FOOD HARDSHIP DROPS TO PRE-RECESSION LEVELS

A recent Gallup survey concluded that 15.8% of U.S. families struggled in the first half of set the foundation for mental, physical, social, and emotional health.this year to afford food. That figure had surged after the recession hit, but has now declined to the point that it’s even lower than it was in the first few months of 2008--16.7%. In Connecticut, the food hardship rate dropped 1 percentage point  (from 14.2% to 13.2%) from 2014 to 2015. The Food Research and Action Center, which sponsored the survey,  attributes the improvement to the economic recovery and the fact that more households in need are participating in SNAP. Last year, 1  in 5 kids was on SNAP, compared to 1 in 8 in 2008.

Source:Food Research & Action Center, 8/20/15, Food Hardship Drops

Farmers as entrepreneurs

I've been thinking a lot about farmers as entrepreneurs these last few weeks.

There's an old saying about doing the same old thing and getting the same old results, but it's clear to me that world is changing so rapidly that doing the same thing may no longer get the same results and leaders of organizations need to always be thinking about doing things differently to get different results.  I've been at very different farms in recent weeks, but heard this same message about changing with the times.

Two weeks ago, I was at Honey Dew Acres, assisting the owner, and my cousin, with the "Help Sami Kick Cancer" event.  While this was a fundraiser for the St. Lawrence County Cancer Fund, there is no way it could have been pulled off if this horse farm's owners had not been taking an entrepreneurial approach.  The facilities and operations they have put in place to make the farm a viable business also allowed them to host this incredibly successful fundraiser.

Barley sprouts growing
on the barn floor

A week or so later, I took part in the St. Lawrence County Ag Tour and visited three different farms.

• Fobare's Fruits in Renssalaer Falls has turned what started as a hobby apple orchard into a large orchard and a destination, with their store and Fort Applewood playground.
• Our second stop took us to a dairy farm at Black Lake that is growing barley sprouts on a concrete floor to supplement their cow's feed.
• And our third stop was at Bella-Brooke Vineyard in Hammond, where we saw an old dairy farm converted to a vineyard and event space.

All three farmers on this tour impressed me with their creativity and imagination.  They could have kept doing things the same way and maybe lost the family farm in the process.  But they had a vision, took a risk, and have developed great businesses.  The Watertown Times covered the tour with a front page story.

Dan Kent gives a tour of the farm to GardenShare supporters.

Then last Saturday, GardenShare hosted a reception for members of our Sustainers Circle* at Kent Family Growers in Lisbon.  Listening to Dan Kent talk about the challenges and rewards of farming, really brought home that need for entrepreneurial vision and skills.  It's not enough just to work hard, he also needs the right equipment, an appropriate labor force, and access to markets.  Dan is creative and entrepreneurial and yet, it's still a challenge to make a living and support his family.





* Don't know what the Sustainers Circle is?  It's a group of people who have made a three year pledge to GardenShare.  The pledge can be in any amount, but the three year commitment is so important to a small organization like GardenShare for it lets us make plans free of some of the angst of annual fundraising.  Contact Gloria if you would like to learn more.

Small Grants for Healthy Food

CSX and The Conservation Fund have joined forces to improve the transportation and distribution of fresh, healthy food to communities in need. Specifically, CSX and The Fund will provide small grants to support our country's local food distributors that transport and distribute fresh, healthy food to communities in need. More than 23 million Americans across the country have limited or no access to fresh produce, dairy, meats, and seafood.  One of the contributing factors to these "food deserts" is the lack of local infrastructure to distribute fresh food to markets.  We need to connect people to food, and food to people!

Last year, this grant program provided recipient organizations funding to transport nutritious food to approximately six million people per year, bringing nearly 118,000,000 pounds of food equaling 98,000,000 meals served each year. We again will offer grants ranging from $2,500 to $10,000 to local government and nonprofit entities that distribute fresh, local foods in the 22 states where CSX operates: AL, CT, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, LA, MD, MA, MI, MS, NF, NY, NC, OH, PA, SC, TN, VA, and WV.

http://www.conservationfund.org/partner-with-us/business/csx 

BRAIN STUDIES SHOW IMPORTANCE OF FIGHTING POVERTY

New studies using brain scan technology vividly illustrate the harm associated with growing up poor. Children living in poverty had an average of 7 to 10% less grey matter in the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, and hippocampus — areas of the brain tied to learning and educational functioning — than children above 150%R of the poverty line, according to a study from the Journal of the American Medical Association.  Children with less grey matter in these areas tended to do worse on academic tests.  These shortfalls in brain volume explained 15 to 20% of the gap in academic achievement scores between children from lower- and higher-income families, the study found. The study’s authors note evidence that programs like SNAP affect children’s outcomes. One study they mention found that young children with access to SNAP showed strong improvements many years later on a range of outcomes, including an 18-percentage-point increase in high school completion.

Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 8/6/15, Poverty & the Brain

GLEANING MAKES A COMEBACK

Gleaning is a concept that goes back to antiquity and is still protected by law in Europe, but is not extensively practiced in the U.S. But in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, gathering excess, unused produce and fruit in farm fields and orchards for distribution to the area's many food pantries and meal programs is an idea whose time has come. Franklin County's Gleaning Project, which began last year collects excess, unsalable but still perfectly good food from farmers, orchardists, and home gardeners then redistributes it to the community's neediest citizens. Last year, the project rescued over 25,000 pounds of fresh, local produce from area farms and gardens that would have otherwise have gone to waste. Instead  that food went to 27 different community partners for distribution to the needy.

Source: Public Opinion Online, 8/19/15, Gleaning

SELLING UGLY FRUITS & VEGETABLES COULD MEAN LESS FOOD WASTE

Every year, 40% of the food grown in the United States ends up in the garbage. A lot of that waste happens at the consumer level — about 25% of the food we buy is thrown away. But a lot of that waste also happens between the farm and the grocery store, where strict and sometimes arbitrary cosmetic standards mean that a perfectly nutritious carrot can end up as waste simply because it looks odd.  Jordan Figueiredo is trying to make “ugly” food look beautiful. About six months ago, he launched @UglyFruitAndVeg, a social-media-fueled effort to make Americans fall in love with ugly fruits and vegetables. That campaign, aided by whimsical pictures of misshapen produce accompanied by humorous captions and hashtags, took off — in six months, Figueiredo has amassed over 18,000 followers, claiming names like Jamie Oliver, Alice Waters, and Michael Pollan as fans. Now, Figueiredo has a bolder vision — convince Walmart and Whole Foods, two of the United States’ most visible retailers, to sell ugly fruits and vegetables.

Source: Think Progress, 8/19/15, Food Waste

Baby Boomers and Hunger: A new report

Baby Boomers and Beyond: Facing Hunger after Fifty takes a close look at the unique health, economic and nutritional challenges of older adults between the ages of 50 and 64. This recent research study from Feeding America, with help from an AARP Foundation Grant, highlights how "pre-seniors" are more vulnerable to hunger than older seniors since they don't yet qualify for safety net programs like Medicare and Social Security. This research aims to explore the circumstances of older adults and their households who utilize the Feeding America network of food banks.