food policy

by Sara Grady, Glynwood

A new tool for food system research was launched by the USDA last month, called the Food Environment Atlas.

The interactive map offers state and county level information on a wide variety of food and environmental indicators related to health and well-being.

Users can create maps that show how a single indicator varies across the country, and can view the results for all indicators in a selected county. With the advanced query tool, users can identify counties with combinations of indicators (for example, counties with both high poverty and high obesity rates).

The goal is to allow researchers, policy makers, and the public to find information on a range of factors that affect our food environment. Indicators include statistics relating to food choices, health and well-being, and community characteristics.

According to Elise Golan at the USDA, one of the primary authors of the project, this initiative was a top-down request from the USDA Under Secretary in response to the First Lady’s working group (and her Let’s Move! campaign). Golan commented that the tool represents “an effort to illustrate relationships between the built environment and health, signifying recognition within the administration about the importance of the built environment in influencing food choices.”

by Lexi Van de Walle, Lighthearted Locavore

Food policy cuts across a multitude of diverse city, state and federal government agencies that often have specific food related goals but, by virtue of each agency’s mission, often lacks a collaborative food systems approach to agriculture, and food-related economic, infrastructure, environmental and health issues.

In 2007, by gubernatorial executive order, New York joined several other state governments in establishing a Council on Food Policy (NYS CFP) that brings together state agencies and a group of high-level non-governmental stakeholders to collaborate on important food issues and make policy recommendations.

Several weeks ago, the NYS CFP, which is comprised of seven state agency heads and 14 public and non-profit sector representatives, presented its third annual progress report and recommendations to Governor David Patterson “Making Connections: Developing a Food System for a Healthier New York State”. The 2009 report outlines the strategic framework established in 2007 for the NYS CFP which is to preserve and enhance agriculture, food and production and ensure access to safe, affordable, fresh and nutritious food.  

The recommendations to the governor summarize the work of the NYS CFP and formal and informal input received from organizations and citizens in the City, including several Food Systems NYC Network members who testified at listening sessions, Upstate and on Long Island across four strategic issue areas:  
•    greater participation in food and nutrition programs
•    strengthening the connection between food producers and consumers
•    improving the food production and retail infrastructures
•    improving consumer access to safe and nutritious foods

In our last newsletter, Lexi Van de Walle covered the release of Borough President Stringer’s Food Pledge and Food Charter.  You can go here to read the ten principles of a sustainable food system laid out by the charter, and sign on with your own personal willingness “to eat in a manner guided by the environmental, economic, and health consequences,” of your food and to “work to create a food system consistent with the principles set forth in the NYC Sustainable Food Charter.”

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has since joined BP Stringer in the call for a more just and sustainable food system for New York.  She launched her comprehensive food plan on December 7th, titling it FoodWorks New York because “it’s about using food to put New Yorkers to work, and finding ways to make food work for us.” She is working on passing legislation to get City agencies to gather food related data.  That data will be used to set goals toward achieving the final FoodWorks blueprint, to be revealed this spring.  Check out the speech and the five goals to be addressed by FoodWorks here.

 by Mark Foggin, Public Sector Strategy Consultant and Freelance Writer

Thomas Farley, MD, MPH, became commissioner of the New York City Department of Health in May. It was not his first stint at DOH. He spent nearly two years advising then-commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden in 2007 and 2008. Dr. Farley was also chair of the Department of Community Health Sciences at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. He has conducted research and published articles on a wide range of topics, including obesity. Dr. Farley also coauthored, with RAND Senior Scientist Deborah Cohen, Prescription for a Healthy Nation (Beacon Press), which describes the logical and business aspects of Americans’ access to unhealthy food. 

