Join us Friday, May 15, at the CDC for a public hearing on Farm to School projects, Healthy Eating, and Physical Activity for School Children.
We need you there to show Sen. Chambliss and Sen. Harkin that we want thriving Farm to School programs in Georgia. This hearing will be submitted to the official record for all Senate Agriculture Committee members to review. Sen. Chambliss (R-GA) and Sen. Harkin (D-IA) will both be in attendance.
This a rare opportunity for the sustainable food and farms movement to show its support for getting local, fresh, and sustainably produced foods into school cafeterias across the state.
Witnesses will include representatives from:
- the CDC
- the USDA
- Action for Healthy Kids, and
- the National Farm to School Network
For a primer on how Farm to School programs are connected to nutrition and agricultural policy, read this report.
The Georgia Field Hearing is sponsored by the Senate Committee on Ag, Nutrition, and Forestry.
"Benefits of Farm-to-School Projects, Healthy Eating and Physical Activity for School Children. "
Date: Friday, May 15, 2009
Time: 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Roybal Campus of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Harkin Global Communication Center, Auditorium A
1600 Clifton Road, NE
Atlanta, GA 30329
Please Note: Bring identification and arrive early to allow plenty of time for parking.
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Many thanks to Dan Magee for sending us this post. Please pass this along to all those concerned about school nutrition.
6 comments:
Here's a quote from the report -
“ My job is to listen to the president, who is the ultimate vision maker…The vision is, he wants more nutritious food in schools. In a perfect world, everything that was sold, everything that was purchased and consumed, would be local so the economy would receive the benefit of that.
One thing we can do is work on strategies to make that happen. It can be grant programs, loan programs, it can be technical assistance.”
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack
Washington Post 2.11.09
"The vision is [...] everything that was purchased and consumed, would be local"
Noble and realistic ambition? Political blather? Hmmm...let us see...
First let's talk 'maters. A fine suthen tradition.
Per capita US consumption of tomatoes is 23 lbs. Iowa State tells us that maximum yield is 16000 lbs/acre. Now that is for perfessionul truck farmin', but lets run with that. Finally we're told that the Atlanta/Metro population is 519,145/5,626,400, respectively.
Now let's see if we're talking "vision" or "hallucination".
Atlantans proper consume 11,940,335 lbs of tomatoes (and tomato products) per year requiring a minimum of 746 acres to produce. In the metro area we consume 129,407,200 lbs of tomatoes per year requiring a minimum of 8088 acres to produce.
Dems lots o' 'maters and quite a few acres. So can we manage the great local 'mater matter? Since it may be hard to round up 746/8088 acres in big chunks, maybe we should consider collective "victory gardens" lest we be forced to redefine "local" and "sustainable".
Then if you assume an average household size of three and one out of three families has a tenth of an acre they're willing to dedicate to local 'mater production and these plots achieve maximum truck farmer yield, we can just barely pull it off. Ironically better in the city than the metro as a whole...so, maybe it is a vision...
Now let's talk corn...
Thanks for a post that has no meaning, rhyme or reason, Mr. Ken Thompson. Blah, blah, blah
When I was growing up - (Catholic School) - we had the most wonderful cafeteria. We had a woman who made absolutely everything from scratch - huge platters of lasagne, vegetables, fresh fruit on top of jello (we loved that) and my favorite, peanut butter bars for dessert (years later I actually got the recipe) - and she did this every day for over 400 kids. It was healthy, nutritious and delicious - she (and her staff) put a lot of love and work into her job. Yep - we even had corn and tomatoes.
It's possible. DeKalb has actually won awards for some of it's healthy nutrition programs. I think this could be a good partnership - and a great way to teach children what healthy nutrition really looks like.
I just saw the post below and got all excited. Thought it was about OUR Governor Perdue, but it was about Governor Perdue of North Carolina. But there are lots of good ideas in here that relate to farm to school and other local food issues, that perhaps our state leaders would consider: http://sustainablegrub.wordpress.com/2009/05/12/gov-to-sustainable-ag-summit-tell-me-what-you-need/
Rats. Do you mean DCSS might stop serving cheese fries as the main entree TWICE a week?
Seriously, the food in my child's high school is pure fat, high caloric, cheap and just plain disgusting.
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