Oakland Food Policy Council - Latest Blog Entries

New Mobile Food Pods

Thu, 17 May 2012 00:48:00 -0500

The Mobile Food Project approved last winter is finally taking form in Oakland. This new legislation allows groups of three or more food trucks, or a food pod, to gather together. Oakland residents have been excited for this to happen, after neighboring cities San Francisco and Berkeley have had successful events, such as Off the Grid. Now there are two exciting weekly events that will be sure to please any street food fan.

Bites off Broadway has returned after its debut in October, and will take place every Friday night until October 2012 at the Studio One Center on 45^th Street. There will be a rotation of 15 food trucks, as well as live music, movies, a face painter and other entertainment. Karen Hester, the organizer, hopes that it will bring the vibe of a neighborhood block party and picnic for the community to get together and enjoy food.

Oakland’s newest food pod is Clay Pod, over in Downtown Oakland (Clay & 15^th), every Tuesday afternoon from 11:30 am- 2:00 pm. Gail Lillian, owner of LIBA Falafel Truck, organized Clay Pod to feature three mobile food vendors, including LIBA, HAPA SF and Go Streatery. This is a great lunch option for those who work in Downtown Oakland.

Healthy mobile vending policy priority for the OFPC because it encourages fresh food and food security in Oakland. Be sure to check out these two food pods and look out for more mobile vending in the future!

Lunchtime for Oakland Students

Thu, 10 May 2012 20:38:00 -0500

Do you know what is in your child’s lunch? This is what you hope they are eating: sandwiches, fruit, vegetables, milk. This is what they are really eating: Cheetos, Lunchables, chocolate chip cookies and Coca-cola.

You’ve heard it hundreds of times before, children need nutritious and substantial meals to be grow and lead healthy lifestyles. Childhood obesity in America has risen to 15%, a direct result of kids eating unhealthy foods and not getting enough exercise. Just a few of the many factors that contribute to these unhealthy habits include the low cost of junk foods that are high in fat, the high cost of healthier alternatives such as fruits and vegetables, the marketing of junk food towards kids and low-income communities, and lack of information on the importance of nutrition.

This week, I tagged along on a field trip to an agricultural park with a group of sixth grade students. The purpose of the trip was for the kids to get a hands-on experience to learn about organic farming and where their food comes from. The kids seemed to enjoy themselves, especially when feeding chickens some plants that they had just pulled out of the dirt. They learned what tomatoes, strawberries, garlic, onions, and mint look like when they are in the ground.

When it came time for lunch, almost everything the kids pulled out of their lunch bags was packaged in a shiny plastic bag. Almost nothing resembled something that was grown on a farm; instead many of the kids ate highly processed junk foods full of fat and sugar. It was both ironic and disappointing to see the students eating Cheetos, just moments after learning about how food is grown. The idea “if people knew where food comes from, they would choose to eat better” was clearly lost on these students. Even after seeing the process of food being grown, kids preferences did not change. Thankfully this is not the only approach for encouraging kids to make good food choices.

Meals in school are extremely important for influencing kids’ health and eating habits. They ensure that kids are eating properly when away from home and getting enough energy for their best academic performance. This year, for the first time in 15 years, the federal government changed the standards for public school lunches to address children’s health issues such as obesity and diabetes. Parents and staff of the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) are hoping to take even greater steps in reforming school lunches. The OUSD serves about 6.6 millions meals a year, so the quality of these meals is extremely important. A recent proposal for changing the school food program includes meals cooked from scratch, organic and locally sourced ingredients and a 1.5 acre organic farm. These changes would be both a continuation and expansion of the OFPC’s work on developing environmentally preferable purchasing protocols. This new vision for the Oakland food program would be a huge step towards improving public health, as well as ensuring food security for Oakland children.

Let Freedom Spring!

Wed, 09 May 2012 15:52:00 -0500

“Let freedom spring!” chanted all of the occupiers and people who joined together at Bryant Park and Madison Square Park for a Free University, to kick off the May Day General Strike in New York City. Masses of people floated into the parks to learn more about May Day and Occupy Wall Street’s call for a general strike on May 1, 2012. Occupy Wall Street, a leaderless resistance movement, comprised of the 99% of the population against greed and corruption, organized a rally in Union Square where the crowd reached the thousands. The march to Wall Street down Broadway was about to begin. Personally, this was my first time visiting New York City, so to see the big apple from this unique perspective was definitely a treat! All of the passion and vibrancy that I expected of New York City came to life when chants like, “1-We are the people, 2-We are united, 3-This occupation is not leaving!” surged from the crowd of occupiers. People of all groups, races, ethnicities, and classes were present, all for one reason: we are fed up with the corporate control of our lives.

So, why May 1st? Most people living in the United States know little about the International Workers' Day of May Day, and many just disregard it as a communist holiday. Most Americans don't realize that May Day has its origins here in this country. There is a lot of history around this one day, but I will attempt to give it to you in a nutshell: In the late nineteenth century, the working class was in constant struggle to gain the 8-hour workday. Working conditions were severe and a common workday was 10-16 hours under unsafe conditions. On May 1, 1886, over 30,000 workers took to the streets of Chicago to protest against the 8-hour workday and to demand their rights as workers[i]. That day, two workers were shot, and by May 4^th, thousands took to the street again but were broken up by a bomb and flying bullets; several died that day. Repression surged, the arrested were tortured, the leaders of the Chicago movement were put on trial for murder, and finally, on November 11, 1886, four of the heroic leaders were hanged. “Ever since, May 1 is the day we rise, we dream, we fight, in every country of the world. May Day is when the working class speaks its own name.”[ii]

Occupy Wall Street and millions of us around the world used May Day to celebrate our unity within the working class and to recognize its power. “We affirm our rights to economic security, to meaningful work, to health care, to public services, to safe and healthy communities, to free, quality public education from pre-K to college, and to civil liberties. Today, we stand in solidarity with all who take popular action to secure such rights, as we begin to form genuine alliances that challenge a system that breeds inequality.”[iii] May Day has historically been a time when dreams of freedom, rights, and justice have sprung up, and we must assure that these are never tampered with. And so it is on this May Day, in the wake of a growing worldwide uprising for justice, “we dare to look forward to a world when the borders that divide us will be made meaningless, to the birth of genuinely democratic culture of communities managing their own resources for the common good, and where the value and dignity of no human being on this planet is considered inferior to any other.”[iv]

How does this relate to food and the Oakland Food Policy Council? Some of the people who have suffered the most from corporate control are farmers, landowners, farmhands and farming families. They have been pushed off the land, commanded to treat their land in a certain way and grow their crops filled with pesticides and fertilizers, and many other atrocities. Corporate control of the food system allows corporation to dictate what we see in our super markets, what information is taught to our children, and how our land is to be allocated. It leaves little room for choice and innovation. It is movements like these that bring people together to say, “Enough!” We want to regain control over our food system and make decisions that are healthy and beneficial to everybody that lives here in the United States and across the world.

[i] Ely, Mike. “May 1^st and the ‘Troublesome Element,’ The Occupied Wall Street Journal.

[ii] Ely, Mike. “May 1^st and the ‘Troublesome Element,’ The Occupied Wall Street Journal.

[iii] Occupy Wall Street, “May Day Declaration of Solidarity.” http://occupywallst.org/archive/page-2/

[iv] Occupy Wall Street, “May Day Declaration of Solidarity.” http://occupywallst.org/archive/page-2/

Yvette has traveled from UC Berkeley to South America and back to the Bay to pursue her passion for food justice and sustainable agriculture.

