Food and Foreign Policy

As I pulled several wilted tomato plants from my sorry, soaked vegetable garden this weekend, I listened to a news report about how global warming and attendant change in weather patterns are expected to lead to famine and massive population movements.

I read two items today that remind me once again how food and foreign policy are so  profoundly linked.

One is a Washington Post story on how Michelle Obama’s celebrity in Russia is to a large degree  focused on her creating and tending an organic garden at the White House.

The other is a sentence in the May/June issue of Foreign Affairs:

“Families in the poorest parts of Africa and Asia spend up to 80 percent of their incomes on food; for the average U.S. household, that would mean an annual grocery bill of $40,000.”

How would life be different if 80 percent of earnings had to go to food? I really can’t imagine it.

In 2008, Americans on average spent 9.6 percent of income after taxes for food. But I don’t believe that really cheap food is the answer to food shortages. Food that is American-cheap and processed has given us soaring obesity and diabetes, and diminishing fertility of farmland. I’m sure it will cost more to support  food grown locally in a sustainable way. We should no more be the food provider to the world than we should be the policemen to the world. Both concepts are unsustainable.

Safeway Touts “Buy Local”

Safeway — the huge, California-based supermarket chain — is marketing “buy local” at Safeway as a way to help California’s troubled economy.

Of course it is easier in California than in any other state for supermarkets to find local (within state) suppliers.  And the buying power of Safeway will undoubtedly undercut and stress some California organic farmers and their farmers markets.  Nonetheless, isn’t the greater good done by a marketing campaign that says says local agriculture is the way to go?

There is one thing missing in this story — is the local produce they are selling produced in a sustainable way, a way that maintains or  increases soil fertility and future productivity?

Sustainable Agriculture: Ideal Versus Best for Most People?

MotherJones.com will have an expert-led reader forum  April 13-17 around the provocative question that headlines this article: “Is organic and local so 2008?”

Even if you don’t participate, the article is worth reading.

Food Matters, Local and Organic

Columnist Mark Bittman points out in the International Herald Tribune why organic food isn’t always the best choice, especially when considering carbon footprint. And speaking of local food, Doug Hubley wrote a really nice summary of a presentation by  four Maine-based Bates alumni, each an expert in food issues.

What’s the True Price of Your Seafood Dinner?

That’s what I have been studying since I graduated from Bates in 2000. Did you know that commercial fishing vessels haul a lot of other marine life aboard their vessels in addition to whatever it is that ends up on your dinner plate? All that “other” marine life, the fish, marine mammals, sea turtles, sharks, sea birds, and invertebrates that are accidentally caught, are called bycatch. Bycatch is one of several things to consider when seeking out sustainable seafood. I am going to post several entries on sustainable seafood and other related topics over the next several months as Bates contemplates these important food issues. What is most important to you when choosing seafood for dinner?

White House Getting Vegetable Garden

For the first time since WWII, a vegetable garden is being carved out of the White House lawn. The First Lady says it will provide organic food for family meals, but more importantly, will help educate children  about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables at a time when obesity and diabetes have become a national concern.  Here’s the New York Times story.

Time To Consider CSA

No, not the Confederate States of America — Community Supported Agriculture. I started this blog last fall saying how much I appreciated everything about a new farm in my town created by a young couple using the CSA formula. CSAs are popping up all over the U.S., and this is the time of year when new ones solicit subscriptions in advance for shares of whatever they grow this summer. You pick up your shares of food once a week, fresh from the farm. Big Picture – It increases national security when we grow locally and don’t rely on food trucked from California’s Central Valley. Piety and virtue aside, it tastes better. Here’s info on the CSA I belong to in Poland Spring.

Noticing Who Gets the Good Food

For 35 years, Bates alumnus and food activist Mark Winne has been working to close the gap between the kinds of food available to rich and poor. What I really appreciate is his constant awareness that the agribusiness model we take for granted as “normal” is a chemically dependent system that only developed since World War II.

Ethical Food Purchases Strong Despite Downturn

I’ve been keeping an eye out for evidence that the global financial crisis is prompting people on tighter budgets  to abandon sustainable agriculture, local food, fair-trade food, organic food.  Finally saw a survey on this out of Britain that suggests a cutback only in organic food purchases.  “Ethical” food sales have not declined. Wonder if this pattern is true in the U.S.?

Pollan: More Change in Dietary Beliefs in Last 100 Years Than Prior 10,000

Food systems critic Michael Pollan speaks to Bates students about the craft of writing before giving an open lecture in Bates Chapel for campus and community.

Michael Pollan attracted about 200 more people Tuesday night than the 600-seat Bates College Chapel could hold. Students were promised  a repeat lecture at 9 a.m. While we were not allowed to record Pollan’s presentation, you can read both a report from Doug Hubley of the Bates  communications office and an account of Pollan’s speech in the Oct. 28 Lewiston Sun Journal.