Grants for gardens

The SeedMoney grant application period is coming to a close with just a few days left before the November 12 deadline.  These grants are only offered grants once a year, so we want to make sure that as many worthy groups as possible know that they can apply. These grants are available to all types of food gardens (school gardens, community gardens, food bank gardens, etc.) in all types of places (nationally and internationally).  Please help us spread the word by sharing the facebook post linked here.  

MAPPING AIDS BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF FOOD DESERTS

Green areas are food deserts locally.

Food desert maps are commonplace, but the Maryland Food System Map (MFSM) goes further than most. The MFSM details the state’s entire food system, not just its food deserts. When the map launched in 2012 with 30 data indicators, it focused mainly on retail outlets: locations of supermarkets, convenience stores, and small local shops. Now it includes 175 indicators, adding layers for agriculture (small farms, livestock operations, prime farmland); demographics (income, employment); health (mortality, diabetes, and obesity rates); and environmental indicators (air and water quality, biodiversity, and designated environmental cleanup areas). Nonprofits and food policy councils across the state have used MFSM to address food access gaps. In Baltimore, the city’s Food Policy Initiative used it to chart food access across the city and tackle the gaps from an urban-planning perspective. One result of that effort, which began in 2015, was the Baltimore City Orchard Project–a nonprofit that plants clusters of fruit trees in parks and underused spaces around the city–targeting its new projects specifically to populate food deserts and create new sources of fresh produce resource in those areas. MFSM is run through Johns Hopkins University’s Center for a Livable Future.

Source: Fast Company, 10/19/17, Mapping Food Deserts

FOOD STAMPS WON’T BUY A HEALTHY DIET

SNAP (formerly called food stamps) isn’t enough for families to afford the healthy diet the federal government recommends. It would cost a family of four, with two adults and two children, as much as $627 more per month than they receive in food stamps to eat the recommended healthy diet, according to new research. The recommended diet, as expressed in USDA’s MyPlate, suggests putting fruit and vegetables on half a plate, and protein and grains on the other half. The daily recommendation for women ages 31 to 50 is 1.5 cups of fruit; 2.5 cups of vegetables; 6 servings of grains (a slice of bread is a serving); and 5 servings of protein (an ounce of meat or an egg is a serving). Researchers considered a variety of ways a family could meet the dietary recommendations. The most expensive way is to eat all fresh food. The least expensive diet is vegetarian, evenly divided between fresh, frozen, and canned food.

Source: Charlotte (NC) News Observer, 10/20/17, SNAP-Diet Gap

Sustainable food and farming online classes

Registration for the winter term of online classes in Sustainable Food and Farming is now open. 

Winter classes are from December 26 - January 20!  Registration is open!

Here are the winter courses we are offering!

• STOCKSCH 100 – Botany for Gardeners (4cr)
• STOCKSCH 119 – Backyard Homesteading (3 cr)
• STOCSKSCH 190 M – Intro to Mushroom Culture (1 cr)
• STOCKSCH 297 FL – Intro to Food and Agricultural Law (3 cr)
• STOCKSCH 354 – Non-profit Management for Community Food Programs (3 cr)
• STOCKSCH 379 – Agricultural Systems Thinking  (requires either completion of STOCKSCH 265 or permission of the instructor - contact jgerber@umass.edu) (3 cr)
• STOCKSCH 397 PB – Pollinator Biology and Habitat (1 cr)

Classes are described here! 

(click above or cut and paste: https://sustfoodfarm.org/online-classes/)

Fresh food access will boost health for millions

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Boosting public spending on fresh foods grown on New York State farms and served in schools, childcare centers, older adult centers, food pantries and other institutions, has the potential to improve health for more than six million New Yorkers, while increasing economic opportunities across the state. The findings are part of a new report, ‘The Public Plate in New York State: Growing Health, Farms and Jobs with Local Food,’ by The New York Academy of Medicine and American Farmland Trust.

Informing policy makers and institutions about the potential health benefits of increasing the amount of farm-fresh, local fare served and consumed in the state’s public and publicly funded venues is part of the Academy’s effort to support policies—across sectors—that improve health. The Academy, and its Public Plate report partners, advise that adding more fresh food to the “public plate” offers an often-overlooked opportunity to help millions of New Yorkers reduce their risk of chronic disease.

“Increased procurement of farm-fresh healthy foods is one way that state agencies in New York can implement Governor Cuomo’s Health in All Policies charge to make ours the healthiest state in the nation. As our report highlights, several agencies are already working to buy more of the food they serve from in-state sources. Increasing the proportion of public spending dedicated to fresh and minimally-processed food grown and raised in New York would achieve three important goals: promoting health equity, environmental sustainability, and economic growth,” said Kimberly Libman, PhD, MPH, lead report author and the Academy’s Director of Prevention and Community Development.

Read more

Garden Grant Opportunity from Annie's Homegrown

Annie's Homegrown offers grants to school gardens for educational programs that connect children directly to gardening. The school garden must be an edible school garden (growing fruits, vegetables, herbs, grains, etc) and be located in the USA. Schools can purchase any equipment appropriate for the garden with the grant funds, such as plants, seeds, raised beds, fencing, wheelbarrows, greenhouses, and drip irrigation systems. 

The maximum grant amount is $5,000 and more information can be found on the Annie's website. 

ACCESS TO GROCERY STORES AFFECTS FOOD SHOPPING & SPENDING

Researchers believe that poor access to stores that sell a wide range of healthy and affordable foods results in poorer diet and diet-related health problems. Six percent (6%) of American households lack of access to supermarkets, which may mean that they rely more heavily on convenience stores or fast-food restaurants. A new USDA survey of how the local food environment influences where households get food and how much of their food budget is spent at various types of retailers reveals:

• 77% low-access households shopped at supermarket, superstore, large grocery store, or warehouse store compared to 87% percent for households with sufficient access.
• Low-access households spend almost the same percentage of their weekly food expenditures at large stores as households with sufficient access.
• Low-access households are less likely to buy food at a restaurant than households with sufficient access (69.5% compared with 85.8%) and spend less than half as much per person as households with sufficient access ($9.90 compared to $19.56).

Source: USDA, 10/17, Grocery Store Access