Dr. Thomas Farley: If you look at the leading causes of death in New York City—heart disease, cancer, diabetes—many are tied to how we eat. Probably the Number One behavior that affects our health is smoking. But Number Two is getting people to eat healthy foods.

by Lexi Van de Walle, The Lighthearted Locavore 

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer's Office has planned the release of a New York City Food Pledge and Food Charter and signing campaign. The campaign will be launched on Friday, December 4th and is timed to coincide with the upcoming NYC Food and Climate Change Summit being held a week later. Over the past year, a committee of food advocates from around the City, including several Food Systems NYC Network members, has worked closely with the Borough President's Food Policy team to draft a framework for a City-wide food sustainability plan. The objective for the Pledge and Charter is to increase individual consciousness about food issues across all communities around the City and help create the public policy that is needed to ensure a stronger and more just food system in the five boroughs. The Charter addresses food access, health, economic and environmental issues, and defines the values and principles from which the City government and individual City Agencies can draft their long-term food sustainability plans. The Food Systems Network Communications Team will keep the network informed. Please be sure to read the NYC Food Charter and sign the NYC Food Pledge. And, ask your colleagues to sign on also.

by Matthew Chan, Just Food Food Justice Associate

Food is frequently ignored as a topic when it comes to climate change, despite the fact that nearly a third of our greenhouse gases come from food production, and 60% of our nitrous oxide (N2O), a gas 300 times more potent than Carbon Dioxide in trapping heat. That's why Just Food, the Manhattan Borough President, and NYU, in collaboration with dozens of food and climate justice advocates around the city, are proud to present the NYC Food and Climate Summit: Creating a Platform for Change on December 12th at the Kimmel Center, NYU.

The summit is orientated towards not only informing the public, but also creating actionable goals so the gains made during the summit move beyond discussion into tangible results that can be acted on by the participants themselves. To this end we have created nine policy workshops, ranging from ending enviromental/structural racism to strengthening our regional foodshed, which will allow participants to interact with experts on the subject and create workable and dynamic platforms for tackling each issue. In addition to this, we will also have several skills workshops teaching participants how they can make individual and community differences (e.g. composting, organizing around an issue, assessing and addressing hunger in communities) also running at the same time. We hope participants will leave the Summit feeling informed, educated, inspired and motivated to advance a NYC Food and Climate Platform for Action in 2010 and beyond.

What: NYC Food and Climate Summit: Creating a Platform for Change
When: Saturday, December 12th
Where: Kimmel Center, NYU

by Kristin Pederson 

The City Planning Commission unanimously approved the Food Retail Expansion to Support Health (FRESH ) on September 23, 2009. By doing so, the way was cleared for the City Council to vote on the program, which it must do by November 24th.

Before the City Planning Commission could make its decision, the proposal was reviewed in several venues. Since May 18th community boards, borough boards, and the borough presidents have had the opportunity to comment. Additionally, there was a public hearing on August 5th.

Community boards in particular, within such workings of local government, are the topic of the October FSNYC Open Networking meeting. Each borough is divided into community boards, each consisting of 50 members and staffed by a district manager. Throughout the City there are 59 boards, who are given an advisory role in land use and zoning changes, the City budget, municipal service delivery, and other matters of community importance. In fact, any issue that can arise within the community is supposed to be covered by one of the sub-committees of the board.

Board members are appointed by borough presidents, with the advice of City Council members from the board area. They are limited to roles of advocacy and coordination, but are held to represent the best interest of their communities.

by Mark Foggin 

Last month, FSNYC decided it was time to get more involved on the political side of policymaking. For the first time, we issued a questionnaire to the public advocate candidate running in a contested primary on Tuesday, September 15. (Special thanks to the Communications and Policy Committees of the Network for developing it!) We were able to reach four of the five Democratic candidates running for public advocate and heard back from each. The questionnaire and the candidates’ verbatim responses can be found here.

As a 501(c)3 organization, FSNYC cannot endorse any candidates, nor editorialize on the candidates’ responses in the context of an election. However, we are presenting this information to the Network so that you can be guided by it when making decisions about for whom you will vote. If you have a platform for sharing your opinion on these responses, we encourage you to use it to engage your stakeholders and readers in a discussion.

Posted by Lexi Van de Walle, lightheartedlocavore.com

The summer of 2009 is turning out to be the summer of seasonally cool temperatures with a bumper crop of rain, hail, and now blight.  These conditions have not been good for fruit and vegetable farmers in the New York area and especially in Long Island’s Suffolk County where summer weather is more typically hot and dry -- perfect for the potatoes and grapes and other bounty that the region is known for.   

Over a period of several weeks in July, New York officials have flexed their political muscle and repeatedly asked United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary, Thomas Vilsack, to declare 17 New York counties agriculture disaster areas. With particular focus on Western New York’s early summer freeze and Long Island’s rain, officials toured farms in the Hamptons and Long Island’s North Fork several times over a two-week period.  

