The Brooklyn Food Conference is being held on May 2 at John Jay College in Park Slope. Created by the Brooklyn Food Coalition, over 500 people have already registered for the conference and thousands are expected. There is a fundraiser dinner featuring local/sustainable foods that is almost sold out.
Over 60 workshops are planned from everything from growing food in your backyard, to getting healthy food to underserved communities, to the obesity and diabetes epidemics, to organizing food workers, to global issues around food. Food demos, including Teen Iron Chef, a bookstore, child care (at the John Jay HS site only), are all free. Lunch, dinner and a cocktail party to celebrate our accomplishments together are priced low (to cover costs).
Over 150 community organizations are partners for this huge event and we are expecting over 2000 people to attend from all the neighborhoods of Brooklyn.
Over 10 elected officials have confirmed their attendance and experts will be on hand to tell us about accessing the Stimulus Package funds for food-related businesses and community projects.
As a bit of personal inspiration, I thought it would be fitting to start the new CSA season off with a remarkable video by Mark Bittman at this year’s TED conference.
“In this fiery and funny talk, New York Times food writer Mark Bittman weighs in on what’s wrong with the way we eat now (too much meat, too few plants; too much fast food, too little home cooking), and why it’s putting the entire planet at risk.”
I am a huge fan of his blog and am hoping to rely on many of his recipes to tackle that weekly box of vegetables.
The second annual Food For Thought Film Festival is coming up in April. This year’s program will include three feature films: King Corn, Life and Debt, and Black Gold. There will also be a screening of the trailer for Asparagus: Stalking the American Life, an excerpt from Birdsong and Coffee, and other short films.
The free screenings will be followed by discussions exploring issues regarding our current food systems, including modern food production, distribution and consumption, and their effects on our health, the environment, human rights, and local and global economies. Several local and national organizations working towards sustainable, clean, healthy food and fair access will also be attending the event, and will be available to provide information and support to community members who are interested in taking immediate action.
Senate Prepares to Rubber Stamp “Business as Usual” Farm Bill
The Senate Agriculture Committee approved its draft of the $300 billion 2007-2012 Farm Bill last week. The 1300-page bill, now headed to the main Senate floor, includes, as usual, billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies for chemical and energy Âintensive crops, factory farms, and junk food purveyors, while “nickle and dime-ing” organic agriculture, conservation, nutrition, and alternative energy programs. Let your Senators know you want to eliminate all taxpayer subsidies, other than those designed to make our food and farming system healthier and more sustainable, and specifically you want a “Fair Share” for organics commensurate with our current 3% market share. Besides billions in corporate subsidies, this version of the Farm Bill includes implementation of the controversial National Animal Identification System (NAIS). NAIS would require that all farmers, even those with just one cow, horse, or chicken, to implant their animals with an electronic tracking device and permanently report their movements to the USDA. This expensive Big Brother procedure, which lobbyists crafted so as to exempt factory farms, could put many small family farms out of business. Please contact your Senators to cut corporate subsidies, eliminate NAIS, and support increases in funding in the Farm Bill for for conservation, organic agriculture, healthy food and beginning farmer programs. Click here to take action.
On Monday September 10th, WHY (World Hunger Year) and The New School invite you to a free evening discussion on global food justice featuring prominent farm leaders from Latin America, the US and Canada. They will discuss the movement for food sovereignty, their struggles for land reform and fair trade, and how to build solidarity and action across borders. The discussion will be held from 5:00pm-7:00pm at The New School’s Theresa Lang Community and Student Center (55 West 13th Street). For more information or to register for the event click here.