This Time, From Oakland to Argentina

Wed, 09 May 2012 15:49:00 -0500

Several weeks ago, a fellow OFPC intern wrote about her amazing experiences in Argentina, through the program of WWOOF. Now, as my semester as a third year student at UC Berkeley is nearing the end, and after a whole semester of working for the OFPC, I will be finding my own self in Buenos Aires, Argentina in approximately 7 whole days. However, part of my experience thus far with working for the Oakland Food Policy Council has taught me that food sovereignty and the issues of food injustice are worldwide. Though I have been working specifically with the problems around me in Oakland, I have not forgotten that these injustices are not simply in my backyard. Realizing this, I am encouraging myself to look into the issues of food sovereignty in my experiences abroad this summer, and see what I can take back to Oakland with me, because I do believe that every country in the world is connected, and there are always lessons that you can learn from abroad, to apply to where you live at home.

So how are Argentina and Oakland even remotely connected or related? To start off, agriculture in Argentina holds a primary stake in the country’s economy, with soybean production comprising half of the nation’s agricultural output, a fourth of its exports, and 22% of the world’s production. As much of an economic boon that soy production in Argentina may appear to be, this bountiful crop is actually proving to be a disaster to Argentina’s people and its environment. A major component to the success of soybean production in Argentina is the use of Monsanto’s “Roundup Ready” soybean crop, which is resistant to the Roundup herbicide, also produced by Monsanto. The use of these seeds have ironically led to increased use of herbicide, more chemical contamination, and due to the mass production of soybean, the widespread displacement of peasant farmers who can’t keep up with Monsanto’s RR soybean production.

Once again, how is this related to Oakland, and what lessons can I learn in Argentina to take back home with me? Upon simply researching some of the agricultural issues in Argentina, I can already see the apparent food sovereignty issues that the rural communities are dealing with, which indicates to me that the battles between mass producing farms and small farmers are rampant almost everywhere you go. A crucial problem lies within people who recognize these problems and allow them to persist--if these food sovereignty issues are clearly evident, and there is not a question about the corruption that lies within them, what is being done about them? An even better question--why isn’t more being done about them? I want to make my adventure in Argentina one in which I open my eyes to these issues, study them, and come back to Oakland with a more diverse understanding of how food injustice in a major agriculturally focused community can relate to a smaller region of food injustice, like in Oakland. I recognize that food injustice is a global problem, and hope that upon returning to Oakland, I will have learned more about food policy issues and what types of problems there are internationally, and hopefully have a better idea of how to resist those problems locally.

The Right To Know, and the Right To Act

Fri, 04 May 2012 23:55:00 -0500

As was recently published in the Sac Bee and other local newspapers, the CA Right to Know Campaign recently filed 971,126 signatures for a ballot initiative to require labeling of genetically engineered foods. According to the article written by the campaign, ‘the huge signature haul, gathered in a 10-week period, is nearly double the 555,236 signatures the campaign needs to qualify for the November ballot.’

While of course, this measure still needs to be voted on, but in the event that it does become law, it raises new questions on what it means to have a product that contains genetically modified foods- and the first one will likely be, ‘What are they?’

Genetically modified foods are still a relatively recent development, with the first transgenic food approved for human consumption in the US only short time ago in 1994 (the infamous Flavr Savr Tomato, produced by Calgene). Transgenic, in this case, means that the food contains a certain amount of genetic materials from different life forms, such as an animal or a bacterium, which is introduced in order to express a new trait in the food. Since the Flavr Savr there have been large strides in genetic engineering that have led to new crops designed to produce well under different soil and water conditions, be more drought resistant, show altered growth patterns and shapes that promote growth of seeds, and many more desirable traits.

I personally am in favor of this ballot initiative, because I believe that people should be able to make informed decisions about what they want to eat, and what methods of agriculture they want to support, if it’s important to them. But what many have expressed concerns about is the lack of public knowledge on just what genetically modified organisms are, as well as why they are used to grow food, which may lead people to simply not choose to buy a given product containing GMOs just because it sounds strange to them, or vice versa. I feel similarly concerned; if the initiative wants to introduce a new label to our food, it must also propose a mechanism for understanding what it is. The duty to provide this kind of education may fall to local organizations like the OFPC, which has collaborated with many other groups to promote public knowledge about the food system and the Farm Bill.

Many might also claim that GMOs are a complex topic that cannot be reduced down into a label, and I would agree. However, I think that the simple fact of having a label would stimulate much-needed discussion around the issue, and those who were curious could pursue deeper means of education themselves and deciding how they feel about it. For too long, industry heads have been making decisions about the food we eat without our input or consideration- it’s high time that we renewed our interest in our food and fought for our right to know, and our right to act.

So You Want to Start an Urban Farm?

Thu, 03 May 2012 18:13:00 -0500

There has been considerable interest in urban agriculture in the past few years. Urban farms are sprouting around Oakland and in various forms such as people’s backyards, or previously abandoned lots. Urban agriculture has many positive benefits to the community, such as increasing urban food security and supporting a local economy. More and more people are interested in starting urban farms, but it is not as simple as one would hope, nor as glamorous as it may sound. I recently spoke to an Oakland resident who owns a piece of land in East Oakland. She said that she would like her land to be used for urban agriculture and has contacted several organizations, but cannot find a group to take on the task.

I have been thinking about this conversation for a while. What do you do if you want to start an urban farm, but don’t know where to start? At first I was surprised because I continue to hear about the great work that many grassroots non-profit organizations are doing with the urban agriculture projects. I thought that organizations often have problems gaining access to land, so someone would be interested in using land that is being offered to create another successful urban farm. And that may be true once the right group of people is found, but the hesitation towards starting a brand new urban farm is also understandable.

Agriculture is a long, difficult process that requires money, resources, and manpower; it is not an easy feat in a rural setting, and especially not in an urban setting. Urban farmers face numerous hurdles such as soil testing for lead, access to water, getting appropriate zoning permits, and not to mention the actual manual labor that goes into creating a farm. The OFPC is a staunch supporter of urban agriculture and strives to protect and expand it in Oakland. The OFPC is working towards making it easier for people who want to make changes in the food system and the community.

Last year, the OFPC released a Statement on Urban Agriculture to urge the city of Oakland to update its zoning permits to make urban agriculture more accessible. A few months ago, one of the suggestions from this statement that promoted the sales of raw agricultural products in residential zones, was passed as the “Cottage Foods Bill”. This was an exciting victory and hopefully similar policy changes will happen in the future. The OFPC is continuing to work towards making urban agriculture easier and more accessible to meet the increasing demand for urban farms in the community.

Resources for urban agriculture are numerous and available as well, such as the novel The Essential Urban Farmer, the City’s Community Gardening Program of the Parks and Recreation department, and various non-profit organizations. There are many free events and organizations on how to grow food (Ecology Center, Bay Friendly Gardening), as well as volunteer opportunities with urban farms that are already up and running to gain experience and ask questions (Acta Nonverba, City Slicker Farms, Phat Beets Produce). Furthermore, there are communities, such as East Bay Urban Agriculture Alliance, who can help with acquiring resources to get started. Urban agriculture is not simple, but there is an abundance of resources and support in the community that makes it possible.

Understanding the Farm Bill: Between Workshops and Panels

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:49:00 -0500

The Farm Bill. It's here. It's now. And it's complex as all hell.

When info sessions on the Farm Bill were held in East and West Oakland last summer by the CA Food and Justice Coalition and the Oakland Food Policy Council, attendees took part in a discussion of the history and structure of the Farm Bill . After navigating through the policy, the top changes they reported wanting to see would be for more community education on pertinent issues, and increased local support for urban agriculture. At the Horace Albright lecture on the Farm Bill at UC Berkeley on April 5th, a distinguished panel of speakers that included Ken Cook, Michael Pollan, Karen Ross, and Ken Hecht showed concern for similar issues, namely continued support of SNAP, how to understand the Farm Bill, and how California’s interests are represented in relation to those of the country, in particular the other stakeholders who hold sway on the allocation of funding.

