

New program doubles value of food stamps at farmers markets in Memphis

Memphis, Tenn. – August 1, 2011 – GrowMemphis announced today the start of a new program to give shoppers using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, formerly known as Food Stamps, more purchasing power at two Memphis farmers markets. The new program, called Double Green$, will provide a dollar-for-dollar match up to $10 when shoppers spend their SNAP benefits at participating farmers markets.

Earlier this year, the Cooper-Young Community Farmers Market, South Memphis Farmers Market, and Urban Farms Market became the first farmers markets in Memphis, and among the first in Tennessee, to accept SNAP benefits market-wide. Now, the Double Green$ program will go even further toward increasing access to fresh, healthy, and affordable foods, especially in the food desert areas surrounding or nearby these markets, by making locally grown fruits and vegetables more affordable.   

Both the Cooper-Young and South Memphis farmers markets are participating in Double Green$.  The Urban Farms market is waiting for a determination of their eligibility.  All three markets currently accept food stamps.

“We’ve been slowly ramping up this program with our SNAP customers for the past few weeks, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive from vendors and shoppers alike,” said Sue Easley, organizer of the Cooper-Young Community Farmers Market. “It’s been a great experience working with GrowMemphis and our other local farmers markets as a team to bring something to Memphis that has the potential to really help our low-income residents, our farmers, our neighborhoods, and our rural communities, all in one swoop.” 

How does it work?  Shoppers can go to the market booth and swipe their EBT card, receiving tokens that can be spent with vendors.  Double Green$ will match, dollar-for-dollar and up to $10, the amount that they put on their EBT card with tokens that can be used to buy fresh fruits and vegetables.  

“Double Green$ gets more people to the markets, increases revenue for farmers, and increases access to healthy foods for low-income residents” says Josephine Alexander of GrowMemphis, “We know that food stamps make Tennessee stronger.  Now, food stamps can make farmers markets stronger, too.”

By increasing attendance and sales at farmers markets in areas with limited access to healthy food, those markets become stronger and more successful, so that they can continue to serve neighborhood residents with much needed access to healthy and affordable food choices. 

In order to bring this program to Memphis, GrowMemphis partnered with Wholesome Wave, a Connecticut-based non-profit working with partners in 26 states to implement  double value coupon programs like Double Green$ that benefit consumers in under-served communities and the farmers who provide for them.

The program is expected to run through the end of October.  Funds for Double Green$ have been provided by the Wholesome Wave Foundation, Whole Foods Market, the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis, and Seedco.

About GrowMemphis

GrowMemphis is a non-profit organization that fosters the creation of robust community food systems that eliminate hunger, promote health, and further social justice.  GrowMemphis provides support and assistance for over 25 community gardening projects in Memphis as well as convening the Food Advisory Council working group to inform public policy in order to create a healthier food system for our region.  For more information please contact Josephine Alexander, josephine@midsouthpeace.org or 901-725-4990.

About Wholesome Wave

Wholesome Wave is a nonprofit, 501(c)3 organization dedicated to supporting small- and mid-sized farmers and making fresh, healthy, locally grown fruits and vegetables available to all people, regardless of income.  With the help of more than 45 partner organizations, Wholesome Wave has expanded to more than 170 markets in 26 states, Wholesome Wave's highly successful Double Value Coupon Program gives participating farmers markets the tools they need to welcome SNAP benefits (formerly known as Federal Food Stamps)—as well as the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), Farmers Market Nutrition Programs (FMNP) and the Senior FMN—and allows recipients of those benefits to buy more fresh, healthy foods for their families. With the goal of influencing public policy and shifting federal funding to support innovative, market-based programs that meet its goals, Wholesome Wave develops and implements systems and processes that track program success and the health and purchasing habits of the people it serves. For more information, visit www.wholesomewave.org.