Agriculture is a $3.5 billion industry in New York and Suffolk County is the largest agricultural county in the state contributing over 5% of New York’s receipts, primarily due to the high value of the country’s wine grapes.  

On Sunday, July 12th, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand toured several farms. According to an article in the East Hampton Star regarding her visit to Babinski Farm in Wainscott, “The rain this year was a killer,” said Bill Babinski, the young farmer who has taken over the family operation, to the Senator. Shortly after her “field” visit, both US Senators from New York, Gillibrand and Charles Schumer, requested the USDA to provide relief to New York farmers with a low interest loan program.  

Posted by Kerry Trueman, Eating Liberally

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Healthy Bodegas program seeks to make healthier food choices available in communities where fresh produce, whole grains, and low fat dairy products can be hard (or impossible) to find. Donya Williams, Program Coordinator for the Healthy Bodegas initiative, chatted with Kerry Trueman about the twin challenges of encouraging shopkeepers to stock more wholesome foods, and enticing customers to buy them. KT: What was the genesis of the Healthy Bodegas initiative? DW: There was some research done at the district public health offices, looking at food retail establishments in Harlem and Brooklyn. And through this research, they found that bodegas were the most common food stores in these neighborhoods. So, based on that, they did a pilot program trying to get bodegas to increase their stock of low-fat milk and fresh produce, which would provide a lot more people with access to healthy food.

By Loren Talbot with Lynn Fredericks

A unified city and state response to the city’s food deserts has emerged with the introduction of the state run Healthy Food/Healthy Communities Initiative and FRESH (Food Retail Expansion to Support Health), a new citywide program.  On May 16th Governor Paterson, Mayor Bloomberg and Speaker Quinn announced both funding and legislation to help the establishment of supermarkets in underserved neighborhoods within the five boroughs.  The legislation coincided with the release of recommendations by The Food Trust and The New York Supermarket Commission, a coalition convened by The Food Trust, the Food Policy Coordinator for the City of New York, the Food Bank for New York City, the Food Industry Alliance of New York State, and the United Way of New York City with representatives from labor groups, public health advocates, supermarkets and financial institutions as well as city and state agencies. 

Posted by Lexi Van de Walle
New York City Showcases Vibrant Local Markets to Youth from Around the Globe
May 4-15, 2009

Young People Demonstrate Power and Concern at Several Events

New York, NY Now, as the converging food, finance, energy and climate crises push governments and citizens to consider innovative ways to manage current and future challenges, young people are staking their claim to the future by voicing their support for sustainable development to feed the world’s growing population.

Willing to face these crises head on, a sizeable youth caucus from the 53 member countries will attend the 17th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development and participate in events in- and outside the UN ranging from local NYC market tours to high-level policy debates.

Posted by Jonna McKone, City Harvest

Staten Island is New York’s often forgotten borough when it comes to progressive food programs aimed to cut across class and neighborhood lines. Borough representatives and residents are rarely integrated in city-wide conferences, events, and policy development. This exclusion is due in part to Staten Island’s unique geography, low overall population density, limited public transit system, and unfamiliar neighborhood characteristics. Thus programming and initiatives that might apply to other New York City neighborhoods are rarely extended to the borough.

Despite the obstacles, City Harvest is currently supporting the development of community-based food projects in Staten Island’s North Shore, specifically the under-served communities of Stapleton and Park Hill, which may seem surprising in contrast to the stereotypical image of Staten Island as a homogenous, suburban borough. These neighborhoods, however, are served by only a small number of food retailers and supermarkets that are particularly difficult to access on a regular basis1, which negatively influences residents’ food purchasing habits. Citizens rely primarily on public buses with limited routes and schedules that exacerbate what community members term “isolationism” – the reluctance to travel even a short distance. Thirty-three percent of individuals living in zip code 10304, one of the lowest income areas in the borough, do not have a car, and in some census tracts the figure approaches 60 percent. Additionally, there is only one Greenmarket serving these neighborhoods and the entire borough of half a million people. The North Shore also supports only a handful of public community gardens.

We have received a number of querries regarding
H.R. 875, the  bill introduced by Senator DeLauro, and recommend members follow