Ken Hecht, a past Director of the California Food Policy Advocates, opened the evening with a discussion of SNAP, defending it staunchly against much of the rhetoric that is defaming it the presidential campaign today. He cited four main reasons to preserve SNAP:

It’s enormous! Its funding allocation amounted in 2011 to nearly 80% of the farm bill- $78 billion dollars in 2011. But this money goes to help 46.5 million Americans- a stunning figure that represents 1 in 7 Americans!
SNAP caters to people of even the lowest income, reducing severe hunger. Twenty five percent of recipients use up all benefits in first week. Studies have shown that calorie intake is lower at end of the month than in the beginning.
SNAP is effective! There are 1.3 million children who get enough to eat because of SNAP! It removes consequences of food insecurity, fostering academic opportunity, social development, and even something as basic as physical development. It saves money in health care costs by providing funds for people to pursue a healthy diet, avoiding obesity and diabetes. And it supports our local economy, with 1 dollar spent on SNAP correlating to 1.79 of economic activity.
We can improve it! SNAP needs to work on promoting the connection between nutrition and health! This program is working for people who desperately need it. But if we chop 4 billion from it, part of the proposed plan, it would either the benefits offered to participants or it reduces participants.

Michael Pollan, a well-known local figure in journalism and food politics, described our shift to industrial agriculture in the late 40s, and how since then we’ve continued to shift from a systemt centered photosynthesis and energy from the sun to an economy fueled by fossil fuels, in our chemical fertilizers as well as our automobiles. This was driven by a desire to improve yields, and indeed it did; we got to a point to where a single farmer could feel 148 Americans, the most productive human ever! As Pollan put it, “This effort has succeeded beyond our wildest dreams!”

How then can we use this perspective to navigate through the legal jargon of the Farm Bill?

Pollan maintained that the main question we should bear in mind when judging components of the bill should be the following: Is this pushing agriculture back onto the sun, or leaving it on fossil fuels?

We need to ask farmers to help us with dealing with this environmental and public health crisis. In the same way we asked for, and received, an abundance of cheap calories, now we need to ask for real foods and a solarized system.

The two final speakers, Karen Ross, the Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, and Ken Cook, President and Co-Founder of the Environmental Working Group, presented a view of the Farm Bill from a governmental view.

Ross discussed California’s role in the Farm Bill, as we are a major producer of specialty foods. As a result, the majority of our crops are not part of the farm bill, so our farmers must react to the market. An important goal, Ross noted, needs to be to get our large congressional delegation on the same page, where their collective voice could be heard.

Conservation is another topic that resonates through CA agriculture, targeting air quality and water usage, among many other components. However, the main challenge of the farm bill must also address poverty in rural areas, and especially the dire need for new farmers. For every 5 farmers over 60 years of age, there is only 1 around age 25. We need to recruit farmers, and the only way to do that is to ensure that they can grow what they need to, and be able to do so in a sustainable way.

Ken Cook, however, offered a more down-to-earth perspective on the Farm Bill, discussing how much of the action taken is driven by the agriculture committee, who are expected to secure subsidies for their districts. “Some believe in conservation and some believe in nutrition”, Cook said, “but what drives this debate is how to secure the billions that they require.” He also addressed several key things at stake in the bill, the first being conservation. In terms of sustainability, Cook claimed that we are making the same mistake with new technology as we plow up conservation investments and grasslands, causing tragedies for wildlife and water quality. He cited the Farm Bill as being not only important for food policy, but also the most important environmental legislation for the country.

Cook also called for support of programs that protect the minimal and fledgling programs to inject healthy eating into the Farm Bill. This would include things like the Fruit and Vegetable snack program, which was a pilot program at several schools, including Oakland, where kids would get a snack in the morning and afternoon. Some kids would be introduced to fruits and vegetables that they had never heard of!

The last call was for a reform of the subsidy system. More than a quarter of a trillion dollars has been paid out since 1925, and the distribution of this money has been contested; he cited one cotton farmer as having received 2 million dollars, the equivalent of the bill’s entire budget for organic research, and 60% of farmers receive no subsidies.

The evening ended with a call to action by each panelist, and even more from the audience. “I’m all for voting with your forks,” said Pollan. “But you should also vote with your votes!” Pollan’s website, as well as that of the Environmental Working Group, was cited for having references to key moments to get involved in ways like calling your legislator and showing up at important meetings.

But the conversation doesn’t end there, nor are all of the Farm Bill’s complexities suddenly elucidated. Just yesterday, the Senate Agricultural Panel approved a measure to cut $4 billion dollars from SNAP, which will apparently crack down on misuse of the program. This measure will also include a new model of crop insurance and conservation. Even this simplified article raises questions about what it will mean to the average consumer to have crop insurance instead of direct payments, and it's difficult to simplify into 'does it shift us back to the sun?' perspective. The perhaps most logical way to ensure transparency and understanding maybe simply what our city's residents called for in the first place; community talks and discussions of the implications of each step in the process. These talks are happening and continue to happen; it is our task, then, to make sure that the access to informaton is widespread, to prevent further disparities in both access to food and understanding in how it happens. For more information about workshops on the Farm Bill, and how to co-host one in your community check out CA Food and Justice Coalition's website.

Interested in hearing the Horace Albright lectures firsthand? Check out the video recording of the event here.

Your Food and the Environment

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 16:50:00 -0500

Last week, I had the luxury of escaping the city for the day and visiting a farm about two hours south in Hollister, CA. The sounds of cars and chatter were replaced by squawks and calls from peacocks and pheasants. I spent the beautiful spring day enjoying the peacefulness and greenness of the farm. The owners of the farm are a couple, Charles and Jenny, hailing from Taiwan. Since it is only the two of them, they raise a modest amount of livestock, mainly to stay self-sufficient. On their small farm they have a variety of animals: goats, chickens, pheasants, peacocks, ducks, fish and geese. It is obvious that the work of a farmer is not an easy task; it is a laborious, full-time job. One thing that stuck out to me was when Charles described how difficult it is to maintain a pond. The pond hosts ducks and fish and must be maintained to a specific quality so the animals stay healthy and thrive. For example, the water cannot get too dirty, or there will be too many nutrients and algae will grow, and the fish will die. However, the water cannot be too clear, or the sun will penetrate through the water, and algae will grow, and the fish will die. Charles had to put a windmill next to the pond to circulate the water to give the fish enough oxygen. He also needs to add freshwater to the pond regularly to keep the water clean and fresh. This care and attention is crucial not only for the highest quality of the crops the couple produces, but also the least harm to the environment.

Not every farm puts in as much work and care into avoiding environmental degradation as Charles and Jenny do. Since their farm is small and their primary goal is to stay self-sufficient, they are able to control more aspects of their farm to be sustainable and have a low-impact on the environment. Many larger farms main motive is to produce as efficiently as possible. They end up causing a lot of environmental degradation because they are not as concerned about the sustainability and impacts of their farm practices. Agriculture impacts the environment negatively in many ways. For example, as I was heading back home, I passed by a neighboring farm, where a tractor was moving down the rows of crops spraying a massive cloud of pesticides behind it. Chemicals pesticides are not only bad for our health, but can also contaminate water sources through runoff. Organic foods are a great alternative to produce that is sprayed with pesticides, but they are more expensive. Pesticides are harming the environment and low-income communities where buying organic is out of the question.

The OFPC is working to address the problems of food injustice and environmental impacts in the community. We want to change the divide between those who can afford to eat organic, pesticide-free produce and those who cannot. In addition, we want to prevent further environmental degradation with farm practices, like chemical pesticides. The OFPC is dedicated to supporting local agriculture that is environmentally sustainable. One step in this direction is to follow the examples of synthetic pesticide and GMO- free zones in Marin, Trinity and Mendocino counties. Removing pesticides is important for the future of both our health and the environment.

Last Sunday was Earth Day. Earth Day is a day to raise awareness of the continued neglect of the planet and its resources. In Oakland, there were hundreds of sites opened to volunteers to help garden, clean up parks and more. I hope that our community can continue to take care of our planet, even though Earth Day has passed. A healthy environment means healthy food. The environment needs our help!

Corporate Control of the Food System

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 12:24:00 -0500

“It’s about putting democracy back into the food system,” said Devika Ghai from the Pesticide Action Network at last night’s symposium on Corporate Control of the Food System at UC Berkeley. The symposium was held in order to examine corporate control and power, how these affect the food system, and possible solutions. We heard from seven different speakers from different sectors of the food movement while we enjoyed our free vegan meal, all donated from local companies. The first speaker was Vishrut Arya from Food First. Vish explained some of the basic operating features of capitalism, namely that its fundamental objective is the endless accumulation of capital and that capital is not a thing but a process, a process in which money seeks more money. He went on to describe eight mechanisms within the capital accumulation process which, bit by bit, give larger firms the edge over smaller firms, something which over time leads to the development of oligopoly and monopoly power. Vish also chose to present an alternative to the current economic structure of the food system, where companies like Cargill and Monsanto hold huge market shares and therefore great power. The solution? Agroecology; the science, practice, and social movement of ecologically-based agriculture and food sovereignty, the latter of which defines food and access to land as basic human rights.

The next speaker was Katie Cantrell, the organizer of the symposium and the founder of the Coalition to Fight Factory Farming. After hitting us with some shocking facts (did you know that 10 billion animals are killed for food every year in the U.S?), she talked about large meat and dairy manufacturers like Smithfield and Dean Foods who run Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). Katie explained that through industrialization, animals were somehow transformed to a currency, an object of trade, and this was not done by farmers, but by corporations. These companies have complete vertical and horizontal control over these systems, which means they not only raise the meat, but they also process, package, and distribute it. This is so important because of the inhumane practices and environmental destruction that these corporations commit on such a massive scale. Katie’s bottom line was this: “Every purchase in a supermarket and every order from a menu is inevitably and powerfully linked with agricultural policy. Every time you make a decision, you are farming by proxy.”

Next, we heard from Hillary Lehrfrom the Rainforest Action Networkwho made a presentation on the world’s largest grains trader, Cargill, Inc. The majority of American citizens have never heard of Cargill, yet they control huge swathes of our food system. Because Cargill is family owned, there are no shareholder stakes, which means that when it comes to decisions that may affect millions of people they can do whatever they want. Their business model has caused catastrophes like the “Tortilla Wars”in Mexico and massive greenhouse gas emissions in Indonesia and Malaysia from deforestation. Hillary’s message was this: Don’t just state your anger with these corporations, resist their exploitation of our food system and boycott the ones you don’t agree with. Here, she referred back to the slogan of Occupy our Food Supplyon the global day of action, February 27th; create and resist. We must not only create positive solutions, but fight the forces that control the broken food system.

This sentiment was echoed by the next speaker, Devika Ghai from Pesticide Action Network(PAN), who chose to focus on The Big 6; Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta, Dow, DuPont, and BASF. This handful of corporations own the world’s seed, pesticide and biotech industries, ultimately controlling the fate of food and farming. Pesticides and genetically modified seeds (GMOs) are the lynchpin of the modern industrial agricultural system; if the pesticide pin is pulled, this entire system fails. PAN is working hard to raise awareness about these companies and the severity of pesticide use in the world. They recently held an International Citizens Tribunal, a mock trial of The Big 6 for an endless amount of human rights violations. They even received a verdict and delivered it to the White House, and have plans to deliver it to all 6 companies.

After a short break we heard from three other speakers, all of them presenting issues rooted in the creation of local alternatives to corporate, unsustainable food. The first was Ally Beach from Take Back the Tap, a group working to remove bottled water from the UC Berkeley campus in protest against the commodification of public water resources that this industry pushes. We were introduced to the film Flow: For the Love of Waterthat tells the story of how the world’s water resources are being colonised for individual profit.

The following presentations left us on a lighter note. While Christina Oatfield from the Sustainable Economies Law Center spoke about creating opportunities for local food initiatives through legislation such as the Cottage Food Law, Gwen von Klan from the Berkeley Student Food Collectivedescribed their success in challenging corporate food and giving students access to affordable, ethical, local and healthy products.

For us, both interns in the Bay Area food movement, it was great to step away from our laptops and desks and get new ideas, facts and inspiration for the work that we do. Sometimes we all need a reminder of why what we do is important, and that we are not alone in thinking so. We were able to share great food and conversation with students and activists, reinforcing our belief that a different food system is possible. We were reminded about what we need to resist, but inspired by those among us who are creating alternatives. Now, once again tapping away on our computers, we would like to thank all of those who helped make the symposium a success, from speakers to organizers and everyone who fed us!

Yvette has traveled from UC Berkeley to South America and back to the Bay to pursue her passion for food justice and sustainable agriculture.

Food Knows No Age!

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 22:17:00 -0500

Imagine making a drastic and impactful change in your community at the age of 21...or even younger! For me, it sounds crazy, especially with the little time I barely have to finish my homework and relax. For 21-year old Richmond native, Tania Pulido, simply getting involved with local problems within her community was not enough; she strived to make a direct change through running a community garden that is now more than just a place to grow food. Tania runs the Berryland Garden of the Iron Triangle in Richmond, CA, where local youth are able to take on summer apprenticeships, learn about different major environmental issues, while growing organic food and encouraging urban agriculture. Her combined efforts to strengthen the area’s sense of community and to educate the public have allowed her to win the prestigious Brower Youth Award in 2011, presented by the Earth Island Institute. This is one of the most distinguished youth activism awards in the country, and only six individuals under the age of 22 are able to receive it.

I was first drawn to Tania’s story because of her close proximity to Oakland, but began to realize how amazing of an accomplishment it is to understand the deep-rooted issues in your own community at such a young age, and be able to take the necessary steps to make improvements. Not only does it take great passion to even attempt to make a difference, it takes determination and commitment. It is obvious that these food justice problems are not just in Oakland, but they are throughout the state, and even the world, which almost makes it more difficult to believe that a single individual can make any difference at all. Many times, it is easy for young people especially to feel that they may not have the proper resources or power to make a significant change, but looking at Tania’s story is inspiring because she is an encouraging example of someone who comes from a humble background, and rose to transform her community by recognizing the notable problems with food sovereignty and the benefits that urban agriculture can bring.

Of course, Tania’s story is incredible because food justice was an issue that was directly addressed with through her urban agriculture attempts, but what I mostly took away from her experience, was her young age and ability to still impact her own community. Imagine if the Oakland community all stepped forward to take on our food justice problems, regardless of anyone’s age or experience. Imagine if enough people cared to make a stand to carry out simple projects, like creating numerous urban gardens for the community, or taking the time to educate the general public about different food topics, like food injustice. These may sound like huge projects, but if a 21 year old from Richmond can accomplish them, our collective community of Oakland is more than capable of doing so as well. Age, lack of experience, or not having enough passion should never be an excuse to refrain from making a huge difference in the lives of thousands of starving people. After hearing Tania’s story, I’ve realized that it’s not about when we can begin to fight the inequities of the food system; it’s simply about letting go of our own self-interests and starting a fight that should have begun long ago, right now!

To hear more about Tania Pulido's uplifting story, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5lwl4d1c-g

Let's Eat. Right. Now. -- Food Forward

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 18:21:00 -0500

Last Monday I, along with many other Bay Area foodies, attended the amazing premiere of a new TV show called, “Food Forward” at the Barrelhouse SF, an underground venue that was amply supplied with free local beer and snacks. Before I attended, I was a little skeptical about the show, I didn’t really know whether to expect the Food Network or National Geographic, or both. But to my surprise Food Forward wasn’t any of these, in fact it was far from them. Food Forward reveals what all of us have known for a really long time, food is cool! There are amazing people doing wonderful things to improve food here in the United States, and very little of them get the amount of recognition they deserve. Before the show started the lead filmmaker, Greg Roden, spoke a little bit about the TV show, what it took to get to this point, and where they plan to go from here. Greg Roden has been around the block in television, he is “the Winner of an International Television & Video Association (ITVA) 'Best Documentary' award for his coverage of the Sandinista elections in Nicaragua.”[i] It has taken Greg and his team over three years to release the first episode of Food Forward, and they plan to continue working hard for the next couple of years to eventually have an allotted time and day on PBS on which their show will air, and they hope there will be an ample number of interested viewers.

“Food Forward” is a, “show about people who are changing the way Americans eat.”[ii] This show and the food movement have stemmed from the common notion that the American food system is fundamentally flawed. While the majority of us could tirelessly count the number of problems, Food Forward takes another approach, it shows the initiative that every-day people like you and I are doing to foster change for themselves and their neighbors. The first episode is focused on urban agriculture in the United States; topics like aquaponics, chickens, and local food purchasing are all addressed. It took us all over the country from Brooklyn to Detroit to a place we are all a little more familiar with, West Oakland. In this part we met Abeni Ramsey from Dig Deep Farms. She spoke about what Dig Deep Farms is trying to do which is using vacant lots to grow food and green urban settings. Ramsey says, “People can feed themselves out of their back yard, neighbors can share over the fence. It is a possibility for bringing back low-income communities and reconnecting people to where they live.”[iii] Each upcoming episode will focus on a different aspect of food, some of those being school lunch reform, sustainable fishing, and soil science. Although there is no specific airing date for the new episodes, they hope that they will be completed and ready for viewing as soon as possible.

For me and all of those who are working hard to improve food systems in the U.S. and around the world, watching the first episode of Food Forward was a breath of fresh air. It was a strong boost of confidence to see these innovative food enthusiasts all over the country doing the same thing that we are doing here in Oakland and other large urban areas. The Oakland Food Policy Council strives to create a just food system and encourage positive food policy, and after watching the first episode of Food Forward, I realized that this show is for all of us: all of us who are currently working on food issues, all of us who work in our community garden or backyard, and all of those who want healthy food.

As Joe Morris, a grass-fed beef rancher in Watsonville, California, said in the trailer for Food Forward, “Eaters have to a ppreciate the people who grow their food, the animals and the plants from which their food comes from and appreciate that we are all connected in many, many, many ways.”[iv] So, to all of you who may lose hope sometimes, know that the times they are a-changing, and food has a bright future.

If you would like to learn more about Food Forward, please visit: www.foodforward.tv

Yvette has traveled from UC Berkeley to South America and back to the Bay to pursue her passion for food justice and sustainable agriculture.

[i] http://www.foodforward.tv/about.aspx

[ii] http://www.foodforward.tv/default.aspx

[iii] http://www.foodforward.tv/default.aspx

[iv] http://www.foodforward.tv/default.aspx

The Future of Food

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 01:00:00 -0500

A very beneficial aspect of my internship, besides the fact that I am much more conscious of the food choices that I make, is that I am constantly seeking out new topics and information about food or the food system. In doing so, I came across an interesting documentary, called “The Future of Food,” created in 2007. This film investigates the issues that have risen from unlabeled, patented, and genetically-engineered foods in the United States. Those of us who are familiar with the elements of industrialized food production know of the many common criticisms and opposition to corporate control of food. Higher yields, cheaper prices, and greater availability are all enticing characteristics of mass food production amidst the nearly one billion hungry people in the world. If those are the direct results of having unlabeled, patented, and genetically engineered foods, then what is the catch, and why are so many public health officials and environmentalists radically opposed to them?

“The Future of Food” gave an in-depth description to the kinds of deep-rooted social implications that come along with industrializing the food production, especially through genetic engineering. Farmers are losing rights to their own farms and land, as huge corporations like Monsanto, are patenting seeds and taking advantage of any land that the seed may accidentally come across. Never mind that a Monsanto-patented seed may have coincidentally blown off of a shipping truck onto an innocent farmer’s land; wherever that seed lands, belongs to that corporation. In addition, giving corporations such control over land and seed species has led to a “monoculture” environment in which there has been mass production of uniform crops, as opposed to the seasonal mixture of crops that farms used to possess. Sure, more food may be being produced and yes, more money may be earned, but at whose expense? An even more controversial question, who is benefitting the most?

This brings us back to the idea that small-scale, local farmers are the ones who are getting hit hardest by this “gene revolution” or industrial overtake of agriculture. In the face of mass production and increased industrial profits, small farmers are being forgotten and stripped of their rights. This film reminded me of the struggles that local and regional farmers are dealing with today, and though this film looks at the impacts that mass food production has on a national level, small steps need to be taken at a local level to recognize the rights of small-scale farmers. Learning about how industrialized food can take advantage of small food producers, damage the environment, and focus on profiting corporations, emphasizes the importance to advocate a greater food justice system in a city like Oakland. The OFPC “supports local agriculture that is economically viable, environmentally sustainable and socially responsible,” which is an admirable step in taking on the fight against industrialized food production, and advocating local and regional food producers. Food is a gift to all, and those who produce it especially deserve to reap the benefits, regardless of how much food they are able to produce!

Of Strawberries and Collards: Oakland Fresh School Produce Markets Continue Strong

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 12:39:00 -0500

When the bell rings at most elementary schools, a casual observer would see kids rushing out of class, going to afterschool programs, talking to friends, and getting picked up by parents. But in twenty-two Oakland schools, students are greeted after school by apple, oranges, kale, asparagus, tangerines, cabbages, winter squash, and so much more - thanks to the presence of Oakland Fresh School Produce Markets.

These single stand markets provide a wide variety of fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts, dried fruit, and honey to crowds of snack-seeking students as well as neighbors and parents looking for easily accessible fresh foods. One sunny afternoon at Franklin Elementary, one of the longest running markets, the site liaison Richard Cuthrell excitedly introduced kids to limequats, kumquat-like fruits that are bright yellow and have a sour and tart flavor. “Do you like Sour Patch kids? Try one of these!” he crowed, giving samples to second and third grade kids.

At Franklin, kids can even help out with the stand! Some third, fourth and fifth graders enjoy helping set up the stand, while sales are handled by groups of volunteers who are constantly weighing produce, counting change and rearranging the baskets to present the colorful array of fruits and vegetables.

At Sankofa Academy’s market on Thursdays, one woman stocked up on apples, peppers, onions, asparagus, and especially collard greens. “I’m their best customer!” she told me proudly. A woman who ran the stall laughed and told me that collard greens are one of the foods that sell out the fastest when adults are buying. What sells out fastest to kids? “Strawberries. Definitely strawberries. Then apples, bananas…” True to her words, soon afterwards a couple of third grade girls ran up and gushed about the cute strawberries, and bought a basket to take home.

The Sankofa market is still relatively new, having opened recently, and kids are still getting acclimated to its presence. But the site liaison, Charles Brown, is optimistic about the market’s success. The markets of both schools also gets a lot of community support- one middle school teacher told me she stops by whenever she can. “I love it! It’s on the way home, there’s easy parking, and it supports the school! I wish we could have something like it at the middle school!”

Expanding the program to more schools is definitely something they’re interested in, according to Christine Cherdboonmuang, the Program Coordinator of the Oakland Farms-to-Schools Network. The Oakland Fresh School Produce Markets are a project of East Bay Asian Youth Center (EBAYC), which first started the program in 2006 at Franklin Elementary and Garfield Elementary, and has remained successful with the help of the Hope Collaborative and Oakland Food Policy Council in outreach and education. After doing community food assessments in the San Antonio neighborhood, EBAYC realize that many people were interested in having more convenient access to fresh food, particularly a farmer’s market. But organizing a entire market was a bit beyond their capacity, so they turned to their good relations with local schools to establish the single stand produce markets that offer a wide variety of goods at a great price.

The produce itself comes generally from smaller family farms in north and central California, especially Capay, Hollister, Fresno. The produce is delivered to an OUSD warehouse, where school district drivers pick it up and deliver it to schools, where it is weighed, inventoried, arranged, and set up in front of the school. “It’s a lot of work, a lot more than people think,” commented Cherdboonmuang. The only problem with expanding to higher grade levels, she said, is that there tend to be fewer parents on campuses at middle schools and high schools, and the stand depends on adults doing their weekly shopping. “We would need a different retail model there, to market to teenagers with more ready to eat fruits and vegetables than things that require preparation.”

One thing that would definitely help the program run smoother, and perhaps expand to more schools would be a more integrated distribution system of produce, Cherdmoonmuang explained. “There’s a number of food retail and food justice projects working on getting food to the community, and if we had a more effective distribution system we could collaborate with these groups to do what we do and keep the price low.” This is a topic that the OFPC certainly has an interest in as well, and as we are working on the development of environmentally preferable purchasing protocols, collaborating and sharing resources with other like-minded institutions must be a high priority.

But if you’re out to make a difference on your own terms, and get some great deals on produce on the way, supporting the markets by doing your weekly shopping there ensures that they’ll remain part of kids’ after school routine. By bringing fruits and vegetables to prominent spots at the school, we are reminding kids of the importance of choosing healthy snacks and helping entire communities take their health into their own hands. The markets accept cash, check, and EBT. A list of all of the market locations and times can be found here!

What's In Your Hamburger?

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 17:39:00 -0500

Silly putty, lip gloss, and bubble gum come to mind when I hear the words “pink slime”, not hamburger meat. But that is exactly what the term refers to. Pink slime, or its formal name Lean Finely Textured Beef (LFTB), has been a hot topic around the nation in the past few weeks. However, this product is not new to the beef industry, in fact it’s been around for the past two decades. LFTB is the result of processing excess meat trimmings with heat and ammonium hydroxide to kill harmful bacteria. Then it is combined into ground beef as a filler to make a leaner and cheaper product. It is important to note that pink slime is deemed safe to eat and the chances are you have already eaten it with out your knowledge. But when you hear the term pink slime, do you want to eat it with some ketchup and mustard?

I eat as consciously as possible and have tried to learn as much as I can about where my food comes from. I have gardened, visited farms, and even taken a tour of a small beef slaughterhouse. I thought I had a good grasp on what I was eating, but then I heard about pink slime. After my initial reaction of disgust, I thought “What else is hidden in my food?” The USDA does not have to label LFTB as an ingredient when it is in meat so consumers have no way of knowing whether or not it is in the meat. Some guess that it is in around half of the country’s ground beef. The purpose of the product is to increase the weight and volume of the meat to make the beef cheaper. It is then targeted to low-income communities; the meat is sold at a low price in grocery stores, or sold in fast food restaurants, like McDonalds. Pink slime is yet another example of the food injustice towards to low-income communities and what the OFPC is working towards changing. The OFPC strives to make healthy food available and accessible to every member of the Oakland community, so no one has to eat pink slime.

One reason I am excited about pink slime is that the consumers are also taking a stand and making a difference in the food system. The name and reputation of pink slime has circulated the media enough to outrage Americans. People are in a frenzy and the pressure is being felt by several different groups. Grocery stores are pulling LFTB meat products out of the shelves, McDonalds is no longer serving LFTB meat, and school boards are dealing with parents fighting for the product to be removed from government supported school lunches. Consumers are speaking up against LFTB, and change is being generated. LFTB is slowly being removed from the food system, which is one step towards a more just and balanced food environment. As advocates for healthy and wholesome food for the entire community, this is good news. The climate and discussion around food is changing, all thanks to pink slime.

To learn more about LFTB, check out this clip from Jamie Oliver’s show Food Revolution, which gives a great visual of how pink slime is created: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wshlnRWnf30

Sticks and Stones

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 23:31:00 -0500

“Sticks and stones, that’s how I make my garden,” Eric Maundu, owner and operator of Kijani Grows, assured me when I interviewed him last week. The “sticks and stones,” that Eric was referring to were the recycled materials he used to build his aquaponics systems. Eric comes from a farming background in Kenya, but he says that farming in Kenya is very different than farming here in the United States, because food is different here. The majority of Americans do not depend directly on a farm as their source of food because there are so many alternatives, and most of the time there is a place to buy food (whether it is healthy or not) right around the corner. When I first met Eric and learned more about Kijani Grows, he was very focused on education, but he ran into a lot of problems with this approach. He realized that many of the kids he was trying to educate were completely entertained with the idea of farming because they could play with mud and dirt, but once they moved past that phase and became teenagers, very few of them were still interested in farming. So, his path changed. He figured there needs to be an alternative to traditional farming, one that uses the “sticks and stones,” that we are surrounded with today. What are those sticks and stones? Technology.

In the era of information, urban farmers must use this new technology to our advantage. If the current world revolves around technology, then how do we make it so that farming can be an integral part of our lives as we live now? In the past couple of decades, a lot of technologies like CD/record players have become obsolete because it has not made it onto the Internet. Eric is afraid that it will be the same case with farming. So, having a strong background in engineering, he started playing with programming. He figured out how to control his aquaponics system from his computer by using censors that send messages to him through a Twitter feed that tell him the speed, the height, and the temperature of the water, etc. Now, he can handle things automatically and electronically without having to be physically present. If you go onto his website: http://www.kijanigrows.com/social-gardening/, you will see that there is a diagram that depicts one of his aquaponics system and the Twitter feed next to it. Eric not only found an alternate way to farm by means of technology, but he has found out how to put farming, specifically aquaponics, on the internet and social networks to make farming more attractive and accessible to this technologically-inclined generation.

I know that for some of us all of this technology and lack of physical connection with the land may seem daunting. To some, it may even seem that the essence of gardening and farming has been lost through this system. But, for others, this could potentially be perfect. Either way, it begs the question, what is the future of farming in this oh-so technologically advanced world? Aquaponics controlled by this new technology requires little physical input, little upkeep, and still produces abundant amounts of food. We all know that a backyard garden or farm requires a lot of work, and if the gardener/farmer falters, the land will not produce. So for those that cannot dedicate that time or effort to gardening/farming, which truthfully, few people can, Eric wants to give them the confidence they need to make this a feasible part of their reality.

Kijani Grows, although slowly, is growing. Eric recently built a large aquaponics system for the San Mateo Eco Village (http://www.greensolutions.org/smcc.htm) and it is completely computer-controlled. He eventually hopes to expand to schools and homes, and even internationally. Kijani Grows aims to find a way to integrate aquaponics into our lives and simultaneously attract a new generation to farming.

“I have a hoe, a pick, a cell phone, and a social network,” says Eric Maundu. Maybe that's all he needs.

Yvette has traveled from UC Berkeley to South America and back to the Bay to pursue her passion for food justice and sustainable agriculture.

Food For Thought

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 21:32:00 -0500

I have been interning for the Oakland Food Policy Council now for three months, and can honestly say that my whole perspective of the food system, locally and internationally, has been notably changed. My initial motivation in deciding to intern for the Oakland Food Policy Council stemmed from my desires to end the injustices of unequal food distribution in the community. My deeply rooted beliefs that everyone should have fair access to healthy foods come from a personal story that has changed my whole idea of food, the food system, and its consequences from production to distribution.

About two years ago, my father passed away from an unexpected heart attack, due to his careless diet which was high in calories, fat, and daily portions of cheap, unhealthy foods that kept him at a constant high blood pressure. At the time, it was easy to blame factors other than food and diet that had ultimately destroyed his health. His demanding job provided him plenty of stress, his busy schedule as a full time worker and father took away much of the time he needed to feed himself healthy, wholesome meals, or to exercise. However today, as I evaluate the food system more and more thoroughly, I have begun to realize that though my father and his own lifestyle may not have been the healthiest, maybe there could have been more that the food system could have done to save my father’s life.

I grew up in the fairly large city in the Central Valley of Stockton, which is not necessarily known for its diverse and plentiful food selections. In fact, I can distinctly think of one street, in particular, in Stockton that is actually lined with at least 5 fast food restaurants in a row. You don’t often see something like that in Berkeley, where I live now. However, the food environment in Stockton was normal to me--fast food for breakfast, lunch, hey, and even dinner, was not abnormal to me as I was growing up. Now looking back, I feel that the saying, “You are what you eat,” should really be, “You eat where you live.” The multitude of unhealthy food options in Stockton provided my busy family and I little options for quick, nutritious meals, and as my father was unconcerned about the health effects of food, he allowed himself and his health to suffer the severe ramifications that eating poorly can result in. Unfortunately, my personal narrative is not an uncommon one. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, there are 310,000-580,000 deaths every year, related to unhealthy eating. If one of these deaths could affect me, a regular citizen living in a large city like Stockton, what could this mean for a poor resident living in a similar sized city like Oakland?

The Oakland Food Policy Council has an amazing opportunity to provide Oakland citizens with the resources they need to start improving upon their health, so as to avoid common tragedies, like that of my own father. The food system and its injustices in Oakland is not simply about how much food is being provided, but even more importantly, what kind of food is being provided. One of the OFPC’s main goals is to “build greater public health in Oakland” which entails the encouragement of residents to make healthier food choices, something I wish that my family had the opportunity to have more exposure to as I was growing up. At the OFPC, our hope is to decrease the risks of environmental causes of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and other diet-related diseases. I am beginning to learn here, that though food is necessary for everyday activities and survival, nutritious food is essential for a long, healthy life, an opportunity that every resident in Oakland should experience.

From Fish to Food

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:03:00 -0500

Oakland, along with many other large cities in the United States, faces extreme food insecurity that paves the way for obesity and malnutrition, most commonly experienced by the low-income residents that lack access to healthy, affordable, and fresh food. There are many different local food justice organizations that are working on improving access to fresh and healthy food for the residents of Oakland, an initiative highly supported by the Oakland Food Policy Council. The majority of these organizations focus on urban agriculture and do that by acquiring some abandoned or unused land and using it to make a garden in which food can be grown. About a year ago I interviewed a man, Eric Maundu, who founded one of these organizations, Kijani Grows. Kijani Grows is working to implement a fairly new method called aquaponics, a method that could be used as an intervention to food insecurity in Oakland. Aquaponicsis a revolutionary concept that mimics nature in order to grow vegetables and raise fish together by combining two different techniques already used. These techniques are most commonly known as aquaculture, which is the raising of fish, and hydroponics, which is the growing of vegetables without soil.

Some of the benefits of aquaponics are that it provides a truly organic, natural form of nutrients for the plants that is acquired from the fish waste. By eliminating the soil in vegetable production most soil borne disease is eliminated using a fraction of the water that traditional field production does because no water is wasted or consumed by weeds. Also, the lack of soil usage means that there is no use of pesticides or herbicides, making the final product healthier and safer to eat.

Kijani Grows is a collaboration of farmers, artists, educators, and many others whose mission is to bring aquaponics to the San Francisco Bay Area, and in particular to Oakland, in order to change lives through urban sustainable growing systems in schools, homes and businesses. Not only does an aquaponics system allow for the sustainable growing of food, it also can be used as a mechanism for learning, allowing students of all ages the opportunity to explore an extensive amount of subjects, some including: science, technology, engineering, art, aqua-culture, ecology, biology, entrepreneurship, and water conservation.

While there are many abandoned plots of land in West Oakland that could be used to grow food, much of that land is contaminated and the process to rid the land of contamination is very costly, labor-intensive and time consuming. If an aquaponics system is used,high stocking densities in the fish tank will allow plants to develop and grow quickly. Also, if growing food on a plot of land there will be a limited capacity as to how much it can grow at a time. With aquaponics, there are systems that can be created to grow vertically as well as horizontally and plant spacing can be very concentrated, making it possible to grow more plants in a specific area. So literally, the sky is the limit. Also, if these aquaponics systems were to be implemented in Oakland food would not be the only beneficial outcome, jobs would also be created in order to build the systems, maintain them once they are built, to grow the food, and to distribute that food. A solution that combines food security and job creation is one that can truly be considered a form of “food justice.”

Urban farms are sprouting up all over the Bay Area and people are working hard to address the lack of access to healthy food and the consequences that are visible in our everyday lives. The Oakland Food Policy Council is striving to protect and expand urban agriculture and support new food enterprises, and Kijani Grows is a perfect example of what an Oakland resident is doing along those lines. Kijani Grows uses aquaponics to provide a quick, innovative and sustainable alternative to the traditional form of urban agriculture that is currently being used, bringing another true form of food justice to a city that has been historically disadvantaged.

Next week, my blog post will touch on Kijani Grows' current endeavors, and how Eric Maundu’s concepts have changed since the last time I interviewed him.

To learn more about Kijani Grows, go to: http://www.kijanigrows.com/

Yvette has traveled from UC Berkeley to South America and back to the Bay to pursue her passion for food justice and sustainable agriculture.

Hungry but Surrounded by Food

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 16:16:00 -0500

As a third year student at UC Berkeley, my funds are generally in short supply, since I do not yet have an official job and spend most of my time studying. I have been graciously provided for these past three years by my mother who believes that over everything else, one should be given the opportunity to eat three healthy meals a day, regardless of the cost.

However, this past weekend, I caught a glimpse of what it means to be “food insecure.” Recently, I lost my debit card, and have been surviving off of the little cash I had on hand. In the midst of assignments, I completely forgot to go to the bank before it closed and found myself going into the weekend with $10 to spend on food. Without spare groceries, I was faced with potentially needing to pay for seven meals on that last $10 in my pocket. It became quickly obvious that my options for a healthy, quality meal were severely limited. I got by this weekend by purchasing a $5 quesadilla, a $5 veggie sandwich...and being fed by loving friends who sympathized for me. Monday was a relief when the bank opened and I was able to draw out cash for myself to use to purchase whatever food I needed.

I knew in my mind that two food insecure days was a modest hardship. I knew there was an end after those two days. Eventually the bank would open and I could access money and buy whatever food I not only needed, but wanted. But what about the over one billion people in our world today who do not have that kind of comfort? What about those people who are surrounded by enough food in their community, but do not have the sufficient funds to be able to buy it? I sensed only a fraction of that frustration for those two days.. It was disheartening to realize that all around me in the Berkeley cornucopia of local, organic, and whole foods, $5 per day was barely enough to purchase a head of organic lettuce and a loaf of whole grain bread. Granted, I could have walked to the closest fast food joint and bought myself a meal from the dollar menu each time I was hungry, but my health holds more importance to me than saving a couple dollars for a cheap meal. I also had options of where I could go in my physical environment. Unfortunately, the one billion food insecure people in our world cannot afford to think this way and ultimately have no choice. What can be done about the high prices of food today and the implications it holds for those who are struggling financially?

Determined efforts, such as those by Oakland Food Connection, Inc, are working to combine residents and local volunteers to tackle food insecurity in their local community. Aimed specifically at the communities in East Oakland, where rates of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, unemployment, and high domestic violence are high, the OFC is striving to combat the economic and health challenges by establishing programs of community gardens, community farmers’ markets, and youth leadership development projects. As East Oakland is classified as a community that is underserved by grocery stores, it is difficult for financially struggling citizens to purchase healthy foods, which is why the OFC is taking the necessary steps to ensure that the community can be integrated with their own food system. By doing so, OFC is creating lasting systemic change that will bring benefits both economically and to the health of many Oakland citizens. Through the 3,000 youth and over 35,000 East Oakland residents that have been connected with food preparation, gardening, and ecological restoration activities, it is apparent that the OFC is successfully tackling the injustices of food insecurity to better connect a community with the food they eat.

Groups such as the OFC are inspiring because of the community-cohesiveness that they build. In addition to the valuable resources they provide, like gardens, food, youth participation, and environmentally and socially just green jobs, they are creating a great social value to the place where people live. They are working to create a community defined by the relationships and resources it provides, rather than the price or goods it may hold. I personally am inspired by the efforts done by the OFC, and many other local community-building groups which advocate food justice, because they remind us of the importance of our community. We get the food we eat from the community where we live, from people who live in our community. Recognizing every person as a part of your own community, and not separate from yourself, is a very big step in understanding the need to bridge gaps in the injustices of food insecurity. I was lucky enough that the generosity of my friends could be extended to me for my brief, but impactful, experience of food insecurity. For those who are living day in and day out with food insecurity, they deserve the same options as every other person to have access to healthy, quality food.

Here at the Oakland Food Policy Council, we advocate the access of healthy food and healthy choices for not some, but all residents of Oakland. We have recognized the right of each person to be able to decide what, and how much, they wish to eat whatever the price may be. Although the problem of food insecurity is a global one, the OFPC is taking steps to address local issues within the food system, raising awareness of the fact that food insecurity is unacceptable, when there is plenty of food to provide to everyone. It is our goal as OFPC to work to ensure that people are getting enough food, not based on how much they can afford, but based on what they need to live a healthy life.

Cottage Foods: Yes, Please!

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:21:00 -0500

Urban agriculture has been on a steady rise for the past couple of years, both on the small scale and the large scale. With this rise has come an increase in cottage food operations and the selling of cottage foods for supplementary income and a pathway to micro entrepreneurship. However there are many barriers to this kind of production and distribution because of California state laws. Taking the example of successful cottage food bills passed around the nation, a bill has been introduced into the California State Assembly, The California Homemade Food Act, AB 1616, that defines cottage food as things like, “baked goods, jams, jellies, fruit butters, preserves, pickles with a pH level of 4.6 or below when measured at 75°F, candy, granola, dry cereals, popcorns, nut mixes, dried fruit, chocolate covered nonperishable nuts and dried fruit, dry baking mixes, roasted coffees, dry teas, [and] honey.”[i] All of these are considered to be cottage foods because they are nonhazardous and unlikely to grow harmful bacteria or other toxic microorganisms at room temperature.

A cottage food operation is defined as “a private home where cottage food products are prepared or packaged to be sold directly to consumers, including through the Internet and mail order, and to in-state retail and food facilities pursuant to this article.”[ii] Although cottage food operations are to be exempt from some state laws and regulations and are to be inspected only if a consumer complains of unsafe food that has been produced in the private home kitchen, the operations must still conform to certain regulations pertaining to sanitation, packaging and labeling.

This act has been modeled after other states, such as Michigan, Illinois, Florida, and Louisiana. The OFPC unanimously supports AB1616 because it supports local, sustainable food production, and helps Oakland transition to a locally and regionally-based food system as well as fosters economic development in the food sector to create local ownership.

Also very important, it stimulates a conversation between local producers and consumers about the products and that are being purchased and their methods of production. Supporting AB1616 brings the OFCP and the city of Oakland one step closer to some of our goals- to support local agriculture that is economically viable, environmentally sustainable and socially responsible.

If you would like to read the full bill, you can find it at:

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/11-12/bill/asm/ab_16011650/ab_1616_bill_20120208_introduced.html

Yvette has traveled from UC Berkeley to South America and back to the Bay to pursue her passion for food justice and sustainable agriculture.

[i] The California Homemade Food Act

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/11-12/bill/asm/ab_1601-1650/ab_1616_bill_20120208_introduced.html

[ii]The California Homemade Food Act

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/11-12/bill/asm/ab_1601-1650/ab_1616_bill_20120208_introduced.html

Essentially, Urban Farming

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 10:15:00 -0500

“This is the book we wished we had,” Novella Carpenter said with a grin, addressing a group of eager students and community members in a classroom in UC Berkeley’s Barrows Hall.

Invited by the Berkeley Student Food Collective, Novella Carpenter and Willow Rosenthal presented their new book, The Essential Urban Farmer, walking through the general outline of their 500-page-plus how-to guide on everything from beekeeping to beet sprouting. We eat an average 300 lb of fruits and vegetables per person per year, and this book serves as a guide to how to source some of those from our own means.

Carpenter began the evening by discussing her experiences with raising animals, documented in her memoir Farm City. Bees, she recounted, are the gateway animal to raising urban livestock. Poultry is a bigger step forward- if people are ordering chicks through the mail, they expect a mailman to hand you a peeping box with a look that says, “You’re crazy.”

Carpenter cited raising chickens as a great way to help your neighborhood connect to their food. She said people still come by asking why she doesn’t need a rooster to get eggs, and kids even come by to see eggs get laid!

“The first reaction from kids is always ‘It comes out of the chicken’s butt! The chicken poops them out!’ Then it turns into an anatomy lesson and sex ed, but that’s when I send them to talk to their parents,” Carpenter recalled with a laugh.

She also discussed raising rabbits, which are commonly consumed for meat worldwide, and are very popular with urban homesteaders. Pigs, however, are not included in the book. Why? “Because they made my life HELL.” Carpenter recalled with a grimace. She concluded with a talk about goats, ‘for the hardcore farmers’, as they require more specialized care even though they’re great to have around.

Willow Rosethal then led the discussion in a plant based direction. “We’re into not having to buy things,” she commented with a smile as she discussed building boxes out of reclaimed wood and metal, how to make your own compost and fertilizer, and ways to grow fruits and vegetables in space-restricted areas. This included growing potatoes in sacks as well as growing espalier fruit trees, which she named the gateway food crop to urban farming.

Rosenthal also advocated that anyone considering urban agriculture in an city environment should get the soil tested. Lead is a concern, and knowing what the soil is like will help to establish what you can and should grow on your land. And on that subject, you should grow what’s productive! Peas are productive in winter, as are cauliflower, broccoli, kale, collards, green onions, herbs, and root vegetables. Things like cabbage and sweet peppers are not quite as fruitful in the Bay- “unless you only eat cabbage, you should stick to growing things that will give you a meal.” Rosenthal remarked.

As we move forward in promoting urban agriculture, continuing education about best practice is one of the most important topics. Where to get seeds, how much space you need for compost, what to build a henhouse out of-- there are myriads of unforeseen questions that spring up when one is considering urban agriculture. In the past decade, many resources have become available, including online forums, community groups, resource guides, and personal memoirs, many of which are excellent sources of information for those who seek it.

Why then would we be caught getting excited about this particular publication? To give you a hint, it’s not simply the informative graphics or the bold green cover. What resounds with the OFPC is that this is a publication written and produced byOakland locals. Willow Rosenthal is the founder of City Slicker Farms, one of Oakland’s biggest organizations of community farms and produce stands, which is doing amazing work in increasing the access and affordability of sustainably produced food. Novella Carpenter is a well known Oakland based author, as well as an urban farmer.

Closing the evening, both writers took questions from the crowd. Among questions about compost toilets and goat husbandry came a rather pertinent topic: Which US city is the friendliest to urban agriculture?

The answer? “Philadelphia,” Carpenter said. “They have gardens in high schools, and even the cool kids, the jocks and all, are getting into it! It used to be just the freaks and geeks, but now it’s getting into curriculum and becoming a regular habit for kids.”

We’ll give Philadelphia a point, but can Oakland make it to the top of the list? We believe that it can, and increasing the availability of information on methods from practiced agriculturalists is assuredly a step in the right direction to helping out the essential urban farmers of Oakland.